Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
A soft answer and the grace of a wise tongue, the sacrifice of the wicked displeasing, all things known to God, a joyful heart flourishing, the days of the poor evil, a secure mind good, being invited to vegetables with charity, the wrathful man quarrelsome, praise of patience, the way of the sluggard, the house of the proud, by faith and mercy sins are purged, concerning him who rejects discipline, praise of the fear of the Lord and of humility.
Vulgate Text: Proverbs 15:1-33
1. A soft answer breaks wrath: a harsh word stirs up fury. 2. The tongue of the wise adorns knowledge: the mouth of fools bubbles forth folly. 3. In every place the eyes of the Lord behold the good and the evil. 4. A peaceable tongue is a tree of life: but that which is immoderate shall crush the spirit. 5. A fool laughs at the discipline of his father: but he who keeps reproofs shall become wiser. In abundant justice there is the greatest strength: but the thoughts of the wicked shall be rooted out. 6. The house of the just is great strength, and in the fruits of the wicked there is disturbance. 7. The lips of the wise shall spread knowledge: the heart of fools shall be unlike. 8. The sacrifices of the wicked are abominable to the Lord, the vows of the just are acceptable. 9. The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: he who follows justice is loved by Him. 10. Instruction is grievous to him who forsakes the way of life: he who hates reproofs shall die. 11. Hell and destruction are before the Lord: how much more the hearts of the children of men? 12. A corrupt man loves not one who reproves him, nor will he go to the wise. 13. A glad heart makes a cheerful face: in sorrow of mind the spirit is cast down. 14. The heart of the wise seeks instruction, and the mouth of fools feeds on foolishness. 15. All the days of the poor are evil: a secure mind is like a continual feast. 16. Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasures that are insatiable. 17. It is better to be invited to herbs with charity, than to a fatted calf with hatred. 18. A passionate man stirs up quarrels: he who is patient allays those that are stirred up. 19. The way of the slothful is as a hedge of thorns: the way of the just is without stumbling block. 20. A wise son makes a father glad, and a foolish man despises his mother. 21. Folly is joy to the fool, and a prudent man directs his steps. 22. Designs are brought to nothing where there is no counsel: but where there are many counselors, they are confirmed. 23. A man rejoices in the sentence of his mouth; and a word in due time is best. 24. The path of life is above for the learned, that he may decline from the lowest hell. 25. The Lord will destroy the house of the proud, and will make firm the borders of the widow. 26. Evil thoughts are an abomination to the Lord, and pure speech most beautiful shall be confirmed by Him. 27. He who follows avarice troubles his own house: but he who hates gifts shall live. By mercy and faith sins are purged: and by the fear of the Lord everyone departs from evil. 28. The mind of the just meditates obedience: the mouth of the wicked overflows with evils. 29. The Lord is far from the wicked, and He will hear the prayers of the just. 30. The light of the eyes rejoices the soul: a good report fattens the bones. 31. The ear that hears the reproofs of life shall dwell in the midst of the wise. 32. He who rejects instruction despises his own soul: but he who yields to reproofs is a possessor of understanding. 33. The fear of the Lord is the discipline of wisdom: and humility goes before glory.
1. A SOFT ANSWER BREAKS WRATH: A HARSH WORD STIRS UP FURY
In Hebrew, a tender answer causes anger to turn back (reduces, withdraws it): a word of pain (that is, piercing, causing pain) causes fury to ascend; for anger, like a flame from the heart and gall, through the inflammation of the spirits and blood, ascends to the head and nostrils and sets them ablaze; hence the Hebrew word אף aph signifies face and nostrils and anger, which flashes forth in the nostrils and face. So Aben-Ezra. The Septuagint renders: a submissive answer turns away fury, but a sad word stirs up anger.
For soft the Hebrew is רך rach, that is, tender; the Septuagint, submissive; Theodotion, delicate; the Tigurina, mild.
For harsh word, the Hebrew has word of pain; the Septuagint, a sad word; Aquila, ἄκομψος, that is, rough; Symmachus, θρασύς, that is, bold; Theodotion, ὠχρός, that is, troublesome; Pagninus, causing pain; the Tigurina, harsh; Vatablus, fierce; the Syriac, a sweet word turns away anger, and a harsh word stirs up fury; the Arabic, anger destroys the wise, and a well-mannered response repels anger; and a cutting word raises up the ambitions of anger.
The meaning is, says R. Levi, as if to say: By a soft response one will calm the indignation with which another was boiling over against him; on the contrary, by a harsh word one will move the bile of a calm person, and will stir up and kindle his fury against himself. There is a parallel in nature. For just as the force of a projectile, such as a leaden ball, which ignited powder shoots from a musket, is broken when it is received in soft wool — for there it expends its force and its impact is calmed by the softness of the wool; and just as a thunderbolt, when received by a soft thing like straw, is dissolved and vanishes, but if it strikes a hard thing, such as bones, iron, or bronze, it is sharpened and shatters them: so likewise the anger of another is broken by a gentle response, but by a harsh one it is exacerbated and rages. It is a remarkable saying, says Jansenius, teaching the art by which an otherwise untamed beast may be tamed and made gentle. And whoever, he says, responds sweetly and kindly to an angry person, addressing him courteously and respectfully and using calm words, such a soft response breaks kindled or aroused anger. We have an example in Abigail. On the contrary, a harsh word, that is, a bitter one, so stirs up even dormant and sleeping anger that it becomes fury. For a soft response diminishes the material of anger; on the contrary, a harsh word increases it; of which we have an example in Rehoboam. For anger arises from the pride of another, or from a real or perceived injury. The pride of an angry person is broken by humility and a humble response; injury likewise by submission and a mild response, by which one, as it were, subjects and prostrates himself before the angry person, and is tamed and conquered. For then the angry person who was offended seems to have taken his revenge and to have recovered his honor, when he sees his adversary or rival subjected to him and, as it were, suppliant before him.
St. Chrysostom gives a beautiful simile, homily 3 On David and Saul: "Just as," he says, "if you blow on a spark of fire, you kindle a conflagration; if you spit on it, you extinguish it: the same happens with the enmity of a neighbor; if you pour in inflated and insane words, you kindle fire; but if mild and moderate ones, you will completely extinguish the anger;" just as with the same Anna the mother of Samuel extinguished the anger of Eli the priest, 1 Kings 1:17; and David the anger of Saul, 1 Kings 24:9.
There is an illustrious example in Sophronius, or rather John Moschus, in the Spiritual Meadow, penultimate chapter, concerning Abbot Sergius, who by a humble and gentle response, in which he acknowledged the insults hurled at him and confessed himself guilty of them, not only pacified a farmer who was abusing and raging at him, but even made him a suppliant, indeed a monk. That Abbot Paemen did the same with his Deacon who was provoked to anger by a demon, he relates in the last chapter.
Moreover, to conquer anger in this way and to cut short its damages is a matter of both great virtue and great glory. For, as Bede says on Proverbs: "It is more glorious to endure an injury by silence than to avenge it by responding. It is better to be well conquered than to conquer badly." For he who is silent responds, and by his quiet and gentle silence teaches meekness, and therefore while he is conquered, he conquers, and restores the angry person to tranquility, and binds and subjugates him to himself.
Mystically, apply this proverb to God, as if to say: A soft answer, that is, a humble confession made to Him who reproaches, breaks the anger of God, as is evident in David, who responding to the prophet Nathan who rebuked him: "I have sinned against the Lord," at once merited to hear: "The Lord also has transferred your sin," 2 Kings 12:13. On the contrary, the harsh word of those who resist reproof provokes the greater anger of the strict judge, as is evident in Saul, who responding harshly to Samuel reproving him: "Indeed I have obeyed the voice of the Lord," etc., heard that he was rejected from the kingdom of Israel, 1 Kings 15:20. So Bede: "A soft answer breaks wrath," as if to say, he says: "He who humbly receives the words of one who rebukes, already approaches pardon for the guilt he has incurred; but he who proudly resists one who reproves, provokes greater wrath of the strict judge against himself." Hence Galatinus, book 8 of The Secrets of the Faith, chapter 12, applies the harsh word stirs up fury to the Jews, who accusing Christ before Pilate and harshly crying out: "Crucify, crucify," provoked upon themselves the fury of God, who therefore through Titus and Vespasian utterly destroyed Jerusalem, together with the entire Jewish nation.
Furthermore, anger has something magnanimous and lion-like; but lions, when they see someone suppliant, put aside their anger and spare him, according to the verse:
It is enough for the magnanimous lion to have prostrated bodies. And a generous mind captures gentle spirits.
Moreover, blazing anger is like a boiling fire, which is extinguished by pouring in gentle water, that is, by a mild and soft response; and just as a tender worm gradually gnaws through wood, so also does meekness gnaw through anger.
Therefore let the revenge, nay rather the victory over insult be either a modest confession of fault; or, if one is not conscious of fault, a humble and gentle response. So Gideon, most valiant, when assailed with harsh words by the men of Ephraim, indignant because they had not been summoned by him to the battle after the defeat of the Midianites, conquered himself by a modest response, and also conquered the men of Ephraim: "Better is the gleaning of Ephraim," he said, "than the vintage of Abiezer. The Lord delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeb. What could I have done like what you have done?" Hence, adding the effect, Scripture continues: "When he had said this, their spirit, with which they swelled against him, was quieted," Judges 8:2.
St. Gregory Nazianzen writes beautifully in his poem Against Anger, calling it a demon; for he begins thus:
I am angry at anger, a demon hidden within.
And toward the end he suggests remedies for anger: first, prayer; second, the sign of the cross; third, humility; fourth, to count present things as nothing; fifth: The reproach, he says, which an angry person hurls at you is either true or false: if true, acknowledge it; if false, count it as nothing. Then, resolving objections, he adds:
But this man has injured me? Take care you do not injure him in turn. But will he be restrained? Perhaps fury will grow from this. But he rebukes? Let him be broken immediately by your words And your most gentle manners, Dissolved like waves upon the shore at once; Or like a storm, when nothing resists, as if to say: Just as the waves of the raging sea, dashing upon the sands of the shore, are dissolved and absorbed, or rebound: so the fury and threats of an angry person, rushing against a mild spirit and tongue, are absorbed, dissolved, and broken by its softness. And further:
Do you not bear with these raging ones, who are driven by a demon And violently struck, howl horribly? What? Will you not bear with the mad? Or with the drunk? What? If a rabid dog should happen to run at you? What? If some fierce camel should bellow, Will you stand and fight? Does not the wise man flee? after some lines:
Assail the heated man with jests: For against anger nothing is stronger than a jest. What is gentler than all things? God. Who burns with anger? The executioner of mortals. O anger, frenzy, house of the dreadful demon, Manifest stain of the face, whirlwind of minds, Drunkenness and gadfly, bearing to the lakes of hell, Dreadful legion, manifold corruption of evil.
2. THE TONGUE OF THE WISE ADORNS KNOWLEDGE: THE MOUTH OF FOOLS BUBBLES FORTH FOLLY
For adorns the Hebrew is תטיב tetib, that is, makes good and beautiful, that is, adorns; Pagninus, graces; the Septuagint, knows good things; the Tigurina, uses knowledge well; R. Levi, makes the mind of the hearers good. For bubbles forth the Hebrew is יביע iabbia, that is, as the Chaldean, belches forth; Aquila and Symmachus, ἀναθλύζει, that is, pours out; the Septuagint, ἀναγγέλλει, that is, pronounces, announces, declares; the Syriac, vomits; others, gushes, overflows, flows like a fountain.
Therefore first, the tongue of the wise adorns knowledge, because it shows itself to be endowed with wisdom, and through it to possess the name and honor of the wise. Hence the Septuagint translates: the tongue of the wise knows good things; or, as the author of the Greek Chain renders it, the tongue of the wise is skilled in honorable things; but the mouth of the foolish announces evils.
Second, and properly, because the tongue of the wise aptly, orderly, and wisely speaks wisdom at its proper time and place; for this is a great ornament of wisdom, when it is adorned with this adornment of discretion and prudence; but the mouth of fools, without discretion of place and time, not considering whether it is opportune or inopportune to say such things here and now, like a fountain full of water belches forth and bubbles over with its foolish talk. Hence the Syriac translates, vomits forth cursing; the Tigurina, the tongue of the wise uses knowledge aptly and fittingly; but the mouth of fools bubbles forth folly; Aben-Ezra: "The tongue of the wise uses knowledge opportunely; but the mouth of fools is like a gushing and overflowing torrent, as if to say: Folly never ceases from their mouth, but flows perpetually from it."
Third, because, as Vatablus translates, the speech of the wise is full of knowledge and learning; for, as Christ says, Matthew 12:34: "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."
Fourth, because, as R. Levi says, the speech of the wise makes the mind of hearers good and upright; but the speeches of fools are the cause of being judged madness, and seem to flow from the spring of their hearts, namely so that they may bring forth their folly and sprinkle others with it, and thus make them like themselves, that is, foolish, vicious, and impious.
Fifth, the tongue of the wise adorns, that is, commends and honors knowledge, namely practical knowledge, that is, honesty and virtue; for to adorn in Latin often means the same as to praise: hence Cicero, On the Response of the Soothsayers: "By the testimonies," he says, "of the most illustrious commanders, the most honored Deiotarus."
Sixth, the tongue of the wise is seasoned with grace, eloquence, and rhetorical skill: and this adorns knowledge, as if to say: The eloquence of the wise man adorns his wisdom. Thus we see that some wise men possess a wonderful grace of speaking or writing, so that even though they say the same thing as others, nevertheless their sayings or writings are far more savored, pleasing, and influential upon the minds of hearers than those of other learned men who lack this grace. Therefore the tongue of the wise adorns, in Hebrew, makes knowledge good, that is, ornate, pleasing, and delightful, as if to say: It is the part of the wise man to speak in an ornate, elegant, and harmonious manner, and to bring forth speech equal to the understanding and knowledge of his mind: on the contrary, "the mouth of fools bubbles forth folly," that is, just as the understanding of fools is depraved, so also their speech is unadorned and unseemly.
Accordingly Cicero, in book 3 of On the Orator: "Eloquence," he says, "is nothing other than wisdom speaking copiously." And further: "This manner of thinking and speaking, and this power of discourse, the ancient Greeks called wisdom. Hence those Lycurguses, hence those Pittacuses, hence those Solons; and from this same model came our Coruncanuses, Fabriciuses, Catos, and Scipios," etc. Moreover, he considers it absurd, useless, and blameworthy that there should be a divorce between tongue and heart, so that some would teach us to think wisely, and others to speak well. Since to speak well is itself to be wise; and no wisdom is perfect that is deprived of brilliant speech and the distinguished light of words. And, as he testified elsewhere: "To speak copiously, provided prudently, is better than to think even most acutely without eloquence." And finally, he seems to describe in these words the useless "hidden treasure of wisdom" which cannot be seen and shine in the eyes of mortals, nor be adorned with copious speech or brilliant inscription, in Tusculan Questions 1, shortly from the beginning: "For anyone to commit his thoughts to writing who cannot arrange or illustrate them, nor attract the reader with any delight, is the mark of a man who immoderately abuses his leisure and his letters."
Moreover, this grace of eloquence is varied and manifold, which accordingly God distributes variously to various persons. Hence Cicero, in book 3 of On the Orator, naming its chief practitioners, shows likewise in which gift of it each excelled: namely, the sweetness was Socrates', the subtlety Lysias', the acuteness Hyperides', the resonance Aeschines', the force Demosthenes', the gravity Africanus', the gentleness Laelius', the harshness Galba's, the melodious fluency Carbo's, the pleasantness Catulus', the variety and moderation Caesar's, the polished subtlety Sulpicius', the force of spirit and supreme intensity Cotta's, the vehemence, emotion, and sharpness Antonius': finally, constant and always similar to itself was Cicero's style, and in it a diligent care in choosing words and thoughts.
Much more does the varied tongue and eloquence of the Doctors of the Church, both Greek and Latin, adorn the wisdom of Christians. For, as our Hieronymus Platus keenly observes, book 3 of On the Good of the Religious State, chapter 11, the style of St. Basil savors of doctrine and abounds wonderfully in precepts of holiness. Deeper everywhere is Nazianzen, entering of his own accord into the loftiest mysteries with great weight of words and substance. Athanasius is gentler, yet full, and in tempered speech always consistent with himself, teaching with great authority. Epiphanius is keen against heresies. Theodoret is diligent and clear in interpreting Scripture. Damascene is most learned and most apt at unraveling the most difficult dogmas of faith. Chrysostom, as his very name declares, is eloquent and popular, flowing into the minds of his hearers and driving them in every direction with an elegant abundance of words, as if by a full river of eloquence.
Among the Latins, the speech of Cyprian is pure and copious, yet nothing redundant, full of dignity and weight; finally, as St. Jerome testifies of him, proceeding sweet and calm like the purest fountain, so that Augustine also rightly called him a most delightful teacher. Ambrose has his own style of speaking, filled with a richness of thoughts, flowing with the choicest words, and moreover most aptly bound by its own rhythms, so that you seem to hear either a theologian speaking oratorically, or an orator speaking theologically: of whose sweetness what greater thing can be said than that it was foreshadowed by God Himself through a great prodigy, as we have received, when a swarm of bees settled on the mouth of the infant? The speech of Jerome is also learned and abounding in examples from antiquity and much acuteness; then, what is most important, supremely suited for expressing all things, whether Scripture is to be interpreted literally, or precepts prescribed for all of life, or something is to be praised or blamed, or someone is to be exhorted to virtue, in all of which he so excels that it plainly seems a heavenly eloquence. Augustine, however, is most abundant, most copious, most gentle; equally suited for the most arduous questions as for popular sermons, in which with much grace he both instructs the mind and moves the will. Who is more weighty than Leo, more rhythmic, and, if I may so speak, more rounded? Whose speech is full of majesty and furnished with certain thunderbolts of words, as it were? Gregory is everywhere wholly moral, in which genre he wonderfully excels, and he holds the reader with a most delightful abundance of examples and similes, both instructing him in virtue by doctrine and soothing him by the smoothness and variety of style.
What shall we say of Bernard, whom we can truly call simply honey-tongued, who, abounding in spiritual teachings, and those of the best and most perfect kind, has this chief quality besides, that he so blends and weaves the Sacred Scriptures into his own style that either he himself seems to speak in the words of Scripture, or Scripture seems to sound from his own mouth? — a quality which together with charm also possesses a wonderful gravity and force.
Finally, the tongue of the wise, that is, of the pious, adorns knowledge, that is, virtue and probity, because their tongue is the companion of an upright life, and therefore adorns it, and in turn is adorned by it; for what they say with their mouth, they teach by their deeds; therefore deeds give ornament to the mouth, and actions to words.
Hear Nazianzen, in the oration On the Plague of Hail: "He indeed is truly wise who says few words about virtue, but through what he does, demonstrates much, and earns faith and authority for his speech through his life. For in my judgment, the beauty that is perceived by the eyes is more lovely than that which is only painted by words; and the riches that hands hold are greater than those that dreams fashion; and the wisdom that is demonstrated through works is greater than that which shines and gleams in speech." And St. Augustine, book 4 of On Christian Doctrine: "Such a teacher who does not live contemptibly speaks not only in a subdued and moderate way, but also in an ornate and grand manner." And so from life, ornament, greatness, and majesty overflow into speech. He adds: "But if he can do this, let him so conduct himself that he not only acquires a reward, but also provides an example to others, and let his form of living be, as it were, his abundance of speaking: what is more beautiful?"
Note the word bubbles forth, or as the Chaldean puts it, belches forth: for the mouth of fools bubbles over like a pot, and like a stomach full of folly belches it forth. For, as St. Basil says on Psalm 44, at the beginning on the words, My heart has uttered a good word: "A belch is a certain hidden breath, which exhales from the ferment of food through bursting bubbles." And as St. Jerome says: "It is the digestion of food, and the exhalation of cooked food into the stomach." And he adds: "According to the quality of the foods, a belch erupts from the stomach, and the breath is an indication of good or bad odor: so the thoughts of the inner man bring forth words, and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Hence words themselves can be called the experiments or tests of men, as the Apostle says, 2 Corinthians 13:3: "Do you seek proof of Him who speaks in me, Christ?" according to what is written, Proverbs 15:2: "The mouth of fools will bubble forth (will belch and gush as from a fountain) folly." For what is hidden within comes out. "Speech," says Seneca, "is the image of the mind." So Pineda, On the Affairs of Solomon, book 5, chapter 4, and book 3, chapter 12.
Such are heretics, and all other unbelievers and the impious: "As Porphyry and Julian, who poured forth the floods of their folly against the Doctors of the Church," says Bede.
3. IN EVERY PLACE THE EYES OF THE LORD BEHOLD THE GOOD AND THE EVIL
For behold the Hebrew is צופות tsophot, that is, as the Septuagint, σκοπεύουσιν, that is, they watch: for hence צפית tsaphit is called a watchtower, and צופה tsophe a watchman; such is God, who from the high watchtower of heaven, nay of His eternity, watches all things that are done in heaven, earth, and the abyss; all things past, present, and future; all things both open and secret, even the hidden things of the heart; whom therefore we ought in turn to watch with the eyes of mind and memory everywhere, to reverence and worship, according to that which the Church sings in the hymn at Lauds, Thursday, from Prudentius:
Let not the lying tongue, nor hand, Nor wandering eyes commit sin, Nor let guilt defile the body: A Watcher stands above, Who through all our days Beholds our actions From early dawn to evening.
Moreover, the Psalmist assigns the end and fruit of this watching of God's eyes, saying, Psalm 33:16: "The eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and His ears toward their prayers. But the countenance of the Lord is against those who do evil, to destroy the remembrance of them from the earth."
This was the opinion of all the ancients, including the poets and philosophers. Hence Victorinus, book 4 Against Arius (extant in volume 5 of the Library of the Holy Fathers), teaches that God was formerly believed to be not only the eye of the world, but also placed at the summit of the world, so that with an unwavering gaze He might behold all things.
God therefore watches the good with placid and benevolent eyes, the evil with angry and malevolent eyes; the good, to save and bless; the evil, to destroy and condemn; both, so as to judge the thoughts, words, and deeds of each. See what was said on chapter 3, verse 6; Sirach chapter 23:28.
Mystically, the eyes of God are providence, favor, grace, and in turn anger, indignation, vengeance; for the eyes are the indicators of these, and therefore their symbols.
Moreover, in the Hebrew, as is clear from the etnachta accent, this sentence, like the others, is bipartite, and reads thus: in every place the eyes of the Lord are watching the good and the evil. The first hemistich gives the reason and, as it were, the cause of the latter, as if to say: Therefore the eyes of the Lord everywhere watch the good and the evil, because they are everywhere and in every place by essence, presence, and power. For the eyes here are understood not as those of the body, but of the mind, namely the very mind and gaze of God, which is nothing other than the divinity itself. "For God is wholly sense, wholly sight, wholly hearing, wholly soul, wholly mind, wholly His own," says Pliny, book 2, chapter 7.
St. Francis rightly claimed this verse for himself; for when he was asked by Brother Masseo, to test his humility: "How is it that the whole world goes after you, when you are not noble, not rich, not learned," etc.? St. Francis replied: "Do you want to know whence it comes that the whole world goes after me? This comes to me from those most holy eyes of the most high God, which in every place behold the good and the evil. For those eyes do not see among the evil a greater sinner, or a more worthless or more inept person than me. And because for accomplishing this wonderful work which He intends to do on earth, He did not see a less suitable creature, therefore He chose me; because God chose the foolish of the world to confound the wise, and the ignoble and contemptible and weak of the world God chose to confound the strong (the noble and powerful and mighty), so that the sublimity of virtue may be from God, and not from the creature, so that no flesh may glory in His sight; but let him who glories, glory in the Lord."
Finally, St. Thomas proposes this verse as the theme of a sermon on the feast of St. Michael, and explains it by reviewing the various causes, modes, effects, and fruits of God's gaze.
Tropologically, if the eyes of God behold us in every place, it is fitting that we in turn contemplate Him in every place, now praying, now singing psalms, now praising and saying with the Psalmist, Psalm 102: "In every place of His dominion, bless the Lord, O my soul;" now invoking and asking for gifts: for what poor person, when looked upon kindly by a rich man, would not raise his eyes to him to receive relief for his poverty? If you are always looked upon by the Lord with eyes of mercy, you who are poor and a beggar, see to it that by constant elevation of mind to Him you always receive those things by which you may be rescued from misery.
4. A PEACEABLE TONGUE IS A TREE OF LIFE: BUT THAT WHICH IS IMMODERATE SHALL CRUSH THE SPIRIT
"Peaceable," that is, appeasing, calm, soothing anger or grief, so that the Hebrew מרפא marpe is derived from רפא rapha through ה, that is, to soothe; for the letters א and ה are often interchanged among the Hebrews. Otherwise, if in marpe we retain the final א, it should be translated: the health or medicine of the tongue, that is, a healing and medicating tongue, namely healing anger or grief, is a tree of life, that is, sweet, pleasing, and acceptable like the tree of life in paradise. Hence from the Hebrew you would translate literally thus: the medicine of the tongue is a tree of life; perversity (that is, a perverse tongue, such as an immoderate and rash one) in it, is a breaking of the spirit.
It is remarkable that the Septuagint translates perversity and crushing in the contrary sense: the health of the tongue, they say, is a tree of life; but he who preserves it shall be filled with spirit; and the Syriac: the health of the tongue is a tree of life; and he who eats its fruits shall be satisfied by it; and the Chaldean: the medicine of the tongue is a tree of life; and he who eats of it shall be satisfied with its fruits; R. Solomon, however, translates the latter part thus: when anyone uses his tongue wickedly, it is destruction in the wind, that is, he will bring upon himself the most grievous ruin, which is compared to the East wind; for this wind is appointed to punish the wicked, according to Jeremiah 18:17: "Like a burning wind (Hebrew, eastern) I will scatter you;" Psalm 48:8: "With a vehement wind (Hebrew, eastern) You will shatter the ships of Tarshish." Similar is Exodus 14:21.
And R. Levi: "Rest of the tongue," he says, "is a tree of life, that is, when someone spares his words, is silent and at rest, he will beget life for himself: for when someone rises up to inflict harm on him, he will be soothed by this man's words; but he who places wickedness and devastation in his tongue will beget for himself the gravest and most unexpected dangers, like a tree that is broken by a violent wind; for he will provoke the anger of his adversary."
But better our translator, the Septuagint, the Chaldean, the Syriac, and others understand by רוח ruach spirit, not wind. Hence our translator renders: shall crush the spirit; the Septuagint, however, shall be filled with spirit, because the Hebrew שבר scheber signifies both crushing and the food with which we are satisfied.
Therefore a "peaceable tongue," first, is a calm tongue, and the health of the tongue is a tongue that is healthy in itself: namely, one that labors under no diseases of anger, envy, or impatience; this accordingly, like the fruit of the tree of life, first preserves the very person to whom it belongs in perpetual peace, serenity, and joy. Second, it preserves and prolongs his life, both of body and of soul; for death of the soul, and often of the body, is inflicted through detractions, calumnies, quarrels, brawls, and other crimes of an intemperate tongue, from which a mild and calm tongue guards. Third, it tempers and composes all the powers, movements, senses, and affections of the soul, and the whole person, by removing the conflicts of anger and concupiscence with reason; in which the health of the soul, and consequently of the body, consists. See what I said about the tree of life in chapter 3:18, chapter 11:30, and Genesis 2:9.
Finally, St. Chrysostom on Psalm 140:3, on the words: "Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth," teaches that Adam and Eve were driven from paradise because they did not guard their tongue, but entered into conversation with the serpent: for persuaded by these conversations they ate the forbidden fruit; therefore the guarding of the tongue is necessary, so that we may recover, as far as possible, the happiness of paradise which Adam lost by speaking. Hence by the Cherubim guarding paradise with a flaming sword, he mystically understands the guarding of the tongue through the thought and terror of divine judgment. "What indeed," he says, "was this guard, if not reason and reflection, which urges terribly, having at hand the fire that will burn those who have used their mouth rashly?"
Second, a "peaceable tongue" and healing tongue is a mild and calm tongue, which by its gentleness and grace cures and heals the pains and ailments of the soul in others, just as the tree of life healed all changes of the body: namely, it calms the angry, reconciles the quarreling, befriends the envious, makes the proud humble, raises up the faint-hearted, etc. But that which is "immoderate," in Hebrew perverse, namely harsh, wrathful, or infected and depraved by some other vice, "shall crush the spirit," because it fixes in another's mind the stings of anger, grief, revenge, faint-heartedness, sorrow, anguish, or imprudence and foolishness, by which the peace, health, vigor, and strength of the spirit and soul are broken and crushed.
Great is this gift and grace of the tongue, which St. Bernard requires in Prelates, sermon 25 on the Song of Songs. For explaining the text, I am black but beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem, he says these are the words of the bride, who, to soothe the rivals stirred up by the goads of envy against her, lovingly calls them daughters of Jerusalem. And he adds: "Indeed this perfection is to be desired by all; but it is properly the form of the best Prelates. For good and faithful superiors know that the care of the ailing souls entrusted to them is committed to them, not pomp. And when they detect the interior murmuring of someone by the sign of a complaining voice, even if that person goes so far as to burst forth into insults and abuse against them, recognizing themselves as physicians and not lords, they prepare without delay not vengeance against the frenzy of the soul, but medicine. This therefore is the reason why the bride calls daughters of Jerusalem those very ones whom she endures as malevolent and cursing, namely, so that by gentle speech she may soothe those who murmur, calm the commotion, and heal the malice. For it is written: A peaceable tongue restrains quarrels." For thus St. Bernard reads, indeed interprets, what we read: "A peaceable tongue is a tree of life."
To this point is the distinction between the irascible and the patient person, which Bl. Antiochus gives in the Pandects: "A branch," he says, "when it is green and flexible, is broken with difficulty, because it yields to the hand; but one that is dry is easily broken, because it does not yield. So likewise a truly mild man is with difficulty uprooted, because he yields and bends gently; but an irascible man, not knowing how to bend, is broken by a single word."
Moreover, the Septuagint translates: a healthy tongue is a tree of life; whoever guards it shall be filled with spirit, namely of gentleness, peace, and charity, just as a heated oven, if kept closed and guarded, is filled with the spirit of heat. The author of the Greek Chain explains the Septuagint thus: There is, he says, a double health of the tongue: one by which it heals, another by which it is healed. That tongue is rightly called healthy which does not sin by its word; for the disease of the tongue is sin committed through it. But he who does not sin with his tongue is filled with spirit — not any spirit, but the Holy Spirit. The Wise Man also exhorts below to careful guarding of the tongue. For he says: "Good words are a honeycomb of honey; and their sweetness is the health of the soul." Teaching about useful and salutary things sprouts knowledge; and this is the tree of life.
5. A FOOL LAUGHS AT THE DISCIPLINE OF HIS FATHER: BUT HE WHO KEEPS REPROOFS SHALL BECOME WISER
The Syriac: but the prudent guards his father's reproofs; the Chaldean: and he who guards himself against his reproof is shrewd. For laughs at, the Hebrew is ינאץ iinats, that is, spurns; the Chaldean, rejects; the Septuagint, mocks. The meaning is clear, as if to say: A fool, that is, one who is senseless and wicked, addicted to his own judgment and his own lusts, when he is reproved for these by his father, spurns the correction: in which he shows his folly, because since this correction proceeds from paternal love, by which the father supremely desires the good of his son, namely to teach him wisdom and virtue, he foolishly spurns both this good of his and his father's love, and rushes headlong into vices which will lead him to ruin and hell; for day by day he becomes more foolish, and more obstinate in folly, that is, in vice and iniquity.
But he who keeps reproofs shall become shrewd; the Septuagint, shrewder, that is, more prudent and wiser, because he will advance in all honesty and virtue, which will win for him honor and happiness both present and eternal. In Hebrew it is יערים iarim, that is, he will be shrewd, cunning like a serpent; for the serpent is accustomed to sharpen the weak and flickering eyes of its young with the juice of fennel; and hence the vision of the serpent is so keen, as Albertus Magnus reports, and also Pliny, book 21, chapter 23: "Fennel," he says, "serpents have ennobled by shedding their old age through its taste and restoring the acuity of their eyes with its juice." And the same, book 8, chapter 27: "A snake," he says, "emerging from its winter hiding place with dimmed sight, rubs itself against the herb marathium (fennel), anoints and refreshes its eyes; and if its scales have become numb, it scratches itself on juniper thorns." In a similar way, parents by their correction sharpen the prudence and virtue of their children. This maxim is frequently inculcated by Solomon, because it is the beginning and cause of all good for children, as in chapter 1:1, chapter 4:1, chapter 7:1, and especially chapter 12:1, chapter 13:1. See what was said there.
IN ABUNDANT JUSTICE THERE IS THE GREATEST STRENGTH: BUT THE THOUGHTS OF THE WICKED SHALL BE ROOTED OUT
This verse is not in the Hebrew, but in the Septuagint, from which our translator copied it. For strength the Greek is ἰσχύς, that is, vigor, fortitude, as if to say: The just man, while daily advances in justice, daily increasing his strength, he likewise strengthens himself in the goods of both body and soul; whereby it comes about that he overcomes all temptations, persecutions, and afflictions more strongly day by day, and generously transcends all adversities as well as prosperities of this world, and will not allow himself to be drawn away a nail's breadth from justice and virtue by any promises or threats, because fixing his heart on God and heaven he despises all earthly things; but the thoughts and desires of the wicked, because they are placed in earthly riches, friends, and honors, are therefore weak, perishable, and fleeting, and so will soon be cut down and perish at the roots. The Septuagint seems to have added this sentence to the following one, which exists in the Hebrew, for the sake of explanation; for it seems to be a paraphrase and interpretation of it, as is evident to anyone comparing the two.
Finally, some take justice here as particular justice, which is the virtue that renders to each his own right, and so they explain, as if to say: Justice is the greatest of the moral virtues, as Aristotle teaches, book 5 of the Ethics, chapter 1, and St. Thomas, I-II, Question 66, article 4, who also gives the reason, that justice is closer to reason, and that its subject is the will, and its object is the operations by which a man is rightly and justly ordered toward another; whereas fortitude is in the irascible appetite, temperance in the concupiscible, and its object is food, drink, and sexual matters. But for strength the Greek is not ἀρετή, but ἰσχύς, that is, vigor, fortitude, as I have said.
6. THE HOUSE OF THE JUST IS GREAT STRENGTH: AND IN THE FRUITS (Hebrew, revenues) OF THE WICKED THERE IS DISTURBANCE
The Septuagint: in the houses of the just there is much strength; but the fruits of the wicked shall perish. For strength the Hebrew is חסן chosen, that is, vigor, fortitude, and also riches and a hidden and protected treasure.
First, then, R. Levi explains thus: The house of the just is fortified and firm for a double reason: both by its own strength and by the special providence of God, which embraces the just man. But when the wicked enter it, the same will be disturbed, and will not escape destruction, and both its fortification and its merit will be taken away from it. R. Solomon adds: The house of the just, he says, is the temple built by David, or rather by Solomon, which was for the Israelites the safest fortification and tower of strength. But when Manasseh brought an idol into it, then it was disturbed, profaned, and destroyed.
Second, Baynus, as if to say: Not riches but justice gives strength to endure adversities: by which therefore the house of the just resists, not the wicked man's house.
Third, and genuinely, "strength" here signifies not so much vigor as riches and treasure: for it is directly opposed to the fruits, in Hebrew the revenues, of the wicked; and this is what the Hebrew chosen signifies, because the strength of the rich is their riches, according to that of chapter 10:15: "The substance of the rich man is the city of his strength."
Hence Pagninus, Vatablus, Cajetan, Marinus, Aben-Ezra, and others generally translate: the house (or to the house, or in the house) of the just is a great treasure, that is, a large one, as if to say: In the house of the just, many riches are gathered and preserved, and they remain and last, because they are chosen, that is, stored and protected by wisdom and justice, and by God; but the crops and revenues of the wicked are disturbed, that is, disrupted and scattered either by hail and storms, or by bandits and soldiers plundering them, or by the household servants themselves, who in the house of the wicked are likewise accustomed to be unjust and rapacious, so that each seizes for himself whatever he can; and so the revenues of the house and master are scattered and perish. On the other hand, God protects the revenues and riches of the just from storms, from bandits, from every adversity; and the servants of the just are likewise faithful and just, who therefore collaborate and conspire for the good and wealth of the house and master. Furthermore, the just man preserves his wealth and rightly expends it on his own needs and on almsgiving, on account of which God in turn grants him greater revenues. But the wicked man pours out and squanders his goods on banquets, games, gambling, and harlots: for the greater the revenue and income that comes to him, the more freely he sins and flows into luxury. Hence Baynus says: This proverb teaches that riches will be the material of virtue for the just, but the fuel of vices for the wicked. And Aben-Ezra says: The house of the just, he says, is like a fortress, that is, the storehouses of the just are full of provisions, as if to say: In the house of the just, ample granaries are filled with produce.
Moreover, chosen, that is, strength and a strong treasure, signifies that the riches of the just man, acquired by just labor, are stored away and long preserved in the family of the just, and customarily passed from father to sons and grandsons; while on the other hand the riches of the wicked, inasmuch as they are acquired through robbery, usury, and unjust contracts, so far from lasting that the house they disturb the household, while heirs quarrel over their possession and inheritance, either among themselves or with those from whom they were unjustly taken. Finally, we see that in the houses of the pious, peace, love, and harmony flourish; but the houses of the wicked are constantly disturbed by hatreds, lawsuits, and brawls. Hence the Tigurina translates: in the house of the just there are many treasures; but in the revenues of the wicked there is disturbance; Vatablus: through the fruit of the wicked, the house itself is undermined, namely through evil deeds; for these are the fruits of the wicked.
Mystically, understand these things of the treasures of virtues and good works, especially of almsgiving, which endure with the just man, and indeed will lead him to the heavenly kingdom, according to that saying of Christ: "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither rust nor moth destroys," Matthew 6. While on the other hand the works of the wicked do not endure, either because they are evil; or if good, they are not stable: for the wicked man relapses into wickedness.
Allegorically, the Author of the Greek Chain says: "By the houses of the just, understand the Churches, in which the strength of God exists through the presence of the Holy Spirit; but by the fruit of the wicked, their evil works, on account of which they will certainly perish." And Bede: "The house of the just," he says, "is the Church of Christ, which has the greatest strength, so that by rain, winds, and rivers of frequent temptations it can in no way be destroyed; and in the works of the devil there seethes continual disturbance, which tries to overthrow the same house of Christ either through false brethren or through open adversaries."
7. THE LIPS OF THE WISE SHALL SPREAD (Hebrew, scatter; Tigurina, sow; Symmachus, guard) KNOWLEDGE: THE HEART OF FOOLS SHALL BE UNLIKE
In Hebrew: the heart of fools, not so; the Syriac and Pagninus: is not right; the Tigurina: is not solid; R. Solomon: is not true; the Chaldean: the lips of the wise make known (Syriac, speak) knowledge, and of fools not so; the Septuagint: the lips of the wise are bound with understanding; but the hearts of the imprudent are not secure; or, as the author of the Greek Chain puts it: the lips of the wise are bound by judgment and understanding; but the hearts of fools are slippery and unstable. For unlike, the Hebrew is כן ken, which is an adverb meaning thus, so; the same is a noun meaning right, true; also firm, solid.
For shall spread, the Hebrew is יזרו iezaru, which first means, they will scatter by winnowing, they will sow, as our translator, Vatablus, Pagninus, and the rest render it; second, they will bind, gird, embrace, they will bind knowledge to themselves, as the Septuagint renders it: for the word זרה zara is of contrary signification (of which the Hebrews have many), so that it signifies not only to scatter, but also to bind together, or to fold up and gird that which was scattered and loose; so that in both letters (though transposed) and signification it alludes to אזר azar, that is, girded, girt. Hence R. Solomon translates: the wise will be crowned with knowledge; for זר zer signifies a crown. Both meanings suit this passage and come to the same thing.
The plain meaning therefore is, as if to say: The wise so bind wisdom and virtue (for this is the knowledge of the Saints) to their heart, and in turn their heart to wisdom, that they fully imbue and fill their heart with it, whereby it comes about that they have a fixed and stable heart and mind, and being full of wisdom, they then pour it forth and scatter it among others; but the heart of fools is unlike: for it is bound not to wisdom but to folly; whereby they have an unstable, wandering, and slippery mind, by which they roll and slide from one desire to another, and pour forth the folly with which they are full and scatter it among others. Hence St. Gregory, Part 3 of the Pastoral Rule, admonition 19: "Of these it is written," he says, "The heart of fools shall be unlike. For the heart of the wise is always similar to itself, because while it rests in true persuasions, it constantly directs itself in good works; but the heart of fools is unlike, because while it shows itself changeable through fickleness, it never remains the same as it was." Therefore, as Sixtus the philosopher says, the wise man is always like himself, the fool is always unlike.
This can be seen in heretics, who always teach different and still different things, indeed things contrary to their former teachings. See the seven-headed Luther in Cochlaeus.
Therefore the Hebrew iezaru signifies that the wise in teaching wisdom, that is, virtue, ought to do what farmers do in sowing seed, according to the parable of the sower proposed by Christ, Matthew 13:3: namely, first, just as farmers iezaru, that is, winnow the seed to be sown so that it may be pure and separated from chaff, so likewise the wise man should winnow and purge the knowledge and wisdom that he teaches from every error, and likewise his mind from desire. Second, just as farmers iezaru, that is, bind and fasten to themselves the sack of seed to be sown, so likewise the wise man should bind to himself the knowledge to be taught, namely so that he may deeply impress it upon his heart, so that when he teaches, he may seem to draw it forth and breathe it out not from his mouth, but from the inmost sense, affection, and spirit of his heart. This is what Christ says: "A sower went out to sow his seed," who, namely, makes the seed, that is, the word of God, now his own, that is, has intimately placed and impressed it upon his heart. In this respect many teachers and preachers err, who recite from memory word for word the sermons they have composed, as if they were reciting a speech of Cicero that they had learned: therefore their preaching is a dry and cold declamation; but the wise draw forth their words more from the heart than from memory, and therefore those words are living, efficacious, and burning, by which they kindle the minds of their hearers and impel them wherever they wish.
Third, just as farmers iezaru, that is, sow seed generously in hope of an abundant harvest, so also the wise man generously scatters and spreads his wisdom, knowing it to be seed, and that it was given to him by God for sowing, who will demand from him an exact accounting of this sowing on the day of judgment, especially because he likewise knows that an ample reward has been promised by God for his sowing, namely the crown of teachers in heaven and the conversion of hearers on earth. For even though hearers may not be converted at once, yet in their own time, remembering the sermon they heard, they will produce fruit not to be repented of, either in themselves or in others. Hence St. Chrysostom, homily 41 on Genesis: "The farmer indeed," he says, "does not sow with equal eagerness, reflecting that the fruits have hitherto been useless; but we are free from this care. For although, with equal seed sown, we may not reap fruit due to the sluggishness of hearers, yet a perfect harvest and reward will be ours." Hence the Wise Man admonishes, Ecclesiastes 11:1: "Cast your bread upon the passing waters, for after many times you will find it." And verse 4: "He who observes the wind will not sow; and he who watches the clouds will never reap." And Isaiah, chapter 32:20: "Blessed are you who sow beside all waters, sending forth the foot of the ox and the ass." Therefore just as the farmer sows his entire field and does not separate the more fertile part from the less fertile: so also the preacher should not consider whether the hearers are many or few, noble or ignoble, learned or unlearned; but should say with the Apostle: "I am a debtor to the wise and to the unwise," and on every given occasion should teach and preach diligently. Thus St. Francis, as St. Bonaventure attests, preached with the same eagerness of mind and the same fervor of spirit to few and to many, to rich and to poor, to citizens and to peasants. Such were the Apostles and Apostolic men, of whom it is said in Psalm 125: "Going, they went and wept, casting their seed; but coming, they shall come with rejoicing, carrying their sheaves."
Fourth, St. Ambrose on Psalm 36: "The lips of the wise," he says, "are bound with understanding, in that all the things they say seem to agree with true understanding, and also by the prudence of their own understanding they know what they ought to speak or be silent about, so that what should be kept silent they restrain with a certain barrier and bond of the lips; but in those things that ought to be said, they loose the bonds of their lips."
The same on Psalm 38: "The lips of the wise man are bound with understanding. When therefore you see the wise man remaining silent while impudent people mock, say: He has bound his lips with understanding, that is, he wisely keeps silent, lest he be bound by the bonds of his own lips. He has set a guard over his mouth, he has hedged his ears with thorns, he has applied a bar to the doors of his mouth; he guards the treasure of his heart and the silver of his speech, so that he may bring it forth, tested and purified, when it is fitting, lest some thief or disturber first break into his heart and drag it captive to those to whom he may sell his crimes." The same, book 3, epistle to Constantius: "Let your lips be bound with understanding, that is," he says, "let the manifestation of your words shine forth, let understanding flash and your address, and let your discourse not need another's assertion, but let your speech protect itself as with its own arms, and let no word of yours go out in vain or proceed without meaning. For it is a bandage that is accustomed to bind up the wounds of souls; which if anyone rejects, he betrays the desperate state of his own salvation. And therefore around those who are afflicted with a grave ulcer, use the oil of speech to soothe the hardness of mind. Apply a poultice, add the bandage of a salutary precept, so that you may not allow those who waver and wander regarding faith or the observance of discipline to perish with a lax spirit and relaxed vigor." See more in St. Chrysostom, St. Ambrose, Barradius, Salmerone, and other interpreters explaining the parable of the sower, Matthew 13:3.
8. THE SACRIFICES OF THE WICKED ARE ABOMINABLE TO THE LORD: THE VOWS OF THE JUST ARE ACCEPTABLE
That is, they are pleasing and acceptable to God, and apt for reconciling and appeasing God. "Vows" here signify not promises made to God, but prayers; for the Hebrew is תפלה tephilla, that is, prayer, entreaties, supplications. The Hebrew therefore reads thus: the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord; and the prayer of the upright is His good pleasure; the Chaldean: and in the prayer of the just He will be appeased; the Syriac: He holds the prayers of the just as pleasing; the Septuagint, in the Greek Chain: the Lord abominates the sacrifices of the wicked; but the prayers of those who rightly order their way of life are accepted by Him. The meaning is clear. The reason is that formerly before Christ, all the sacrifices of the Jews and Gentiles derived their entire power of meriting, satisfying, and obtaining from the work of the one performing them (ex opere operantis), that is, from the holiness and worthiness of the one offering. But in the new law, Christ instituted the sacrifice of the Eucharist, which has power not only from the work of the one performing it, but far more from the work performed (ex opere operato), that is, through itself and by its own power, because both the one offering and the victim are Christ Himself, who is most pleasing to God; therefore even if the one offering, such as a priest, is wicked, nevertheless the sacrifice of the Eucharist offered by him retains and preserves its power, which it has from the work performed, as all theologians teach. And St. Augustine, book 2 Against Parmenianus, chapter 6, when Parmenianus and the other Donatists raised this passage of Solomon as an objection, and from it contended that baptism conferred by heretics, as wicked men, was displeasing to God and therefore invalid and to be repeated, responds by denying the consequence. They object, he says: "The sacrifices of the wicked are an execration to the Lord. For, they say, they offer them unjustly."
St. Augustine responds to this: "It has already been answered above that Christ is not unjust, who offered Himself for us and is our mediator in heaven; under whose governance of His Church the wicked do not harm the good, who are either unknown or tolerated for the sake of peace, until He Himself comes and sends the reapers to separate the weeds from the harvest, and with His winnowing fork the chaff from the wheat." And further: "Therefore the sacrifices of the wicked harm those very ones who offer them impiously. For one and the same sacrifice, on account of the name of the Lord which is invoked, is always holy, and becomes such for each person as the heart with which he approaches to receive it. For he who eats and drinks unworthily, eats judgment to himself. He does not say, to others, but to himself." However, the prayers and offerings of Christians, as well as of Jews, derive their power not from the work performed but from the one performing it; therefore if the one performing is in a state of mortal sin and thus displeasing and hateful to God, his prayer has little power and weight with God, unless he repents of sin or begins to repent. For, as St. Augustine says, sermon 19 On the Words of the Lord: "God examines the heart, not the hand," that is, He weighs hearts, not offerings; He values holiness, not the gift; He weighs intentions, not prayers.
Parallel to this sentence is Sirach 34:23: "The Most High does not approve the gifts of the wicked, nor does He look upon the offerings of the wicked, nor will He be propitiated for sins by the multitude of their sacrifices." See what was said there. St. Gregory explains this passage in book 7 of the Register, epistle 127 to Reccared king of the Visigoths, praising him for the gifts he sent to St. Peter. His words have been transferred into Canon Law, and are found in 3, Question 7, chapter 5 In gravibus, where it says: "One who is in grave sins, while he is weighed down by his own, does not wash away those of others. For we all clearly know that when the one who is sent to intercede is displeasing, the mind of the angry person is doubtless provoked to worse things. For it is written: The sacrifices of the wicked are abominable to God, the vows of the just are acceptable. For in the judgment of Almighty God, not what is given, but by whom it is given, is considered. For hence it is written: The Lord looked upon Abel and upon his gifts; but upon Cain and upon his gifts He did not look. For since he was about to say that the Lord looked upon the gifts, he carefully stated first that He looked upon Abel. From which it is clearly shown that it was not the giver who was pleasing on account of the gifts, but the gifts on account of the giver. For the Most High does not approve the gifts of the wicked, nor does He look upon their offerings, nor will He be propitiated for sins by the multitude of their sacrifices. Likewise: The Lord is far from the wicked, and He will hear the prayers of the just."
Moreover, Calvinists from these sentences of Solomon infer that without faith no good work can be done, even merely moral work, and therefore that all the works of unbelievers and the wicked are sins. To these Bellarmine responds excellently, book 5 On Grace and Free Will, chapter 10: There is much difference, he says, between sacrifices and moral works: for in order for a moral work to be done well, it is not required that it be done with detestation of sins or with a pure conscience, which however is required for rightly offering a sacrifice. The reason for this difference is that sacrifice has as its end to appease and reconcile God, or to obtain some benefits from Him, or to give thanks for what has been received; but he who strives to reconcile God to himself and yet does not detest or abandon his sins, fights against his own action, and does not so much appease God as provoke Him to wrath. So also he who wishes to obtain benefits from God or to give Him thanks for those received, and yet carries on enmity with Him and does not cease to offend Him by transgressing His law, honors God less than he mocks Him. Therefore it is no wonder if his sacrifice does not please God, since it is not offered rightly. But a moral work, such as almsgiving to the poor, has no other end than to bring help to the needy, for the attainment of which end the purity or impurity of the life and conscience of the one who gives alms is irrelevant.
9. THE WAY OF THE WICKED IS AN ABOMINATION TO THE LORD: HE WHO FOLLOWS JUSTICE IS LOVED BY HIM
The Chaldean: but He loves those who follow justice. This sentence is clear and gives the reason for the preceding one, as if to say: Therefore God abominates the sacrifices of the wicked, because He abominates their way, that is, their manner of living and acting; therefore He accepts the prayers of the just, because their way, that is, their manner of living, namely their just works, are pleasing to Him. For who follows, the Hebrew is מרדף meraddeph, that is, who pursues justice, by which it is signified that justice, like a heavenly virgin, flees from men full of earthly desires, according to the verse of the Poet:
Last of the virtues, Astraea left the earth.
Therefore those zealous for virtue ought to pursue it as it flees, and that with enormous striving, effort, and zeal, so that they may be able to overtake and seize it, swiftly running ahead, with a swifter course. Therefore with the same effort with which a hunting dog pursues a hare, accelerating and multiplying its steps beyond the hare's, until it overtakes and catches the hare, with that same effort we ought to pursue virtue, and not cease from the continuous course, but press it on until we attain it.
10. INSTRUCTION IS GRIEVOUS TO HIM WHO FORSAKES THE WAY OF LIFE: HE WHO HATES REPROOFS SHALL DIE
The word of life is not in the Hebrew, but is understood: for the way of life is the law of God, which leads to a long life here, and then to eternal life in heaven. For instruction the Hebrew is מוסר musar, that is, chastisement, discipline, correction. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: Discipline and correction is "evil" for the wicked man who, following his own lusts, forsakes the way of life, that is, the law of God, both because it is displeasing to him, unpleasant and burdensome — for thus "good" is often taken for pleasant and joyful, and "evil" for sad and burdensome, as when Christ says, Matthew 6: "Sufficient for the day is its own evil," that is, its own trouble, its own cross, its own affliction; and because the law of God threatens the wicked with the worst punishments both in this age and in the next, and if it is spurned, sentences him to them. "He who" not only forsakes the way of life but also "hates reproofs shall die," both by an untimely death, with which God often punishes the wicked, and by eternal death in hell; hence the Septuagint translates: but those who hate reproofs die shamefully; for such persons are incorrigible and, as it were, hopeless, like the frenzied and the lethargic, who wish to sleep in their sins and to die sleeping.
So St. Augustine, sermon 50 On the Words of the Lord: "Such men indeed," he says, "are like those suffering from lethargy, who are sluggish to direct their eyes toward the light, and are troublesome to those who wish to rouse them. Leave me alone, says the lethargic person. Why? I want to sleep. But the other: You will die. Thereupon the man, from love of sleep, replies: I want to die. But Charity from above: I do not will it." See what was said on verse 5 and the passages cited there.
That this is the meaning is clear from the Hebrew, which reads thus: correction is evil to the one who abandons the path; and from the Chaldean: the discipline of a wicked man, he says, makes his way to err; and the Tigurina: severe chastisement awaits one who deserts the paths; and Vatablus: discipline is heavy and displeasing to the man who deserts the right way; and Pagninus: the scourge is evil to the one who abandons the path of the Lord; and R. Solomon: "Severe punishments," he says, "and penalties are appointed and prepared for the one who leaps over the divine path." So also Aben-Ezra, R. Levi, Jansenius, Salazar, and others.
Moreover, the Septuagint translates in the opposite sense: the discipline of the foolish is recognized by passersby; and the Syriac: the seizure of those who do not know evil is manifest. But in the Septuagint, for ἀκάκου, that is, of the innocent, it seems that κακοῦ, that is, of the evil, of the harmful, should be read: for so the Hebrew, the Chaldean, and the rest already cited.
Baynus explains differently, as if to say: The teaching of a father or teacher who deserts the way of life, that is, the law of God, is evil, because just as he himself is vicious, so he teaches the same vices by words and deeds and impresses them upon his children and disciples.
Hugo also explains differently, as if to say: He teaches badly who teaches only by verbal instruction, that is, only with his mouth, while by his deeds he deserts the way of life, that is, the law of God; because, as Bede says on Proverbs: "To live badly and teach well is nothing other than to condemn oneself by one's own voice;" and, as Chrysostom says, homily 47 on Matthew: "His very deeds cry out loudly against his own teaching." See the author of the Opus Imperfectum in St. Chrysostom, homilies 9 and 40 on Matthew, where among other things he says: "Such a person does not instruct another, but chastises himself. For no one can stand in the valley and speak from the mountain; but either speak from where you stand, or stand where you speak from. If your mind is on the earth, why do you speak of heaven?" And further: "It is better to do and not to teach, than to teach and not to do: because he who does, corrects some by his example; but he who teaches and does not do, not only corrects no one, but moreover scandalizes many. For who is not moved to sin when he sees the very teachers of justice sinning?"
11. HELL AND DESTRUCTION ARE BEFORE THE LORD: HOW MUCH MORE THE HEARTS OF THE CHILDREN OF MEN?
The Septuagint: hell and destruction are manifest before the Lord, how much more the hearts of men? The Hebrew is אף כי aph ki, which in a comparison, as here, signifies how much more, or much more. So Pagninus, Vatablus, Marinus, Baynus, Jansenius, and others. Therefore some translate coldly and not aptly: hell and destruction are before the Lord, even the hearts of the children of men. It alludes to Job 26:6: "Hell is naked before Him, and destruction has no covering."
HELL AND DESTRUCTION. — That is, hell which destroys all things, as a hendiadys; for hell is called destruction, in Hebrew אבדון abaddon, that is, ruin, consumption, a place entirely hidden from us and wrapped in deep darkness, an abyss and precipice into which when something descends, it seems to have perished, immersed and overwhelmed by darkness and the mist of oblivion, according to Psalm 87:13: "Shall Your wonders be known in the darkness, and Your justice in the land of oblivion?" Or more simply, hell is the lowest place of the earth and of the whole world, and the prison of the damned; destruction is death itself, gehenna, and the eternal damnation of the same.
Furthermore, destruction refers to the lost themselves, namely the damned, both men and demons, in hell. Hence Revelation 9:11, the angel who presides over the abyss is called in Hebrew Abaddon, in Greek ἀπολλύων, in Latin the destroyer, or the one who destroys. Therefore less probably Cajetan and Jansenius understand by hell the state of the dead; Mercer, the grave; others, death, as if to say: God knows the state of the dead (namely where the dead are and what they suffer), which appears to men in this life to be most abstruse. Therefore much more does He know the hearts of men living here: for these do not appear to men so abstruse, although on the part of the thing itself they are more abstruse, secret, and hidden. But the Hebrew שאול sheol properly signifies hell, not death nor the grave, especially when אבדון abaddon, that is, destruction, is added to it. Hence the Church condemns Calvin, who denies that Christ descended to hell; and by hell understands the grave, as if in the Creed "He descended into hell" were the same as "He was buried." and indeed the Scholiast of the Septuagint says, discipline is evil for the one abandoning the way; which plainly agrees with the rest already cited.
Aben-Ezra and R. Levi connect this verse with the preceding one in this way: The Lord, in whose sight are hell and destruction, that is, from whom nothing is hidden, examines the thoughts and hearts of the children of men who abandon the way of discipline and hate chastisement, and He will give them their reward, that they may die before their day and descend to hell and destruction. Therefore Solomon here strikes fear into those who desert the right ways, as if they could hide and deceive the eyes of God, who clearly sees even the most secret things. David, the father of Solomon, does the same, Psalm 138:7: "Where shall I go," he says, "from Your Spirit, and where shall I flee from Your face? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I descend into hell, You are present," etc.
It is an argument from the less difficult to the more difficult, as if to say: God knows hell and damnation and the damned; therefore much more does He know hearts, that is, the thoughts and volitions of the hearts of those who live in this earth: for the former is more difficult, the latter easier.
The difficulty is how this sentence is true. The reason for doubt is that hell and damnation are physical things, and therefore determined and certain, which can easily be known; but the thoughts and intentions of men are free things, and therefore indeterminate, secret, and hidden, and therefore known to God alone. Hence Angels, demons, and the damned know hell and the punishments of the damned; but they do not know the secrets of hearts.
First, Jansenius and Cajetan respond that Solomon speaks of difficulty that exists not on the part of the thing itself, but in the opinion of men; for men think it is more difficult — indeed it truly is more difficult for them — to know the secrets of hell than the secrets of hearts, because they have no indications of the former, but of the latter they have them through words, facial expression, gestures, deeds, etc. This response is easy and probable. For Scripture sometimes speaks according to the mind and sense of men, and accommodates itself to the phrases and customs of men.
Second, R. Levi constructs the argument thus: hell is the lowest place and the most remote from God; but the heart or mind of man is near to God, because it was created in the image of God. If therefore the eyes of God penetrate even to the lowest hell, most remote from Himself, much more will they penetrate the hearts of men, which are near to Him.
Third, Hugo limits the hearts of men to good men, as if to say: If God looks upon hell and the damned in it, to punish them according to the measure of evils committed by them, how much more will He look upon the hearts of the good, to reward them for the good things intended in their minds and perfected in their works?
Fourth, more genuinely and profoundly, by hell and destruction understand damnation and the damned, especially the demons, as if to say: God knows the secrets of hell and of the damned, especially of the demons; therefore much more does He know the secrets of living men. For the demons, as they surpass men in the subtlety of their nature, so also in the depth of mind and in concealing secrets; hence they are more crafty, deceitful, and cunning than men, as is evident from their temptations, by which they often entangle, seduce, and overthrow even holy men. Furthermore, God knows all the acts, even the internal and secret ones, of the hearts of both the demons and the human damned, which they had during their life; and therefore He has inflicted on each the measure of punishments in hell that each merited by his acts. Moreover, God knows all the thoughts and volitions of the demons and the damned, which they now have and which they will have throughout all eternity; therefore much more does He know the thoughts and volitions of men who live wretchedly and briefly on earth.
Finally, before the Lord signifies not only that the hearts of men are known to God, equally with those of demons and the damned, but also that they are in the hand, power, and dominion of God, so that He may do with them what He pleases, that He may send into them whatever thoughts and volitions He wishes, that He may impose upon them punishments or rewards and joys as it pleases Him. For the hearts of all Angels, demons, and the damned are in the hand of God just as clay is in the hand of the potter, as Jeremiah says, chapter 18:6, and as wax is in the hand of the wax-worker. Therefore by equal, indeed by a stronger reason, in the same way the hearts of men are in the hand of God, according to that of St. Paul: "He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens," Romans 9:18 and 20. Hence God is called by St. Augustine and others "the king of minds," because He wholly penetrates, possesses, and occupies them, so that He can intimately enter into them and vitally implant whatever thoughts and volitions He wishes — something that neither demon nor angel can do.
Therefore Solomon rightly argues from the more difficult to the less difficult. If God by His wisdom penetrates and by His power possesses the minds of demons and the damned in hell, to such a degree that He torments and burns them with fire, therefore much more does He penetrate and possess the hearts of men still living, who cannot be compared with demons in cunning and strength.
Abraham speaks in a similar phrase to Lot, Genesis chapter 13:9: "Behold the whole land is before you," that is, it is in your power and choice to select in it the region which pleases you more. And David to God, Psalm 37:10: "Lord, before You is all my desire," as if to say: It is in Your hand to fulfill it. Isaiah 40:10: "His work is before Him," that is, it is in His hand and at His disposal. Song of Songs 8:12: "My vineyard is before me," it is within my right and power.
12. A CORRUPT MAN LOVES NOT ONE WHO REPROVES HIM (Septuagint, an undisciplined man, who turns away from and shakes off discipline and correction), NOR WILL HE GO TO THE WISE
Vatablus: he does not approach; the Septuagint: he will not associate with the wise; the Syriac: he does not walk with them; for because he thinks that he will be rebuked by them, therefore he flees from them, says Aben-Ezra. For corrupt the Hebrew is לץ lets, that is, a mocker, a scoffer, who laughs at all admonitions and hisses them away with laughter — such persons by their contempt, sneering, jesting, and gibes are most pestilent and supremely harmful, because they turn all laws, both divine and human, into a joke and elude them with laughter; who therefore, like plagues, are to be avoided by the faithful and cast out from their assembly and cut off like putrid members, because by the contagion of their malice they infect many and destroy their souls. Such are heretics, concerning whom the Apostle therefore decrees in Titus 3:10: "Avoid a heretical man after a first and second correction, knowing that such a one is subverted, etc., being condemned by his own judgment." For, as the same says, 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 17: "Their speech spreads like a cancer."
13. A GLAD HEART MAKES A CHEERFUL (Pagninus, adorns the) FACE: IN SORROW OF MIND THE SPIRIT IS CAST DOWN
The Septuagint: the face of a glad heart flourishes (the Complutensian, is verdant; Origen, homily 4 on the Song of Songs, is blooming); but when placed in sorrows, it is sad; the Syriac: a cheerful heart makes the body beautiful, a sad heart afflicts the spirit with grief; the Tigurina: in sorrow of heart the spirit languishes; Vatablus: the spirit is broken, darkened, or perishes and fades.
First, R. Solomon explains thus, as if to say: If you bring joy to the heart of God by embracing His path, God in turn will show a benevolent and cheerful countenance toward you, satisfying your desires. But if you give Him occasion for grief, He in turn will show Himself toward you with a disturbed spirit, just as we read that in the time of Noah, because of the crimes of men, God, touched with sorrow of heart within, said: "I will destroy man whom I have created," Genesis 6. This interpretation is irrelevant to this passage: for the subject here is the joy of the human heart, not the divine.
Second, R. Levi: A glad heart, he says, contributes wonderfully to contemplation. For this reason Elisha ordered a minstrel to be brought, so that his soul, made joyful by the music, might rise to divine things and receive the prophetic spirit, 4 Kings 3:13. Conversely, the Rabbis relate that the patriarch Jacob, grieving over the loss of his son Joseph, was stripped of the Holy Spirit, namely the spirit of joy and gladness, in which the Holy Spirit rejoices and through which He works great things. So also Hugo here understands by spirit the Holy Spirit, whom sadness afflicts and drives away from a sad soul. Indeed Bl. Antiochus, homily 25 On Sadness: "Turn away," he says, "this sadness from yourself, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit who dwells in you, lest perhaps He appeal to God and withdraw from you; for the Spirit of God, who poured Himself out even into this flesh, does not bear sadness or anguish of soul." And again: "Sadness grieves the Holy Spirit, who was given to man as joyful. For just as vinegar, if mixed with wine, brings no pleasant taste: so also sadness mixed with the Holy Spirit renders His consolation unpleasant." Bl. Antiochus borrowed these words from the book of the Shepherd, or of Hermas, the disciple of St. Paul, who in book 2, commandment 10, says thus: "Sadness is the most wicked of all spirits, and the worst for the servants of God, and it exterminates all spirits and torments the Holy Spirit." And shortly after he adds: "Therefore take away sadness from yourself, and do not offend the Holy Spirit who dwells in you, lest He ask the Lord and withdraw from you. For the Spirit of the Lord who was given into the flesh does not endure sadness." And finally: "When therefore prayer is mixed with sadness, it will not allow a clean prayer to ascend to the altar of God. For just as wine mixed with vinegar does not have the same sweetness: so also sadness mixed with the Holy Spirit does not produce the same clean prayer."
Third, and genuinely, as if to say: A glad heart not only rejoices in itself, but also pours its joy through natural sympathy into the body, and especially into the face: for it makes the face cheerful, rosy, beautiful, blooming, so that it seems to breathe forth the spirit of gladness; conversely, a sad and sorrowful heart casts down the spirit in sadness and sorrow, and consequently dismays the face and countenance, making it cloudy, pale, and dark: for the spirit is accustomed to manifest its emotions especially in the face. Hence the author of the Greek Chain, following the Septuagint, translates thus: when the heart rejoices, the face is verdant; but when it lies in sorrow, a sad and gloomy spirit walks; for it is the spirit that moves the body, and in it manifests itself and its emotions of joy or sadness through the vital and animal spirits, which it supplies to the body and especially to the face: hence a glad spirit makes the countenance spirited and joyful and rosy, the neck erect, the cheeks lively, the eyes eager, the body agile, the feet swift, the voice silvery; conversely, a sad spirit makes the countenance gloomy and pale, the neck bowed, the cheeks depressed, the eyes livid, the body heavy, the feet leaden, the voice trembling.
Moreover, the true cause of joy is justice and the pursuit of virtues, says the author of the Greek Chain, just as the true cause of sadness is a bad life and conscience. Therefore Solomon tacitly admonishes that we should pursue virtue so that we may always rejoice, and beware of sin so that we may avoid sadness. Hence St. Chrysostom, in the homily That It Is Not Given to Rejoice Equally According to God and According to the World, says thus: "The joy of the just is a true recreation of soul and body alike, and a foretaste and flower of everlasting enjoyment." Accordingly, the Apostle exhorts the faithful, saying: "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice," Philippians chapter 4:4. See what was said there.
Note: For is cast down, the Hebrew is נכאה nechea, that is, the spirit is disturbed, troubled, darkened, inasmuch as the light of joy has been taken from it; Marinus: is sorrowful; Pagninus: is sad; the Tigurina: languishes; Vatablus: is broken, perishes, fades. For, as St. Augustine says, epistle 20 to Honoratus, chapter 14, explaining that of Psalm 21: "My heart is become like wax melting in the midst of my bowels": Sadness, as it were, dissolves the heart. Hence it is also called in Greek λύπη, because it was named λύπη, that is, sadness, from the fact that it λύει, that is, dissolves and causes the heart to waste away.
And Bl. Antiochus, homily 25: "Sadness," he says, "is the mouth of a lion, which with no difficulty absorbs one consumed with grief." And St. Nilus, oration 3 On Sadness, declares the same with beautiful and apt similes of fire, smoke, water, fever, and a woman in labor: "Constant fire," he says, "diminishes lead, and worldly sadness wears away the mind. Smoke dulls the sharpness of the eyes, and sadness blunts the contemplative power of the soul. The depth of water does not admit the splendor of the sun, and a sad heart is not gladdened by the contemplation of light. As fever takes away the power of taste, so sadness takes away the feeling of the soul." And again: "The mother," he says, "is afflicted with pains while she gives birth to her child; but after she has given birth, she suffers no more. But sadness both brings pain during the birth itself and, after it is born, torments vehemently."
St. Gregory Nazianzen, in Iambic 15, briefly defines joy and sadness thus:
What is joy? An expansion of the mind; Sadness? A gnawing and disturbance of the heart.
St. Chrysostom, epistle 3 to Olympias: "Sadness," he says, "is a moth not only of the bones but also of the mind, and a perpetual executioner, not piercing the side but undermining the powers of the soul."
Accordingly, St. Basil, in the homily On Thanksgiving, teaches that the faithful should repel with a generous spirit the violent impressions and assaults of sadness from themselves. "It is the mark of an entirely ignoble and unmanly soul," he says, "and one that rests too little on a constant hope in God, to be broken in this way by adversity and to succumb to unhappy events. For just as worms are accustomed to be born most readily in softer woods, so this anguish of dejection of spirit insinuates itself into the faces of men who are of a softer and inconstant disposition."
And further on he assigns hope and the thought of eternal reward as the remedy for sadness: "Has someone," he says, "afflicted you with disgrace? Then look up to that glory which is laid up in heaven to be prepared for you by the merit of patience. Have you suffered the loss of your possessions? Rather fix your eyes more firmly on those heavenly riches and the incomparable treasure which you yourself have set aside for yourself at the price of good works. Have you been banished from your native land? But you have as your homeland that heavenly Jerusalem. Has your son perished? But you have the Angels with whom you shall dance around that divine throne, to be gladdened with everlasting joy."
The same, oration 12 On Grief: "For adverse events," he says, "test the soul, just as fire tests gold, and indeed for those who have been rightly trained, calamities are, as it were, certain athletic nourishments and exercises which lead the wrestler to paternal glory. But excessive sadness is accustomed to be the author of sin, when sorrow submerges the mind, lack of counsel brings vertigo, and poverty of thought generates an ungrateful spirit. For it is shameful to bless on account of favorable events and to be silent on account of adverse ones; indeed, then especially should we give thanks, since we know with certainty that whom the Lord loves, He chastens, and He scourges every son whom He receives. God indeed rescues His saints from miseries, yet not without testing, but He grants them endurance."
Finally, following Solomon, Sirach says: "From sadness," he says, "death hastens, and it covers virtue, and sadness of heart bows the neck," Sirach 38:19. See what was said there.
14. THE HEART OF THE WISE SEEKS INSTRUCTION (Hebrew, knowledge), AND THE MOUTH OF FOOLS FEEDS ON FOOLISHNESS
In Hebrew: folly; Symmachus: feeds on iniquity; the Septuagint: the corrected heart seeks understanding; but the mouth of the undisciplined knows evils; the Chaldean clearly: the understanding heart seeks knowledge, and the mouth of fools, folly. "The wise" here is the prudent and just man; "he seeks instruction" and knowledge, namely practical knowledge, that is, prudence, honesty, and virtue, so that daily he may grow and advance in them; but the fool, that is, the sinner addicted to vices, feeds on the foolish dainties of his desire and the enticements of gluttony and vices, in which daily he entangles and intoxicates himself more and more; hence the Syriac translates: the heart of the just seeks knowledge, the mouth of fools speaks wicked things; and R. Levi says: by the mouth of fools the folly of the heart is nourished, because speech proceeds from the heart to the mouth.
Better Jansenius, as if to say: The wise man eagerly desires to hear and learn the prudent teachings of the wise; but the fool with gaping and wide-open mouth eagerly receives the insipid and carnal fables, trifles, and filth of the foolish, just as if he were fed on them as on a feast. But these feasts are not for men, but are the pastures of brutes. For this is what the Hebrew ירעה iire signifies, that is, is pastured, which is said of brutes. It is best to join both, as if to say: The heart of the wise man seeks to hear and learn instruction, and once he has learned it, to teach the same to others; but the mouth of the fool feeds on foolishness, because he eagerly desires to hear it as well as to utter it, and to converse and talk about it constantly, so as to teach it to others and make them foolish, that is, carnal and vicious. Hence the Septuagint translates: the mouth of the undisciplined knows evils, that is, it hears and speaks evils; and Symmachus: feeds on injustice or folly, that is, nourishes, cherishes, and sustains wickedness, both in his own mind and in the minds of others, by approving, praising, extolling, and teaching it.
Symbolically, Hugo says: "The mouth of fools feeds on foolishness," that is, on vanity and falsehood. Now there are four animals which live on as many elements — the salamander on fire, the chameleon on air, the herring on water, the mole on earth: so also four kinds of fools will present themselves, who are fed and live on such things. The envious and wrathful feed on the fire of fury; the proud and ambitious on the air of vain praise; the lustful on the water of pleasure; the greedy and avaricious on the earth of fleeting prosperity: so says he.
15. ALL THE DAYS OF THE POOR ARE EVIL: A SECURE MIND IS LIKE A CONTINUAL FEAST
In Hebrew: all the days of the poor are evil, and good of heart (or a good heart) is a continual feast; the Chaldean: and he whose spirit is cheerful, his is a continual feast; the Syriac: and the cheerful are at all times at rest. Note: A good heart for the Hebrews means first, a good, pure, and holy conscience; second, a quiet, joyful, and pleasant mind and conscience; for these two are connected: purity of conscience begets quiet, quiet begets joy of conscience. Our translator signified both by translating "a secure mind."
Now various authors translate and explain this verse variously; all probably and aptly. First, the Tigurina translates: all the days of the afflicted man are evil; but a broad heart is a continual feast. For the Hebrew עני ani means poor, wretched, afflicted. And thus the antithesis is clear; for the afflicted and sad is opposed to the joyful, in that the days of the afflicted are evil, that is, wretched; but the joyful are happy, as if they were engaged in a continual feast. So also Aben-Ezra: עני ani, he says, that is, poor and afflicted, is here called the one who allows himself to be conquered by grief; for he is opposed to one who is good of heart, that is, joyful and pleasant.
Second, R. Levi, and following him Vatablus, takes the poor man as the foolish; for he is poor and needy not in wealth but in sense and mind, as if to say: The entire life of the foolish, namely the impious who have a bad conscience, is miserable; but the life of the wise, that is, the just, is festive and joyful like a perennial feast. In a similar way, St. Chrysostom compares a pure conscience to a sumptuous banquet, homily 13 on Matthew: "When the mind," he says, "is pricked by no stings of conscience, it always enjoys great joy, so much so that no one can express it in speech. For what seems to you pleasant and sweet in the present life? A delicious table? But this, compared to that pleasure which follows virtue, seems bitter and full of sadness." Moreover, Hugo says: "The guests at this feast are the virtues, which are all refreshed with their own courses."
Third, R. Solomon thinks that here the rich man is opposed to and preferred to the poor man, as if to say: The poor man spends evil days, that is, miserable ones; but the rich man always has a good, that is, cheerful heart, because he is engaged in perpetual feasts and delights. But this interpretation is crude and Judaic.
Fourth, others take the poor man properly, and think that the good of his poverty, namely security, is here commended, as if to say: The common people consider the poor to be wretched, and poverty to be the greatest of miseries; but I, Solomon, think otherwise, namely that a secure mind, which poverty affords, is like a continual feast. For, as St. Chrysostom says, homily 30 on Matthew: "The poor man is always secure and free from all fear; but supreme power is never without fear of danger." The same, homily On Receiving Severianus: "Poverty," he says, "is a safe asylum, perpetual security, a tranquil harbor, delights free from perils, sincere pleasure." And Seneca, epistle 2 to Lucilius: "It is an honorable thing," he says, "to be cheerfully poor. Indeed it is no longer poverty but opulence of heart, if it is cheerful. In short, not he who has little, but he who desires more, is poor. For what does it matter how much lies in his strongbox, how much in his granaries, how much he feeds or lends at interest, if he hovers over another's property, if he counts not what he has acquired but what he has yet to acquire? You ask what is the measure of riches? First, to have what is necessary; second, what is sufficient."
Here Budaeus concurs in his Remaining Annotations on the Pandects, page 18, who refers evil not to the days of the poor but to the secure mind, as if to say: All the days of the poor are a mind secure from evil, that is, free from evil. For he says thus: "Through a similar ignorance of the Latin language, unless I am mistaken, the most beautiful apothegm of the Wise Man has been corrupted, Proverbs chapter 15: All the days of the poor are evil; a secure mind is like a continual feast: for evil is not an epithet of the poor, as the commentators and glossators have understood; but it is a substantive noun, in this sense: The whole life of the poor man is a constitution of mind endowed with security from evil." Thus Lucan says in Pharsalia 5:
O safe condition of the life Of a poor and narrow home! O gifts of the gods Not yet understood! To which temples Or walls could it happen not to tremble When Caesar's hand struck?
For securus (secure) is joined with the genitive, as in Quintilian in book 8, who speaking of tautology says: For these things, he says, although not greatly avoided by the best authors, may meanwhile seem to be a fault; into which Cicero often falls, secure of so small an observation. And in Virgil: Secure of loves. And Lucan, in the Pharsalia, of a lion:
He goes out through the steel, secure of so great a wound.
Secure, that is, heedless and contemptuous. But this exposition does not suit the Hebrew text, in which it is clear that evil refers to the days of the poor, not to the secure, or, as it is in Hebrew, good mind.
Fifth, our Salazar thinks that here the poor by necessity are opposed to the poor in spirit, as if to say: The poor man who hates poverty leads a life overwhelmed with miseries; but "a secure mind," in Hebrew, good of heart, namely the one who accepts poverty with an equitable spirit, and lives content with his slender lot, this man lives pleasantly and lives as if in a "continual feast." Hence Seneca, book 1 On the Remedies of Fortune: "Poverty, you say, is heavy for me — nay, you are heavier for poverty. The fault is not in poverty but in the poor man: poverty is unencumbered, cheerful, safe; you make it heavy by your opinion." And epistle 2: "He who gets along well with poverty is rich. The fault is not in poverty but in the mind; that which makes poverty heavy for us can also make riches heavy. For just as it makes no difference whether you place a sick man in a wooden or a golden bed — wherever you transfer him, he carries his disease with him: so it makes no difference whether a sick mind is placed in riches or in poverty; for its own evil follows it." This interpretation is apt, but too narrow; for it limits the secure mind, which belongs to all the pious and holy, to the poor in spirit.
Sixth, therefore, adequately and genuinely, Solomon opposes to the evil of poverty, which the common people esteem the greatest, the good of a secure mind, which is truly the greatest good of this life, as if to say: Just as men esteem poverty the greatest evil, so I on the contrary judge a secure mind and conscience to be the greatest good of this life. Therefore I suggest this remedy to the poor, to drive away the evil of poverty, as if to say: All the days of the poor are evil, that is, laborious, burdensome, wretched; but if they take care that in their poverty they have a secure mind, this will soothe, indeed absorb, all the miseries of poverty. For a secure mind makes the mind joyful and cheerful, as if it were engaged in a continual feast. Hence Pagninus translates: all the days of the poor are evil; but one cheerful in heart is as if he were at a continual feast.
For, as St. Chrysostom says, homily 2 on the Epistle to the Romans: "He who has a pure conscience, even if he is in rags and struggles with constant hunger, is nevertheless more blessed and more tranquil than those who live amid great luxuries."
Note: "A secure mind" in Hebrew is called a good heart; good, both ethically, that is, pure and holy; and physically, that is, joyful, cheerful, pleasant: for such is what is pure and holy, since joy is the inseparable companion of purity. Hence secure (securus) is said as if apart from cares (seorsim a curis), that is, one who is free from disturbances of the soul, says Budaeus at the place already cited; for security is opposed to care and anxiety, and is a right and calm constitution of the soul, free from the care of impending evils. By these words of Solomon, therefore, that blessed security is signified which Democritus called euthymia, that is, a right and calm constitution of the soul, free from the care of impending evils, concerning which Cicero says, book 5 of On the Ends: "But the security of Democritus, which is, as it were, a tranquility of the soul, which they call euthymia, was to be separated from this discussion, because that tranquility of the soul is itself the blessed life." The same in Tusculan Disputations 5: "But who could have that most desired security (and by security I now mean freedom from grief, in which the blessed life consists) to whom a multitude of evils is present or could be present!"
For indeed the cause of this security is the grace of God. For what should the just man fear, who knows that he is in God's care and close to His heart? Therefore the mind of the just man is secure, that is, quiet, serene, tranquil, confident, cheerful, magnanimous, because it leans on God.
But the Septuagint, reading עיני ene (that is, eyes) instead of עני ani (that is, of the poor), translate thus, as the Author of the Greek Chain has it: the eyes of the wicked at all times drink in evils; but the good always dwell in peace and tranquility of mind. The same author connects this verse with the preceding one: "The upright heart seeks sense and understanding; but the mouth of the untaught will experience evils;" and then he links and explains both thus: "Fittingly," he says, "in this passage the heart is joined with the mouth and the eyes; but evil and unlearned men undergo evils, namely the punishment worthy of their deeds. But the good, who take a holiday from vices and sins, are free from adversity, and therefore what seems good according to the sense of their heart, they accomplish peacefully."
Morally, learn here how great a good is a secure mind and conscience, namely that it is like a continual feast, especially in the new law, where daily one feasts with Christ in the banquet of the Eucharist, according to that prayer of the Church from St. Thomas Aquinas on the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament: "O sacred banquet, in which Christ is received, the memory of His Passion is celebrated, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us!" So that now in Christians may be fulfilled that of Isaiah, chapter 66:23: "And there shall be month after month, sabbath after sabbath," that is, feast shall continually succeed feast; Christians shall celebrate continual feasts and banquets; for month here signifies the feast of the New Moon. Add that Christians from this banquet on earth look forward to the everlasting banquet in heaven, promised by Christ, Luke 22:29: "And I dispose to you, as My Father has disposed to Me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom."
Accordingly, St. Ambrose rightly says on Psalm 45: "What fruit," he says, "is sweeter than purity and simplicity of heart? What food is more delightful than that on which the mind of a good conscience and an innocent soul feasts?" Hugh of St. Victor, book 3 On the Soul, chapter 11: "A good conscience," he says, "is the title of religion, the temple of Solomon, a field of blessing, a garden of delights, a golden reclining couch, the joy of Angels, the ark of the covenant, the treasure of the king, the court of God, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, a book sealed and closed, and to be opened on the day of judgment." St. Bernard, in the book On Conscience: "Nothing," he says, "is more pleasant, nothing safer, nothing richer than a good conscience; let the body press, let the world drag, let the devil terrify — it will be secure. A good conscience will be secure when the body dies; secure when the soul is presented before God; secure when both will be stationed before the terrible tribunal of the just Judge on the day of judgment.
For future blessing there is no more useful remedy nor more certain testimony than a good conscience. While the world spins with every instability, weeps, laughs, perishes, passes away, a good conscience never withers. Let the body be subjected to punishment, let it be worn away by injuries, torn by whippings, stretched on the rack, slaughtered by the sword, nailed to the gibbet of the cross — the conscience will be secure." St. Augustine briefly but vigorously in the Sentences, number 90: "No one," he says, "can be cheated of his delights for whom Christ is his joy. For that exaltation is eternal which rejoices in an eternal good."
Clement of Alexandria, book 7 of the Stromata: "The entire life of the just man," he says, "is a certain celebrated and holy feast day." And St. Ambrose, book 2 of On Duties, 1: "The blessed life," he says, "is produced by tranquility of conscience and security of innocence." And indeed Plutarch in the Moralia: "As nepenthe," he says, "the herb praised by Homer, when added to drinks, dispels all sadness of the banquet: so a good mind, implanted in us, abolishes all the anxiety of life."
St. Cyprian writes splendidly, On the Lord's Prayer: "What fear from the world," he says, "has he whose protector in the world is God?" The same, On the Exhortation to Martyrdom, asserts: "the injuries and punishments of persecutions are not to be feared, because the Lord is greater in protecting than the devil in attacking." And indeed Cicero to Torquatus: "The consciousness of a right will," he says, "is the greatest consolation in uncomfortable circumstances." Accordingly, St. Basil wisely says, homily On Thanksgiving: "Let no condition of human affairs, however splendid and brilliant," he says, "bring to your soul a joy that is immoderate; let no afflictive or sad events cast it down from the level of its loftiness and mature gravity, contracted by grief or calamity." See more in St. Gregory, book 8, epistle 45, and book 9, epistle 49, and in St. Chrysostom, homilies 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 on the Epistle to the Romans.
Therefore, take heart, O holy soul, secure in your holiness from your God: "You suffice for your God, let your God suffice for you;" there is no reason to seek anything beyond Him, and by seeking to grieve and lose the joys of your blessed mind. Cling to Him alone, enjoy Him, feast with Him; He will be your perpetual guest, He will also be your perpetual feast. Say therefore: "My beloved is mine, and I am his, who feeds among the lilies, until the day breaks and the shadows decline," Song of Songs 2:16.
16. BETTER IS A LITTLE WITH THE FEAR OF THE LORD THAN GREAT AND INSATIABLE TREASURES
In Hebrew: than a great treasure and turmoil in it; the Chaldean: than multiplied treasures in which there is disturbance; Vatablus: crushing, that is, in which there is a certain affliction and tribulation; the Syriac: than the treasures of the wicked; the Septuagint: than great treasures without fear. Our translator skillfully rendered insatiable: for treasures are insatiable in the sense that they do not satisfy the appetite of the rich and greedy man, because they trouble, afflict, and disturb him with the care and anxiety of both increasing and preserving them: for with how many troubles, labors, anxieties, and cares is the mind of the rich man tormented, in order to protect and increase his riches? Therefore treasures are called insatiable in an active sense, that is, unsatisfying, says Dionysius, because they do not satisfy the appetite but irritate it.
Therefore the reason for this sentence is, first, that the fear of God is a greater good than all treasures; and therefore he who has it is wealthier than all the rich who abound in treasures. Hence St. Chrysostom, homily 26 on the Epistle to the Hebrews: "Let the fear of God be present," he says, "and nothing will be troublesome, whether you speak of poverty, or sickness, or captivity, or slavery, or any other trouble; but these very things will bring us help toward their contraries. Namely, poverty will be more honorable than riches, sickness more robust than health, and finally captivity and slavery more glorious and more powerful than liberty." Whence comes such power of the fear of God to transform the alternations of evils? Shortly after he adds: "The fear of God eradicates desires." Surely desire is the root of all evils; but this root the fear of God tears out by the roots: and once it is torn out, all evils are changed into good, poverty passes into riches, sickness into health, captivity into liberty.
Second, that the fear of God makes the mind quiet and content with the lot measured out by God, joyful and cheerful, according to what preceded: "A secure mind is like a continual feast;" and this quiet and joy of mind is more valuable than all riches.
Third, that the fear of God fills and satisfies the mind, because it unites it to God; and he who has God, what more could he desire? For whom God does not suffice, what will suffice? But treasures do not satisfy desire but kindle it; for desire is like dropsy, which, always thirsting, the more it drinks the more it longs to drink, according to the verse:
The more one has drunk, the more the waters are thirsted for.
Fourth, that treasures bring many disturbances, namely cares, labors, anxieties, lawsuits, quarrels, sorrows, etc., which dry up and drain away all the comfort and joy of riches.
Fifth, that the small substance of the just man is more secure and more useful than the great substance of the unjust. Hence St. Gregory Nazianzen, oration 26, reads: "Better is a small portion with security than a great one with weakness and uncertainty." To this applies that saying of Pindar in the Nemean Odes, ode 8: "Riches sown by God are more lasting for men."
Sixth, that moderate riches make men modest, humble, and sober; while immoderate riches make them bold, proud, and self-indulgent; hence the Author of the Greek Chain translates: better is a small portion with the fear of the Lord than great treasures with brazen boldness; for ἀδεεία signifies security, boldness, a spirit that knows no fear, and, as the Complutensians translate, fearlessness. The same author cites a similar saying of Hesiod: "Human friendship causes small things to taste sweeter from time to time and to delight the mind more than great things, especially those ill-gotten. For neither genuine glory nor pleasure consists in a great income or expenditure, but on the contrary, in genuine pleasure and grace a great income and expenditure shows itself." Finally, R. Levi says: Slender resources acquired with the fear of God and justly far surpass the greatest treasures amassed with noise and clamor on account of the tears of those who were circumvented by force and fraud: for slender riches tend toward happiness and lasting duration, while enormous ones bring ruin and extreme loss.
Mystically, the same Author of the Greek Chain explains thus, as if to say: "Better is a small knowledge with just action than complete or accumulated knowledge with unjust action."
17. IT IS BETTER TO BE INVITED TO HERBS WITH CHARITY THAN TO A FATTED CALF WITH HATRED
In Hebrew: good is a meal of herbs where there is love, rather than a stall-fed ox (that is, one fattened in a stall) where there is hatred; the Chaldean: better is a dinner of herbs where there is charity than fat oxen where there is hatred; the Septuagint: better is hospitality with herbs for friendship and grace than the serving of calves with enmity; Theodotion: more than a fatted ox.
First, our Salazar takes charity and hatred here as referring to God's, not men's, as if the reason for the preceding verse were given here, as if to say: Better is a little with the fear of God than great treasures without the fear of God, because God, who is supremely good and great, generally sends poverty to His friends out of love and charity, and feeds them only on vegetables; but He bestows riches on His enemies out of hatred, so that they may be fattened like calves, because riches are the occasion, fuel, and cause of all sins, quarrels, and evils.
Second, St. Chrysostom, homily 1 on the Epistle to the Colossians, teaches that the tables of the rich are hateful, although sumptuous; but those of the poor, though slender, are lovable and desirable, so that it is fitting to love and seek the latter and to hate and flee the former; because the tables of the poor surpass those of the rich in three things, namely in honor, pleasure, and liberty, and are therefore friendly, benevolent, and full of charity; while those of the rich are often proud, supercilious, and malevolent, and therefore more worthy of hatred than of love: "In three things," he says, "we surpass them, namely in pleasure, honor, liberty, and grace. For I would rather take bread alone with grace than innumerable dishes with servitude; and I consider it better to be invited to herbs with charity than to a fatted calf with hatred."
Third, plainly and genuinely, R. Solomon says: "Better is a meal of herbs offered to a needy person with a sign of goodwill, that is, when he is received with a cheerful and benevolent face, than when the same person is offered fat meats to eat with quarreling and anger." And Aben-Ezra says: "Better is," he says, the gift of friendship to a fatted calf; it is better for one to be loved by another while eating the food of a fatted ox than to feast on a fatted ox while each still pursues the other with hatred."
The genuine meaning therefore is, as if to say: It is more satisfying and of greater pleasure and benefit to be received with herbs along with charity, friendship, and goodwill, than with a great display of calves and feasts along with hatred, enmity, or ill will; therefore the former is to be sought rather than the latter, especially when one is invited to them. Again Hugo says, as if to say: "More pleasing is a little that is given with cheerfulness, which is a sign of love, than much that is given with sadness, which is a sign of hatred." Hence Sirach 35 says: "In every gift," he says, "make your countenance cheerful, and with exultation sanctify your tithes."
Therefore it is signified here, first, that he who seeks hospitality or a meal should seek rather a host who is hospitable, that is, endowed with a hospitable spirit. Therefore the virtue of hospitality is commended here, which Solomon teaches consists not so much in the feasts as in a benevolent and attentive spirit. For there are many who because of avarice are unwilling to be hospitable; Solomon here teaches these that, if they are unwilling or unable to be so at great expense, they should at least be hospitable in spirit and with a frugal table. So St. Ambrose, book 2 of On Duties, chapter 21: "Hence," he says, "avarice has plunged itself in, like a certain barrenness of good offices, so that they think it a man's loss, whatever is spent beyond custom. But even against this avarice, lest any impediment could be alleged, the venerable Scripture provided, saying: Because hospitality with herbs is better; and below: Better is bread with sweetness and peace. For Scripture does not teach us to be prodigal, but liberal."
Second, he who prepares a feast is taught to furnish it more with love than with dishes: for if he seasons it with envy and rancor, he will make not so much a feast (convivium) as an abuse (convicium), as Ausonius says in the Ephemeris. For the end, indeed the form and soul of a feast, is love, charity, and goodwill, as is evident in the feast of the Eucharist which Christ instituted to unite all the faithful both to Himself and to one another through charity. And for this reason, after that feast the early Christians used to prepare a feast of common foods, to which they invited all the faithful, even the poor, as a symbol of charity, and therefore they called it Agape, that is, charity, as I said at 1 Corinthians 11. Therefore malicious are those who in a feast engage in discord, quarrels, and brawls; indeed treacherous and traitorous are those who invite enemies to a feast in order to kill them, as at such a feast Simon Maccabeus was killed with his sons by Ptolemy, 1 Maccabees 16:16; and Amnon, invited to a feast by Absalom, was murdered by him at it, 2 Kings 13:28. And Christ at the Last Supper was betrayed and handed over to death to the Jews by Judas; which accordingly stung Christ with an immense goad of grief, so that in Psalm 54:13 He grievously complains about it: "For if," He says, "my enemy had cursed Me, I would indeed have endured it, etc. But it was you, a man of one mind with Me, my guide and my intimate friend, who took sweet food together with Me, we walked in the house of God with agreement," as if to say: You, O Judas, who were My table companion, have become My betrayer; this stings Me, this torments Me.
Mystically, first, the Author of the Greek Chain explains thus, as if to say: It is better to know little with charity than to claim great knowledge and to fight against peace. Second, it is better to bestow small benefits from great charity than great ones from small or feeble charity: for a benefit is especially valued according to the spirit of the giver. Third, it is better to perform small offices of virtue from great love of God than great ones without it. Hence the widow of the Gospel, offering two small coins into the treasury, is judged by Christ to have offered more than all the rest, Luke 21:3.
And this applies especially to the feast of the Eucharist; for he who in it eats the herbs of penance and contrition with charity is far superior to him who in the same feast feeds on the fatted calf of proud wisdom and contemplation without love, being in a state of mortal sin. For such a one "eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord," 1 Corinthians 11. Or simply, Hugo says: "It is better to eat herbs with charity than to approach the Eucharist with hatred; for Christ in the Eucharist is the fatted calf, from whose fullness we have all received," John 1.
Fourth, the Gloss says: "It is much more useful to preserve the innocence of a simple life with charity than to shine outwardly with the miracles of virtues and not to purge the interior of the mind from the filth of hatreds." Fifth, Hugo takes herbs as meaning the commandments, and the fatted calf as the evangelical counsels, as if to say: "It is better to keep the commandments with charity than to fulfill the counsels with hatred."
18. A WRATHFUL MAN (Hebrew, a man of burning anger) STIRS UP QUARRELS; HE WHO IS PATIENT ALLAYS (Syriac, extinguishes) THOSE STIRRED UP
The Septuagint: a passionate man prepares (some incorrectly read begets) quarrels; but a long-suffering man also calms that which was about to happen. The same, repeating, add: "A long-suffering man will extinguish judgments (lawsuits, which are conducted in courts and tribunals); but the wicked man stirs them up the more." Vatablus: a wrathful man excites strife; but the long-suffering man calms the quarrel.
For stirs up, the Hebrew is יגרה igera, that is, draws, attracts; hence מגרה megra is called a saw, as if a drag, from drawing. Just as a saw by the continual reciprocation of its strokes cuts even the hardest stones, so he who repeats and reciprocates injuries with his tongue cuts even the greatest loves and stirs up quarrels between the closest friends. Again, gera means he draws with the throat, gargarizes, ruminates, and by ruminating provokes. Hence גרון garon is called the throat, by which we draw in and ruminate food. It signifies therefore that, just as the throat in animals draws up the rumen, that is, food from the stomach, and again chews and ruminates it: so also the irascible man, that is, one prone to anger, constantly recalls to memory the words or deeds of another done in contempt of himself, and thence turns them over with his tongue, frequently speaking of them and exaggerating them, whereby he stirs up anger and quarrels both in himself and in others. Just as phlegm is provoked by gargling, so quarrels are provoked by the rumination of injuries.
But the patient man, because he does not ruminate on injuries, nor recall them to mind or tongue, but rather lulls and buries them in forgetfulness, or at least minimizes, mitigates, and calms them as far as he can, from this also mitigates and calms quarrels. The patient man therefore has a strong stomach of the mind, which immediately digests all hard things; but the irascible man has a stomach of the mind infected with bile, which constantly ruminates and belches forth the injuries done to him, and thus stirs up quarrels.
So Cassian, book 8 of the Institutes of Renunciation, chapter 1, where from this and other passages of Proverbs he teaches that anger takes from a man three ornaments: first, gravity; second, counsel; third, peace: "Because," he says, "the anger of man does not work the justice of God. We will also in no way be able to possess that gravity of respectability which is wont to be familiar even to men of this world, even though we may be considered noble and honorable by the prerogative of birth, because a wrathful man is dishonorable. Nor will we be able at all to obtain maturity of counsel, even though we may seem weighty and endowed with the highest knowledge, because a wrathful man acts without counsel. Nor will we be able to be at rest from harmful disturbances, nor to be free from sins, even though disturbances may in no way be brought upon us by others, because a passionate man prepares quarrels, and a wrathful man digs up sins."
Wisely says Seneca in the Proverbs: "Let discord always begin from the other, reconciliation from you." And Thucydides: "Two things are most opposed to a right mind: haste and anger." Subordinate to this maxim of Solomon is that of the same, verse 1: "A soft answer breaks wrath; a harsh word stirs up fury."
St. Gregory Nazianzen writes beautifully, oration 19: "Nothing," he says, "so overcomes a persecutor as patient eagerness." And St. Chrysostom, homily 6 on Acts: "Not even heated iron," he says, "dipped in water, loses its heat as quickly as a wrathful man does when he falls upon a long-suffering soul." The same, homily 19 on the Epistle to the Hebrews: "Trees," he says, "the more they are buffeted and shaken by the winds, the stronger and denser they become. And we also, if we are gentle and patient, will also be strong and powerful." And homily 22: "So exalted is the gentle and patient man that he does not even receive a blow from a blow." St. Valerian, homily 12: "It is an infinite virtue," he says, "to have conquered hatreds with kindnesses; for he among others obtains the palm of perfect virtue who in return for poison prepares cups of sweet honey." To this point is the verse of the Comic poet:
Force snatches many trophies, but patience more. You seek to be blameless? Be patient, be continent. Nothing so burns the insulting as patience. Whatever cannot be amended, soften with patience. Whoever strikes adamant, strikes himself. The rock by enduring conquers the assaults of the sea. Patience is the queen of all things.
Finally, St. Bernard, epistle 87 to Oger: "Humiliation," he says, "is the way to humility, just as patience to peace, just as reading to knowledge." The same in the Sentences, near the beginning: "The patient," he says, "possess their soul, to whom it is said: In your patience you shall possess your souls," Matthew 5. The peaceful possess not only their own soul, but also the souls of others in whom they make peace; hence they are rightly called children of God, etc. But even those who wish to take away peace they love, as it is written in Psalm 119: With those who hated peace I was peaceable. Behold, these are the ones in whom God rests and makes His dwelling." Hence the same exhorts elsewhere, saying: "And you, like an Angel of peace, be solicitous to remove scandals, to calm disturbances, to reconcile the quarreling and the litigating. For Angels are benign in affection, pious in religion, integral in purity, inseparable in unanimity, secure in peace, created by God, devoted to divine praises and services," says the same, book 5 of On Consideration, chapter 4.
19. THE WAY OF THE SLOTHFUL IS AS A HEDGE OF THORNS; THE WAY OF THE JUST IS WITHOUT STUMBLING BLOCK
In Hebrew: the way of the sluggard is like a thicket of thorns; and the path of the upright is paved, or leveled; the Chaldean: the way of the sluggards is thistles and thorns; and the way of the upright is clean and pure; the Septuagint: the ways of the idle are strewn with thorns, but those of the strong are well-trodden.
It alludes to gardens and paradises fenced and surrounded by hedges of thorns; for just as a traveler who wishes to enjoy the fruits of gardens must penetrate their thorny hedges: so he who wishes to enjoy the fruits of virtues must break through the hedges of temptations and difficulties that lie before him. Hence for hedge the Hebrew is משכה mescucha, that is, a thicket, bramble patch, bush, thorn-brake. Therefore just as in a thicket or bramble patch there is, first, a multitude of thorns; second, density; third, sharpness; fourth, entanglement — for one is continually interlaced and intertwined with another: so also the difficulties that beset and surround virtue are, first, many; second, dense; third, sharp and prickly; fourth, entangled, so that if you uproot or overcome one, you immediately encounter another and another, which causes the slothful and faint-hearted to despair; but the just, strong and vigorous, gradually and patiently pluck and overcome them one after another, and thus finally uproot and conquer them all, as that Abbot in the Lives of the Fathers used to urge.
Now first, the Tigurina translates: the way of the sluggard is overgrown and unsightly with thorns; but the way of the upright is leveled. Hence our Salazar explains thus: Solomon, he says, stings with these words those who out of carelessness and laziness neither visit nor cultivate their estates and farms. And so he says: "The way of the sluggards is like a hedge of thorns," that is, their road to their estates and farms bristles with thorns and thistles, just like a hedge entangled with rough brambles, namely because, lying idle at home in their laziness, they do not wear it down or tread upon it; for roads that are not trodden soon become overgrown with sprouting brambles, rough and impassable. "The way of the just is without stumbling block;" the Chaldean: the way of the just is well-trodden. By the name of the just, he means the diligent and straand industrious men, Salazar understands, who by constant travel and management of their affairs have the roads to their estates leveled and well-trodden. This meaning is literal and genuine.
Second, tropologically, Baynus says: The slothful, namely the lazy and sinners, imagine difficulties for themselves everywhere on the path of virtue; for sloth always seeks excuses and impediments: but the way of the just is without stumbling block, because the just everywhere make the road easy for themselves on the path of virtue, and have found it a level and smooth way. Hence the Septuagint translates: of the strong, however, well-trodden, namely the ways. For just as travelers by frequent journeying wear down and level a road, so likewise the just, that is, the vigorous, by frequent exercise of virtue make it easy, indeed pleasant, for themselves.
Third, there is another reason why the way of the slothful is like a hedge of thorns: because indeed the sluggard and idle man, just as he allows his estates and fields to be deserted and uncultivated, so too he leaves his soul spiritually uncultivated by vices; hence the thorns of vices grow up in his soul and prick and wound him; but the just and vigorous man, just as he purges his fields of thorns, so too he purges his soul of vices and cultivates and adorns it with virtues; hence his way is straight and leveled, on which he walks without stumbling block, that is, without sin. they dread being able to do so; of whom Solomon well says: The way of the sluggard is like a hedge of thorns. For when they desire the way of God, the opposing suspicions of their fears prick them like the thorns of obstructing hedges; and because this does not usually hinder the elect, he rightly adds what follows: The way of the just is without stumbling block.
And Cassian, Conference XXIV, chapter 24: "The way," he says, "according to the saying of Solomon, of those who do nothing is strewn with thorns, but that of the strong is well-trodden; and so those deviating from the royal road to that capital city, where our course must always be directed without turning aside, will not be able to arrive. Which also Ecclesiastes has expressed quite significantly: The labor, he says, of fools will afflict those who do not know how to go into the city, that is, the heavenly Jerusalem, which is the mother of us all."
See the properties and distinctions between the sluggard and the diligent or fervent person, which I reviewed from St. Bernard, Sermon 6 On the Ascension of the Lord, at Romans 12:11, on the words: "Fervent in spirit." The same Bernard, in his sermon On the Threefold Custody of Hand, Tongue, and Heart, gives the sluggish a sharp goad for courageously clearing away all thorns occurring in the way of virtue: "Let none of us, brothers," he says, "think little of the time consumed in idle words. For the time is acceptable, and the day of salvation. The irrevocable word flies, the irretrievable time flies, and the fool does not notice what he loses. They like to chat, they say, until the hour passes. Oh, until the hour passes, oh, until the time passes! Until the hour passes which the mercy of the Creator grants you for doing penance, for obtaining pardon, for acquiring grace, for meriting glory. Until the time passes in which you ought to have propitiated the divine goodness, hastened to angelic companionship, sighed for your lost inheritance, aspired to the promised happiness, stirred up your sluggish will, wept over your committed iniquity." See what follows. The same Bernard, in his sermon On the Manifold Usefulness of the Word of God, assigns as the remedy for sloth the hearing or reading and ruminating upon the word of God. "For the word that He speaks," he says, "is spirit and life. If your heart is hardened, remember the Scripture saying: He shall send forth His word, and shall melt them, Psalm 147; and likewise: My soul melted when my beloved spoke, Song of Songs 5. If you are lukewarm, and now fear being vomited out, do not depart from the word of the Lord: and it will inflame you, because His word is exceedingly fiery." For the proper remedy for sloth and laziness is the love of God: for where there is love, there is no labor, nor lukewarmness or torpor; but ardor and fervor, according to that saying:
Not so does Etna vomit flames from its broken furnaces, As he burns who, struck with the love of God, is aflame.
I understand as the diligent, because they are opposed to the lazy. Hence the Septuagint translates, the ways of the strong, or the diligent, are well-trodden; their paths to their estates and farms are indeed most well-trodden, because as they go and return to inspect and cultivate them, they trample and tread down the path. And the Vulgate: "The ways of the just are without stumbling block," that is, their path is clear and free, because since they travel through it more often, they remove all impediments and obstacles from it. By this paraphrase, Solomon signifies that the fields and estates of the lazy and idle grow wild, but the farms of the diligent are most carefully cultivated and managed.
Second, the Author of the Greek Chain from the Septuagint translates thus: the ways of slothful men are rough, as if beset with thorns; but the paths of the strong are level and well-trodden. Which he explains thus, that is: As the slothful harm themselves and others, so conversely the diligent benefit themselves and others.
Third, others connecting this verse to the preceding one understand by the lazy the foolish, namely the wrathful, whom in the preceding verse Solomon said stir up quarrels, whose cause he assigns here, namely that they are thorny and prickly: for with the barbs and thorns of their sharp tongue they so prick others that they stir up quarrels. Here the proverb of R. Agadah fits, which R. Solomon cites here: "The way of Esau is like a thorn entangled in wool fleece, which if you remove from one place, emerges from another." That is: No one escapes the hands of the wicked except by the help of money: because if you fortify yourself against their attacks on one side, they will prick and afflict you on another.
Fourth and most genuinely, that is: The path to the honorable actions of the virtues seems to the lazy, who are torpid from desire and sloth, too hard, steep, tangled, and impassable, just as if it were beset and hedged with thorns: but the way of the just who advance diligently and energetically on the way of justice seems to the just themselves, through habit and zeal and desire for virtue, as it truly is, "without stumbling block," that is, level, easy, and well-trodden: for even though temptations and difficulties occur on it, the just generously overcome and transcend them, while the lazy and impious, terrified by them, lose heart, yield, and succumb, according to chapter 22, verse 13: "The sluggard says: A lion is in the way, I shall be killed in the midst of the streets."
So Bede, Hugo, R. Solomon, R. Levi, Cajetan, Baynus, Arboreus and others. Hence Vatablus thus translates and explains: the way of the sluggard is like a thorny hedge; but the way of the upright is raised up, that is: "the foolish, that is the impious, is lazy, as if he were hedged in with thorns: but the wise man is diligent, as if he were walking on a road paved with stones." So also Aben-Ezra and Pagninus.
Indeed St. Gregory, book XXX of the Moralia, chapter 13: "Many," he says, "we often see desiring the life of holy conduct, but lest they be able to attain it, they dread now rushing calamities, now future adversities: while they, as if cautious, look ahead at uncertain evils, they are held in the bonds of their sins. For they place many things before their eyes, which if they should happen in their way of life, they cannot withstand; they dread being able to do so; of whom Solomon well says: The way of the sluggard is like a hedge of thorns. For when they desire the way of God, the opposing suspicions of their fears prick them like the thorns of obstructing hedges; and because this does not usually hinder the elect, he rightly adds what follows: The way of the just is without stumbling block."
Mystically Hugo says: The path of the sluggards, he says, is the life of present pleasure, which holds those entangled in its love and makes them lazy for every good. The hedge of thorns represents the thorny and pricking desires of the sluggards. Hence just as a hedge of thorns is not crossed without injury to the feet, so neither is present pleasure without the pricking of the affections. But that the delights of the present life are thorns, Job 30 says: "They counted it a delight to be under thorns." Hence the peasant in the moon laden with a bundle of thorns, what else is he but a man in the changeableness of the present life under the burden of present pleasures? Hence Nahum 1:10 says: "As thorns embrace one another, so their banquet of those drinking together: they shall be consumed like stubble full of dryness." The way of the just is without stumbling block, because it is straight, because it is level, because it is bright, because it is secure: for whatever adversity or difficulty may occur, they bear it with equanimity, according to chapter 12: "Nothing that happens shall sadden the just man." Therefore the just always run forward on their way, until they arrive at their homeland, according to Isaiah 40: "Those who hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall take wings like eagles, they shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint." Conversely, the way of the impious is full of the thorns of avarice, which choke the seed, Matthew 13, and swords of detraction, according to chapter 23: "Arms and swords are in the way of the proud." Likewise snares of flattery, according to Sirach chapter 9: "Know that you enter into the communion of death in the midst of snares, and you will walk upon the weapons of the grieving." Likewise stones of contention and reproach, according to Ecclesiastes chapter 21: "The way of sinners is paved with stones."
Finally, St. Ephrem, Ascetical Sermon in imitation of Proverbs: "One's own betrayal," he says, "is negligence; but negligence is a grave and terrible captivity; yet vigilance captures and seizes even those leading into captivity."
20. A WISE SON MAKES HIS FATHER GLAD: AND A FOOLISH MAN DESPISES HIS MOTHER
In Hebrew, he despises; Symmachus, he holds in contempt; the Septuagint, he mocks, or derides his mother; the Syriac, he is the disgrace of his mother; so that "despises" means the same as "causes to be despised," and as R. Solomon explains, "he is the cause that she is despised by others." Under father understand also mother, and under mother also father. But he assigns joy to the father, contempt to the mother, because fathers, being of greater spirit and intellect, esteem wisdom more highly, and from this conceive greater joy from wise, that is virtuous, sons: but mothers, because they are of lesser spirit, and weaker by sex and nature, are more easily despised by insolent sons, and from this they grieve and sorrow, because they love their children more tenderly than fathers do, since they have given more to their children: for a son receives in the womb from his mother nearly all his material and substance, and his mother forms, organizes, and as it were animates him; and then once born she nurses, swaddles, raises, and educates him, etc.: wherefore in this respect a son owes more to his mother than to his father, and consequently if he despises her, he does her a graver injury.
The antithesis required that he say: "He saddens his mother." But in his customary way Solomon assigns the cause of saddening, namely contempt. Just as therefore a wise son by his obedience, probity, and virtue gladdens his parents: so a foolish son by his insolent wickedness, gluttony, lust, and vices saddens them, especially his mother; in which matter the former shows his wisdom, the latter his foolishness, both because just as it belongs to wisdom to cultivate virtues, so it belongs to foolishness to enslave oneself to vices, to make oneself their cheap slave; and because just as it belongs to wisdom to honor and gladden parents, so it belongs to foolishness to despise and sadden them. For what is dearer, what closer, what more closely joined to a son than his parents? Therefore whoever honors or despises them, honors or despises himself, indeed God Himself; for parents are the vicars of God, and His living image and likeness, as it were. Hence Plato teaches that they should be honored by their children as certain earthly gods and images of the gods, in book 11 of the Laws: "We must consider," he says, "that we ought to have no more venerable image before the gods than fathers worn with age and mothers likewise, in honoring whom God rejoices." Hence God promised children who honor their parents a long life and His blessing; but to those who dishonor them He threatens death and a curse. See what was said at chapter 10, verse 1, and Sirach 3:1 and following, where I treated at length the honor of parents.
Tropologically the Author of the Greek Chain says: "A wise son," he says, "is an honorable thought, which gladdens its parent, namely the mind; but the foolish one, because he does not know how to use his own sense rightly, confounds both himself and others as well."
21. FOLLY IS JOY TO THE FOOL; AND THE PRUDENT MAN DIRECTS HIS STEPS
In Hebrew, folly is joy to him who lacks heart (to the senseless, the heartless), and a man of understanding makes himself upright in walking; the Chaldean, and a prudent man walks rightly; the Septuagint, the paths of the senseless are lacking in mind, but a prudent man going straight proceeds, or directing his course walks; the Syriac, the senseless person is heartless, the prudent walks uprightly; Aben-Ezra, the prudent seeks a right path to enter upon.
The meaning is plain and clear, that is: The fool rejoices in his folly, that is in his foolish thoughts, words, and deeds: but the prudent man rejoices in his prudence, namely that he prudently directs and makes straight his steps, that is, his actions. The fool, like a frisky calf, delights in frolicking, being wanton, and leaping about here and there in a disorderly and senseless manner: but the prudent man walks with a straight and composed step. So R. Solomon: "Senselessness itself," he says, "is reckoned among the senseless as a source of joy;" so also R. Levi.
The Author of the Greek Chain agrees, who from the Septuagint translates thus: the paths of the madman lack judgment and mind; but a prudent man does not walk along the road without caution; and he explains thus: "The paths of the madman are rightly called foolish; for since such men are destitute of mental judgment, they do nothing with reason, but everything rashly and without counsel."
It can secondly be explained by inversion thus: Joy is folly to the fool, that is: The fool's folly is his joy, namely that he does not know how to moderate and direct his joys: for fools pour themselves out in silly mirth, laughter, and guffaws.
Hence from the Hebrew you may translate thus with Cajetan and others: folly of joy to him who lacks heart; which first, Cajetan explains thus, that is: Excessive and effusive joy testifies to folly and senselessness: for the fool does not know how to temper his joys, just as he does not know how to temper his griefs. Second, Vatablus, that is: The fool rejoices in prosperous circumstances; but the just man walks rightly, because he is moderate and constant in adversity as well as in prosperity. Third, Salazar, that is: Folly of joy to him who lacks heart, namely, mirth that is too effusive and intemperate compels a man who does not know how to govern his heart to do many foolish and silly things: for a senseless mind, loosened by joy, conducts itself in the most disorderly manner. But the prudent man directs his steps, that is, in happiness and joy he does not act foolishly and immoderately, but arranges his actions prudently and cautiously. And so those words of the Vulgate: "Folly is joy to the fool," are not to be taken as if they said that the fool rejoices in his folly, but rather that the fool from joy becomes completely foolish and acts more stupidly; so that the meaning is: Joy is folly to the fool, not conversely folly is joy or a matter of joy to the fool.
22. PLANS ARE FRUSTRATED WHERE THERE IS NO COUNSEL: BUT WHERE THERE ARE MANY COUNSELORS, THEY ARE CONFIRMED
For "are frustrated" the Hebrew is הפר hapher, that is, annul, break, frustrate, or to annul, to break, to frustrate, that is, lack of counsel annuls, breaks, frustrates plans: for the Hebrews use the infinitive for the indicative and any other mood; or the infinitive is taken as a noun, that is: To frustrate, that is, the frustrating of plans occurs where there is no counsel. Again, for counsel the Hebrew is סוד sod, that is, secret and hence counsel: for this is usually arcane and secret.
Therefore first, the Chaldean translates thus: plans are broken or frustrated where there is no secrecy; and in a multitude of counselors, counsel is confirmed, that is: For accomplishing great things two things are needed, namely secrecy and counsel. Secrecy, lest if the matter leaks out to the public, many oppose it and hinder it either secretly or openly. Counsel, lest anything be done imprudently; but counsel must be sought from many counselors: yet if you share a secret with many, there is danger that the secret will not remain, but be disclosed by one of them. Therefore it belongs to the prudent man to associate these two things so that neither does secrecy lack counsel, nor does counsel divulge the secret. This will happen if faithful counselors are chosen, and only those who are necessary, who keep the counsel communicated to them, or given by them, secret. Indeed but if the matter is manifest and does not need consultation, let each person keep his secret to himself alone, and not share it with counselors, or certainly only with a few. For often the whole nerve of a matter consists in secrecy. I remember, when I was in Belgium, that Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma, the famous governor of Belgium, shared with two counselors a great secret about recovering a city of the greatest importance, and when the disclosure of this secret subsequently ruined the affair, he summoned both and said: Either I, or one of you two, is the traitor. I know that I did not betray it: therefore one of you two must be the traitor; both firmly denied it: hence which one had betrayed it could not be known.
Second, the Septuagint translates: they defer their plans, those who do not honor assemblies, or councils; but in the hearts of those who deliberate, counsel remains. Or more clearly, as the Author of the Greek Chain translates: those who count the consensus of the prudent for nothing, transfer their plans from day to day; but in the heart of those who deliberate, saving counsel exists, that is: Princes and any others who, trusting in their own judgment, are unwilling to consult others, defer their plans from day to day, as they feel new difficulties opposed to their mind, which they cannot resolve and settle by themselves: so it happens that they let opportune occasions for accomplishing the matter slip from their hands, and they undertake the matter either never or at an inopportune time, and therefore in vain and to no purpose; but those who consult others and deliberate with them, these immediately receive sound counsel: so it happens that they execute the matter at an opportune time, and prudently and often successfully accomplish it. I believe the Syriac intended the same, which usually follows the Septuagint; therefore what is erroneously read in it: They frustrate plans, those who defer honor to the assembly; for the negation "not" is missing, which the Septuagint, the Hebrew, the Chaldean, and all the rest have. Hence it seems that in it one should read: They frustrate plans, those who do not defer honor to the assembly, that is, who do not consult their counselors, as I have already explained.
Third, some translate thus: Scatter your plans when there is no counsel; and in a multitude of counselors you will be confirmed, and they explain thus, that is: Scatter, that is spread among the public, what you intend to do, when you do not have sufficient counselors to consult; for thus you will hear the judgments and advice of many, even of the wise, which will teach you what needs to be done. For either they will confirm what you intend, or certainly will suggest something better.
Shrewd and clever princes are accustomed to do this, and Aristotle, in book 3 of the Politics, advises it should be done. For if the thing to be done is spread about, the public will either approve what the prince intends, and then he can safely carry it out; or if it does not approve, it will indicate the reason why it does not approve, which once known the prince will either need to follow, or certainly to remove. For it is hard and dangerous for a prince if he wishes to attempt or undertake anything against the sense of the people; for this is to irritate everyone, to stir up the hatred of all against oneself, and as it were to kick against the goad. But the Hebrew הפר hapher, that is frustrate, does not mean spread among the public, but break, shatter, annul and render void.
Fourth, our Translator renders it best: plans are frustrated where there is no counsel; but where there are many counselors, they are confirmed; in Hebrew, and in a multitude of counselors it will stand; Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, it will be confirmed, namely the counsel; Vatablus, plans are frustrated, etc. The meaning is, that is: Where deliberation does not intervene, things planned will not obtain their desired outcome; but when we bring in many consultants deliberating maturely into counsel, by what means what we desire can be accomplished, the matter itself corresponds to the plan undertaken for accomplishing the thing. For many suggest many sound and fitting counsels, by which the matter is duly accomplished and brought to its desired end. So R. Solomon, R. Levi, and Aben-Ezra. Therefore plans are then "confirmed," that is, they receive strength and firmness from the counsels of many. Again, "plans are frustrated" that were initiated without counsel, because one who turns them over in his mind for a long time finds in them many difficulties and dangers, on account of which he rejects them, and takes up other better ones that present themselves; but those that are maturely suggested by many counselors proposing and discussing all the difficulties, these "are confirmed," that is, they are firm, solid, and secure.
23. A MAN REJOICES IN THE JUDGMENT OF HIS MOUTH: AND A TIMELY WORD IS BEST
This sentence teaches that no one should rely on his own judgment, especially in his own affairs, in which self-love, desire, and self-preference blind everyone, but that one ought to consult others and acquiesce in their counsels. Therefore, among the three testaments which St. Bernard, dying, left to his followers, this was the second: "First, I never wished to give scandal to anyone in my life, and if it ever occurred, I settled it as best I could. Second, I always trusted my own judgment less than that of another. Third, when injured I never sought revenge." Behold the man's charity, humility, and patience. So his Life relates.
In Hebrew, joy is to a man in the answer of his mouth; and a word in its time how good! The Chaldean, joy is to a man in the word of his mouth; and a word spoken in its time how good! The Syriac, he who speaks in season, it is good for him. Therefore a "timely word" is one that is spoken at an opportune time, that is, fitting, suitable, useful, and appropriate. For opportune is derived from ob and portus (port), because just as a port is most useful and suited to sailors, so a timely thing or a timely word is most useful and convenient to those who hear it. The meaning therefore is, that is: Everyone rejoices in his own judgment, which he utters when asked: for everyone delights in his own opinion and sense, and prefers it to the judgment of others; for to each person his own seems beautiful, and each one is very pleased with his own: yet not every opinion, but only the timely one, that is, one that is uttered at its proper time and place, is the best, that is, most welcome, most suitable, and most useful.
This proverb therefore teaches the prudence to be observed in giving one's opinion, whether in counsel or outside it, namely that we accommodate our opinion to the time. For often what is good and useful in itself is not good at this time, but bad and harmful. Therefore the prudent man avoids an untimely opinion and seizes upon the timely one, that is, one suited to the occasion. For the prudence of speaking and acting consists in particulars, indeed in the individual circumstances and situation of affairs; for a prudent action or word is one that is useful and suited to this place and time and these persons; an imprudent one, which, although it may be prudent in itself, is yet unsuited and useless to this place or time, or these persons, or even harmful. Hence that saying from chapter 25, verse 11: "Golden apples on silver couches, he who speaks a word in its time."
Somewhat differently our Salazar says: "A timely word," he says, "is not a word spoken opportunely and seasonably, but one that announces and advises what is fitting and suitable," as if to say: Faith should not be given to every counselor and counsel, because each counselor prefers his own opinion and counsel to that of others, and considers it the best; but faith should be given to a timely word and counsel, namely one that is suited to accomplishing the matter under discussion. Solomon therefore advises the one who needs counsel, that is: Prefer and follow not the counsels that seem most pleasing to you because they are yours, but those that are best and most suited to accomplishing the matter, even if they are the counsels of others, according to that saying of Solon: "Consult not what is most pleasant, but what is best." Or certainly, says Salazar, a timely word is one that announces what the mind feels with suitable and appropriate words, according to that saying of St. Augustine, book 2 of On Christian Doctrine: "To express the thought of one's mind in words wonderfully delights the orator; but when the proper words flee the speaker, and foreign ones occur, he is so tormented as if a bad interpreter befell a wise and learned ambassador."
Mystically Galatinus, book 3 of On the Secrets of the Faith, chapter 29, takes the timely word or utterance to mean the Word incarnated at the fitting time destined by God, to proclaim to men the secrets of God hidden from the foundation of the world. Hence the Apostle says, Galatians 4:4: "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son, made from a woman, made under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."
Finally, the Septuagint, connecting these words to the preceding verse, goes in another direction. For since in the preceding verse they had said: "In the hands of those who deliberate, counsel remains," in this verse they add, as the Author of the Greek Chain translates: "But evil men are so constituted that they neither easily comply with it, nor bring forward anything that is opportune or in the common interest." By which they signify that one who desires counsel must beware of evil and wicked men; for these reject the good counsels of good men, and substitute for them evil and wicked ones, which their wicked mind suggests to them.
24. THE PATH OF LIFE IS ABOVE FOR THE LEARNED, THAT HE MAY TURN AWAY FROM THE LOWEST HELL
In Hebrew, the way of life is above for the understanding, that he may turn away from the lowest hell; the Chaldean, the way of life is upward for the understanding, that he may turn away from the lower hell; the Syriac, the way of life is an ascent for the understanding. For "above" the Hebrew is למעלה lemaala, that is, upward, above, higher, up.
It signifies therefore first, that the way of virtue, which leads to the blessed life and which the learned, that is the prudent, enters and undertakes, is far above him, being lofty, elevated, and heavenly, so that one must always ascend upward to heaven; and accordingly second, that this way is steep and difficult, and surpasses the natural powers of man, because it must diverge diametrically from hell, indeed ascend to the heights of heaven, while the way of the impious in pleasure is downward and easy, but descends into hell. This is what Virgil sings, Aeneid 6:
Easy is the descent to Avernus, But to retrace one's steps, and escape to the upper air, This is the task, this the toil; few whom a kind Jupiter loved, Or whom blazing virtue raised to the heavens, Sons of gods, have been able to do so.
The wise man therefore always has his heart, mouth, and hands directed upward, and says with the Apostle: "Our citizenship is in heaven," Philippians 3:20. And that: "Seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God." This relates to the immense elevation and distance of heaven from earth, which means that a man striving for heaven must continually press upward with great strides if he wishes to arrive in heaven. For mathematicians teach that the concavity of the firmament, or the starry heaven, is eighty million miles distant from and elevated above the earth. Therefore if someone lived two thousand years, and every day ascended directly upward a hundred miles, and did so continuously, after two thousand years he would not yet have reached the concavity of the firmament. Again, after another two thousand years ascending the same distance daily, he would not have reached from the concavity to the convexity of the firmament: when then would he reach from the convexity of the firmament to the empyrean heaven, which is far more distant and elevated? See what was said on Genesis 1, verse 14. Hence God ordained that with steps not of the body but of the mind we should traverse such vast spaces, namely that we should go from virtue to virtue, until we see the God of gods in Zion. This meaning is required by the antithesis, by which the word lemaala, that is above, is opposed to the lowest hell, in Hebrew, which is below or downward, that is, the lowest or most inferior part of the world.
Note here from this passage and similar ones that it is clear that the Jews in the Old Testament were not only promised the goods of the earth, but heaven was also promised them, and its glory and happiness, and conversely the gehenna of hell was threatened against them if they violated God's laws. Hence also the Septuagint, as the Author of the Greek Chain has it, translates: the plans of the prudent man are ways of life; for they avail so that he escapes safely from hell. For the prudent think of nothing else but how to flee hell and ascend to heaven; and Aben-Ezra says: The path of life, he says, למעלה lemaala, that is, is above for the understanding, that is: "The wise man labors to obey the will of his Creator, so that he may travel the path of life which is above, that is, of the soul, which burns with desire to return to God, the seats of hell being avoided, situated in the lowest place;" and R. Levi: "The way of life," he says, "is far above for the learned. Therefore in his contemplations he is carried forward to things more sublime and noble." These things are therefore called by Solomon למעלה lemaala, that is, higher things, which surpass in dignity. For the more sublime anything is in this fabric of the world, the more noble and excellent it is. Hence heaven is more excellent than the elements; and among the elements the higher each one is, the more excellent it is: hence fire excels air, air excels water, water excels earth. Therefore the heart of the just is most excellent, because it is most elevated, as being fixed on the empyrean heaven and on God Himself. Let us therefore strive always to ascend upward through heavenly thoughts, prayers, and actions: the more we ascend, the more we shall recede from hell and draw near to God and to the security of eternal salvation.
Thus Simeon Stylites gradually ascended his pillar, higher and higher step by step, so that little by little, more remote from earth, he became closer to heaven. "For first," says Theodoret in his History of the Holy Fathers, "he ordered a pillar of six cubits to be built, then twelve, then twenty-two, and now thirty-six. For he desires to fly to heaven and to be freed from this earthly way of life." Accordingly he preached twice daily to the people flocking in crowds to see him, "bidding them to look up to heaven and fly thither, and to depart from earth, and to apprehend by vision the kingdom that is awaited, and to fear the punishments of gehenna, and to despise earthly things, and to await future things." Indeed he died standing on his pillar; "and his body did not even then consent to fall, but stood upright in the place of his combats (looking toward heaven) as an unconquered athlete of Christ, no part of his limbs wishing to touch the earth." So far Theodoret. Likewise St. Francis by both his life and his voice preached nothing other than: "Hearts upward, to heaven, to heaven." Hence his saying was: "Those who would serve God must keep nothing of worldly things, but must strip themselves of everything," and, as he himself used to say, "expropriate themselves." I will cite more at verse 26, toward the end. Therefore come, O faithful one, O Christian, O priest, O religious, who before the ages of the world were enrolled as a citizen of the house of God, and an heir of heaven, a co-heir with Christ, despise worldly things, look to things above, lead a life higher than earthly ones, converse with the Angels, emulate their life, soon to be their companion in blessed eternity.
Hence third, Bede: The way of life, he says, is above the learned, that is, the way of life transcends the natural powers of man; therefore it needs heavenly light and grace inspired by God, so that one may enter the path of virtue which leads to heaven. For faith, hope, charity, and the other Christian virtues are supernatural, and therefore infused from heaven, by which, having avoided the dangers of hell, we strive for and arrive at heavenly glory.
Differently Dionysius and Arboreus, that is: The path of life is the law of God, which is above the just man: for the just man must submit and obey it, if he wishes to turn aside from hell and enter the way to the blessed life; the law therefore is above the just man, commanding and ruling him, to which accordingly the just man willingly submits and obeys.
Finally hell is called the lowest, because it is the last and most inferior part of the world, and therefore opposed to heaven, which is the first and highest. Galatinus, book 6 of On the Secrets of the Faith, chapter 9, teaches that the ancient Hebrews believed in two receptacles for souls after death, one for the good, another for the wicked: both however are called hell; but the first is called the upper hell, or the Limbo of the Fathers, the other the lower hell, or the gehenna of the damned.
25. THE LORD WILL DEMOLISH THE HOUSE OF THE PROUD: AND HE WILL MAKE FIRM (in Hebrew, will establish, or stabilize) THE BOUNDARIES OF THE WIDOW
For "the proud" the Septuagint translates ὑβριστῶν, that is, of the injurious, the insolent; the Syriac, of the foolish. For "will demolish" the Hebrew is יסח issach, that is, he will sweep out, as we sweep out the dirt of a house with brooms: for the proud are the filth of the world, and therefore God sweeps them out; the Septuagint, he tears down; the Syriac, he will uproot; others, he will extirpate, that is, he will tear up by the roots and overturn; R. Levi, he will level to the ground.
The plain meaning is, that is: God, the enemy and antagonist of the proud, will lay low and overturn their houses, that is, their families, possessions, wealth, and estates; but He will raise up and establish the houses, that is, the families and estates of the humble and afflicted, such as widows especially are. For widows, being as it were desolate and abandoned by all, are especially the care of God, according to Psalm 145: "He will uphold the orphan and the widow." Famous is that saying of Aesop the Fabulist, who when asked "what God does," answered: "He humbles the proud, exalts the humble." St. Ambrose, in his book On Widows, adds two other reasons for this divine care. The first is, that married women should be women of one husband, that is, content with one marriage, when their husband dies they should not seek another, knowing that if they remain widows they pass into God's care and protection. Hence he adds: "In divine judgments the Jews are found to have offended the Lord by no sin more than by violating the rights of widows and of minors; this cause is proclaimed by the prophetic voices; this alone is mentioned as a cause of offense that could be mitigated, if the widow were honored with honors and justice were rendered to her. For thus you have in Isaiah 1: Judge the orphan, and justify the widow and come let us reason, says the Lord." The second is that the widow represents the Church, whose spouse Christ died and went to heaven; she therefore remains a widow. St. Ambrose therefore says that God cares for widows because they "reflect the widowhood of the Church, which lost Christ her husband through the passion of His body, of which it was said in Isaiah: Because the children of the desolate are more numerous than the children of her who has a husband."
Hence mystically Bede takes the proud to mean heretics, whom as dirt God usually sweeps out of the Church; but by the widow he takes the Church, whose boundaries He usually establishes and extends. The Author of the Greek Chain, however, takes the proud to mean the Synagogue of the proud Jews, who killed Christ and were therefore cut off; but by the widow the Church of the Gentiles, which God preferred and established over the Synagogue.
The same St. Ambrose adds a third reason, in his Exhortation to Virgins, that widows provide an illustrious example of chastity not only to the married but also to virgins; for it is easier for a virgin who has not experienced carnal allurements to preserve her virginity than for a widow who has experienced them to preserve her widowhood: "The example of widowhood," he says, "is a school of virginity." For when a virgin sees a widow keeping her widowhood intact, she too is spurred to keep her virginity inviolate.
26. EVIL THOUGHTS ARE AN ABOMINATION TO THE LORD: AND PURE SPEECH MOST BEAUTIFUL WILL BE CONFIRMED BY HIM
The phrase "will be confirmed by Him" is not in the Hebrew, Greek, or Chaldean, nor in the Latin of the Complutensians, but is understood from the antithesis; for the Hebrew words literally have: the thoughts of the evil, that is of the evil thing (Vatablus, of the evil, namely man) are an abomination to the Lord; and pure words of beauty, that is, pure words are beautiful, say it before the Lord, that is: Just as God abominates evil thoughts, so He regards pure words as pleasing and beautiful, and by them He is as it were adorned and made beautiful; therefore He confirms them by His assent and cooperation, that is, He affirms and strengthens them: so Vatablus. The Septuagint, an unjust thought is an abomination to the Lord; but the words of the chaste are ἁγναί, that is, grave, pure, honorable; Symmachus, ἁγναί, that is, chaste; Theodotion, καθαραί, that is, clean; the Chaldean, and pure words are sweet; Vatablus, they are pleasant; others, pure are the words of beauty or comeliness; the Syriac, pure words are delightful; Aben-Ezra, pure and sincere words are reckoned as silver separated from all dross, in which God delights. He opposes to evil thoughts a pure word, that is, a pure thought: for from this follows a pure word: for from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. This is a metalepsis frequent in Solomon. The meaning therefore is, that is: God abominates evil thoughts, and the evil words proceeding from them; conversely, He loves pure thoughts, and the pure words proceeding from them, which in the eyes of God as well as of men are most beautiful, and therefore are very pleasing to Him, and are directed and confirmed by Him. Hence R. Levi from the Hebrew thus translates and explains: God detests the thoughts of the wicked, because they are always rolling in wickedness; but what the pure and clean turn over in their mind are nothing other than words that are pleasing to God.
He touches here the root of all evil and good, namely evil and good thoughts. For from an evil thought of the mind there naturally arises delight in pleasure, from delight appetite, from appetite consent, from consent the deed, from the deed habit, from habit obstinacy, from obstinacy hell. Conversely, from a good thought these same things arise, but good ones, and at last heavenly glory and happiness. See here the lineage of good and evil thought, and its children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Therefore the greatest care must be taken by a man regarding his thoughts, that he turn over in his mind nothing but good ones, and immediately exclude evil ones, whether sent by the devil, by concupiscence, or by men, and destroy them like the eggs of asps. For he who always turns over good thoughts in his mind can desire nothing but good; for the will follows the intellect and thought. This is what Christ says, Matthew 15:19: "From the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies; these are what defile a man." See how the Gospel agrees with the Law, how Christ the true Solomon concurs with the ancient Solomon. Here the saying of Sextus the philosopher fits:
A good mind (which thinks good things) is the choir of God; an evil mind (which thinks evil things) is the choir of demons. A holy temple to God is the mind of the pious, and the best altar for Him is a clean heart.
Again, God embraces or abominates good or evil thoughts, because they are the indicators and effects of good or evil love, which God embraces or abominates, according to that saying of St. Augustine: "My love is my weight; by it I am borne wherever I am borne." For the will, as a mistress, moves the intellect to think about what is dear to it, and to represent its beauty to itself, so as to delight in it. Do you wish to know what you love? See what you often think about; for this is what you love. Therefore from one's thoughts God measures one's love, in which the whole moral goodness or wickedness of a man consists. Finally Solomon teaches here that lingering thoughts, to which the will fully or half-fully consents, are sins, even if they do not issue in action, according to that saying of Christ: "Whoever looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." For they are forbidden by the ninth commandment of the Decalogue: "You shall not covet," as I showed at Deuteronomy 5:21 and Romans 7:7.
Hear St. Gregory, Moralia XXI, chapter 11: "Through Moses," he says, "lust committed in act is condemned, but through the Author of purity lust conceived in thought is condemned. For from this it is that the first pastor of the Church says to his disciples: Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, be perfect, etc. For to gird up the loins of the flesh is to restrain lust from its effect; but to gird up the loins of the mind is to restrain it even from thought. For our adversary is cunning, and when he is driven out externally from the effect of the work, he secretly contrives to pollute the thought. Hence the Lord says to the serpent: On your breast and belly you shall crawl. The serpent indeed crawls on its belly, when the slippery enemy through human members subjected to him reaches the completion of the deed; but the serpent crawls on its breast, when those whom he cannot defile in the act of lust, he pollutes in thought. But since through thought one arrives at performing acts, rightly the serpent is described as crawling first on its breast, and then on its belly."
Moreover, evil thoughts are, first, evil machinations by which one plots evil against another; second, pretenses, deceits, and frauds, about which our Salazar explains this passage thus: "Evil thoughts are an abomination to the Lord," that is, God pursues with intense hatred the deceits and snares which the impious employ for the destruction of their neighbors. "But pure speech most beautiful is confirmed by Him," that is, sincere speech, free from deceit, is declared and esteemed by Him as most beautiful: it is this that He approves and smiles upon. For men consider those words to be more beautiful, elegant, and witty that contain some tricks or deceits or pretenses; but to God no speech seems more beautiful or more elegant and witty than sincere and candid speech, beneath which there lies no deceit or deception, no falsity or pretense.
Third, evil thoughts are obscene and lustful: for directly opposed to these are pure thought and "pure speech;" Symmachus, chaste; Theodotion, clean. For above all other thoughts, lustful thoughts are evil and displeasing to God, both because they are supremely contrary to divine purity and holiness; and because they are alluring, and easily entice and draw the will to consent, at least imperfect or tacit and implicit consent, and this because of the concupiscence innate in us, which in matters of lust is most vehement; just as therefore he who touches pitch is defiled by it, and he who handles dirt and dung is soiled by it, according to that saying: "Whether I conquer or am conquered, I am always stained;" so likewise he who disputes and wrestles with impure thoughts is defiled by them. Therefore the thoughts of other vices are conquered by resisting, but those of lust by fleeing, according to that word of the Apostle: "Flee fornication." So Cassian, Climacus, Dorotheus, and St. Augustine, Sermon 250 On the Seasons: "Among all the battles of Christians," he says, "only the combats of chastity are harder, where the fight is daily and victory rare.
Chastity has been allotted a formidable enemy, who is conquered daily yet still feared. And therefore let no one deceive himself with false security, let no one presumptuously rely on his own strength, but let him hear the Apostle saying: Flee fornication," 1 Corinthians chapter 6. He proves this by the example of Joseph, who by fleeing conquered his mistress who was tempting him; and of David, who by not fleeing succumbed to temptation and committed adultery.
Fourth, by evil thoughts understand any kind of vicious thoughts, such as those of pride, anger, envy, gluttony, sloth, etc. For the Lord abominates all of these; and the soul, if it would please God, must purge itself of all of them, so that in His sight it may be pure and gleaming like a polished mirror, indeed like an angel.
Counter-parallels to this saying of Solomon are the maxims of the ancient Fathers. That of Hyperichius, who says: "Let your thought always be on the kingdom of heaven, and you will quickly receive it as your inheritance." So it is found in the Lives of the Fathers, book 5, booklet 11, number 35; likewise in the meditations of twelve Anchorites, the fourth in order says: "I am," he says, "as if sitting on the Mount of Olives with the Lord and His disciples. And He said to me: Know no one according to the flesh; but always be an imitator of the heavenly way of life, like the good Mary Magdalene sitting at the feet of Jesus and hearing His words. Be holy and perfect, as your Father who is in heaven is. And: Learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart." And the ninth in order says: "Every day I behold the Church of the intellectual virtues, I see the Lord of glory in their midst shining above all, and when I depart from Him, I ascend to heaven, awaiting the wondrous beauties of the Angels, so that I may hear the hymns they ceaselessly send forth to God and their sweet songs, and I am carried away by their sounds and voices and sweetness, so that I delight in remembering what is written: The heavens declare the glory of God, etc. And all things that are upon the earth I regard as ashes and dung." Behold these are good thoughts and pure words, which delight God and the Angels, just as impure ones delight Lucifer and the demons. Therefore Barlaam to Josaphat in Damascene's History, chapter 19, urgently exhorts him to purity and care of thoughts: "For not only our actions," he says, "but also our thoughts are numbered before God, and procure us either crowns or punishments. For we know that Christ, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, dwells in pure hearts. And again we are not ignorant of the fact that, just as smoke drives away bees, so evil thoughts drive the grace of the divine Spirit away from us. Therefore strive with the utmost zeal to extinguish and erase every vicious thought from your mind, and to plant in it all the best thoughts, and to make yourself a temple of the Holy Spirit. For through thoughts we come to actions themselves; and every work proceeding from thought and mental agitation seizes upon a small beginning at first, and then growing by silent increments becomes immense at last."
Abbot John in the Lives of the Fathers, book 3, at Rufinus, numbers 208 and 209, teaches that evil thoughts must be overcome by prayer: "Whenever," he says, "a foul thought has been kindled by the enemy, then let one pour out the water of prayer and extinguish it." Syncletica in the same work, book 5, booklet 4, on continence, number 42: "Just as," she says, "venomous animals drive away stronger medicines from themselves: so fasting with prayer drives a foul thought from the soul." In the same work, book 6, toward the end, number 25, a certain elder says: "He who binds the memory of malice in his soul is like one hiding fire among straw." In the same work, book 5, booklet 11, number 53, another elder says: "The fear of God like fire burns the thicket of thoughts." And in booklet 10, number 83, to someone asking: "What shall I do, because thoughts trouble me, and I do not know how to resist them?" the elder suggests this remedy: "Do not fight against all of them, but against one; for all the thoughts of monks have one head; therefore it is necessary to consider which and of what kind it is (the chief one), and to resist that one; for thus the remaining thoughts are also humbled." For when the root and chief thought is conquered, all the rest, which sprout from it like fibers, are conquered and cut down. Therefore the root of one's thoughts must be diligently examined and traced, and once known, the axe of mortifications must be applied to it; for when that is cut off, the rest that flow from it are cut off, as masters of the spiritual life teach. Abbot Macarius in the same work, book 5, booklet 18, number 9, to Theoctistus when tempted: "If," he says, "an evil thought comes up to you, never look downward, but always upward, and at once the Lord will help you." John Moschus in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter 69, relates that maxim of Abbot Palladius: "The observance of thoughts is the medicine of salvation." In the same work, Abbot Pastor commanded someone who was troubled by various thoughts to seize the wind; and when the man said he could not do it, he replied: "So neither can you prevent thoughts from entering, but it is your task to resist them." Finally there is that ancient custom in Religious Orders, that novices disclose their thoughts and temptations to their Superior; whereby it happens that both by the merit of humility and by the prudence and counsel of the Superior they are quickly freed from them.
27. HE WHO PURSUES AVARICE TROUBLES HIS OWN HOUSE; BUT HE WHO HATES BRIBES SHALL LIVE
The Chaldean, he destroys his house, who gathers the mammon of iniquity; and he who hates a gift of favor (a bribe), shall live. The miser troubles his own house, first, because to satisfy his avarice he forces his household members, servants, and maids to work more than is fair, even on feast days and forbidden days, and cheats them of decent food and clothing, and treats them wretchedly, harshly, and bitterly; so it happens that they murmur against him, quarrel, and bicker among themselves, as each one strives to shake off the burden and labor and shift it onto another; second, the miser through frauds, usury, and unjust contracts is accustomed to enrich himself, on account of which lawsuits are brought either against him or his heirs, which cause them great losses and sometimes strip them of their goods; third, because God usually punishes the avaricious by depriving them of the wealth greedily and wrongfully amassed, so that in the very thing in which they sinned, they are also punished. For "troubles" the Hebrew is עוכר ocher, by which word he alludes to Achan, who greedily stealing a cloak from the spoils of Jericho against God's command, troubled his own house, indeed all of Israel, which was therefore defeated by the Canaanites. Hence Achan, stoned by Joshua in the valley, which was thenceforth called Achor, that is, of trouble, heard: "Because you have troubled us, the Lord will trouble you this day," Joshua 7:25. So also Gehazi, greedily and simoniacally accepting gifts from Naaman, whom Elisha his master had cured of leprosy, brought the same disease upon himself and his house, that is, upon all his posterity, 4 Kings 5:27.
BUT HE WHO HATES BRIBES SHALL LIVE. — The antithesis equally required that he say: "But he who hates avarice shall live." But Solomon in his customary way puts a more commonly used species for the whole genus of avarice, and from the species understands the whole genus by synecdoche, that is: A judge, counselor, and any official who in passing sentence, or giving counsel, in distributing benefices or public offices, etc., does not allow himself to be corrupted by bribes, but abstains from them, so as to pass a fair sentence for justice, so as to give sound and sincere counsel, so as to confer the office or benefice on the more worthy and suitable; this man, with God's help, "shall live," that is, he will lead a quiet, happy, long life in this age, and an eternal one in the next. What I say about one who hates bribes, I understand equally or similarly about one who hates usury, simony, and any form of avarice. For from one species of accepting bribes I understand the whole genus of avarice.
Hence also the Septuagint, to match the first part to the second by antithesis, putting the same species for the genus of avarice, translates thus: the accepter of bribes will destroy himself; but he who hates the acceptance of bribes is saved. So also the Syriac.
Our Salazar takes he who hates bribes to mean he who hates usury; for usury, since it is not owed, is indeed a gift and present which the usurer unjustly demands and exacts from the one seeking a loan. But even if this is true, usury is only a species of avarice; hence it does not equal its whole genus; therefore the antithesis remains not equal, but deficient.
Moreover Jansenius rightly observes that this saying applies especially to churchmen who greedily strive to enrich themselves and their families; for these, first, sin and defile their soul with avarice, namely by plurality of benefices and pensions (to say nothing of simony, usury, etc.), which in them is graver than in laypeople: for their profession is to devote themselves to God and heavenly things, and to disdain temporal ones. Hence when they become clergy, they say with the Levites: "The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup." If the Lord is their portion, why do they covet portions of the earth? Second, they trouble their own houses and families with many cares, labors, and lawsuits, which desire brings with it, indeed the houses of themselves and their families, which they wish to enrich through avarice, they by this very fact impoverish and ruin. For experience teaches that ecclesiastical goods, when transferred to the houses of the laity, consume and devour them and their wealth, just as eagle feathers mixed with the feathers of other birds are said to consume them. Third, they scandalize the Church of God; for the faithful say: If celibate clergy consecrated to God are grasping for earthly goods, much more should we, who have children, accumulate them. Hence from Climacus, Dionysius says: "The miser," he says, "is a mocker of the Gospel; since Christ especially commended contempt of earthly things by His example and word." On the contrary, Pastors and churchmen who despise earthly goods and generously distribute them to the poor will live in glory in heaven and in memory, fame, and glory on earth, as St. Gregory the Great lives, who, poor for himself but rich for others, fed all the needy not only in Rome but throughout all Italy, indeed throughout Spain, France, Palestine, and the whole world; and in our own age St. Charles Borromeo, whose poverty and contempt of wealth and generosity would that all Prelates and Clergy would read and imitate! See what was said at Ezekiel 34:3.
Cyril adorns this maxim with the fable of the monkey and the fox, book 3 of the Moral Apologues, chapter 12: A monkey, he says, receiving a honeycomb as a gift from an actor, offered herself to him as a servant to perform comic shows for the people; therefore, tied with a chain by him lest she flee, and exhibited as a laughingstock to the public, she began too late to repent of her captivity, misery, and hard lot; hence condemning the accepted gift she exclaimed: "O baited hook of deceptive desire, deadly gift, adopted offspring of natural gifts, most burdensome pledge of obligation, the slightest commerce between fool and wise, the greatest price of purchase, the yoke of servitude, the leaven of iniquity, the mark of captivity, the ferment of discords, the overthrow of civilized life, the seed-bed of all evils, beloved poison!" He then brings forward the examples of philosophers who, because they spurned the gifts of kings, were superior to kings: "For with how many titles of glory is that Diogenes extolled, because, trampling royal wealth underfoot, he walked through the midst of Alexander of Macedon's treasures, poor in bodily attire but rich in virtue? For he shone the richer and greater, the more the very thing he refused to accept exceeded what the other had arranged to give. With how many praises is Socrates, the cultivator of morals, exalted, when he was being courted by sufficiently great gifts to be honored by King Archelaus? And he replied that he was unwilling to go to him from whom he would receive favors, since he could not return them in kind. For he wished to be free, since he thought of repaying before receiving. With how many similar accolades is Fabricius, most wealthy in virtue, adorned, when the gift offered to him, a poor man, by Pyrrhus he refused, choosing rather to possess the honor of a free citizen than the glory of a king bought by gifts? In which matter he indeed shone far more brightly, since the king, admiring the remarkable man, exalted him above the sun, saying: This is that Fabricius, who can be turned from his honesty with more difficulty than the sun from the straightness of its course."
BY MERCY AND FAITH SINS ARE PURGED; AND BY THE FEAR OF THE LORD EVERYONE TURNS AWAY FROM EVIL. — This verse is transcribed from the Septuagint. For it does not exist in this place in the Hebrew, but in the next chapter, verse 6, where for "faith" the Hebrew is not emeth, that is truth. But truth, when opposed to mercy, is the same as justice, and signifies a work that is owed, just as mercy signifies an unowed, gratuitous, and generous work. The meaning therefore is, that is: Through the free works of the virtue of almsgiving, and through the works of the virtue of justice owed in whatever manner, sins are purged, because through these works performed in the grace of God we satisfy for the punishment due to sins; and even if we are in guilt and sin, we abolish it through them, if there is true contrition of mind, if namely from a contrite heart we offer them to God for the expiation of guilt. "By the fear of the Lord" one "turns away from evil," that is: Almsgiving expiates sin already committed; but the fear of God preserves from committing it. Therefore give alms, to expiate the past, and put on the fear of God, to guard against the future: thus you will keep yourself pure from sin and will establish your salvation in security.
Hence St. Cyprian, or whoever is the author of the treatise On Works and Almsgiving, teaches that God established two washings for sin, namely baptism for washing away crimes committed before it, and almsgiving for expiating sins committed after it: "We were constrained," he says, "and shut in by the narrow prescription of innocence. Nor would the weakness and frailty of human fragility have anything to do, had not divine goodness come to our aid again by revealing works of justice and mercy, opening a certain way of preserving our salvation, so that whatever stains we subsequently contract we may wash away by almsgiving. The Holy Spirit speaks in the Scriptures and says: By almsgiving and faith sins are purged; not indeed those sins that had been previously contracted: for those are purged by the blood and sanctification of Christ. Likewise He says again: As water extinguishes fire, so almsgiving extinguishes sin. Here too it is shown and proved that, just as by the saving wash of water the fire of hell is extinguished, so by almsgiving and works of justice the flame of sins is quenched. And since remission of sins is given once in baptism, a constant and continuous practice, imitating the pattern of baptism, again bestows the indulgence of God." Christ concurs with Solomon, Luke 11:41: "That which remains," He says, "give as alms; and behold all things are clean for you." Therefore almsgiving remits venial sins and the punishment of mortal sins; moreover it disposes toward the remission of mortal guilt, and in fact abolishes it if done out of contrition. See Origen, St. Ambrose, Bede, Toledo, and others on Luke 11:14. See also what I said on Daniel 4:24, on the words: "Redeem your sins with almsgiving."
28. THE MIND OF THE JUST MEDITATES ON OBEDIENCE; THE MOUTH OF THE IMPIOUS OVERFLOWS WITH EVILS
The Gloss and others read wisdom for obedience. Hence you may learn that true wisdom is obedience, namely if one obeys God and Superiors as the vicars of God, especially because obedience must be seasoned with wisdom so that it may be pleasing to God, says St. Bernard; in Hebrew it is לענות laanoth, which means two things: first, to answer, second, to be humbled. R. Levi and R. David add a third meaning, to engage in business.
Hence first Pagninus, the Zurich Bible, Clarius, R. Solomon and others translate: the heart of the just meditates on what he should answer; but the mouth of the impious belches out or blurts out evils, that is: The just man when questioned does not answer immediately, lest in a hasty answer he say something impious against God or injurious to his neighbor, but meditates on what to answer wisely, according to that saying of St. Bernard: "Bring words twice to the file before once to the tongue;" but the impious man without premeditation blurts out with his mouth the evils that he bears in his heart, and belches out whatever comes into his mouth, like a spring bubbling up all the water, both pure and dirty, that it has received. Hence some translate, he vomits out evils. For just as by vomiting one ejects the effects of gluttony, phlegm, and filth of the stomach: so the impious man vomits out from his mouth the slander, calumny, insolence, arrogance, anger, etc., which he bears in his heart. Aben-Ezra refers these words to verse 27, which in the Hebrew immediately precedes, that is: The incorruptible judge who hates bribes shall live; and therefore his mind, having heard the parties litigating with each other, meditates on what to answer, so as to pronounce judgment according to the norm of justice. But others do not restrict these words to a judge, but take them generally as they sound. Here fits that saying of Demosthenes, who, when it was objected that he delivered studied speeches, replied, "that if he could, he would speak not merely what was written but what was carved." And he added: "I consider a man a bad citizen who dares to give counsel to the state without meditation."
Second, R. Levi, Vatablus, and R. David consider the Hebrew laanoth to be the same as לענין leinian, that is, business. Hence they translate: the heart of the just will meditate on business or on doing business, that is: The mind of the just man is always intent on thinking about the matter and business from which he may take profit. Or, that is: The heart of the just meditates on speaking with substance and weight of matters, with propriety and pleasantness of content, and with profit: on the contrary, the mouth of the impious lightly, improperly, rashly, and without profit blurts out everything he thinks. Therefore the talkativeness of the fool is reproved, and the gravity of the wise man's speech is commended.
Third, our Translator translates most aptly: "The mind of the just meditates on obedience," that is, humility, submission, meekness, that is: When anything is commanded to the just man, however hard and arduous, by the law, by God, or by a Superior, indeed even when he is admonished about his faults and defects by the same or another equal or inferior, he immediately humbly and meekly, like a lamb, submits his mind to the command and to obedience, or to the admonition and the one admonishing; but the impious man, when something displeasing is commanded, or when he is reproved for his vices, kicks back, murmurs, and belches out a thousand words of impatience, and is like an overflowing river that fills all the surrounding area with its abundance of water: so he too from the abundance of his heart continuously pours forth a flood of slander, and burdens and overwhelms everyone with it.
This seems to be what the Septuagint intended when they translate: the hearts of the just meditate on faithfulness, and the mouth of the impious answers with evils; and the Chaldean: the heart of the just meditates in faith, and the mouth of the impious belches out evils. For by faith they understand faithfulness, as the Syriac explains, which the inferior owes to his Superior, namely obedience.
Moreover the just man meditates on obedience, first, by meditating on the excellence, usefulness, fruit, and necessity of obedience, especially of a command or vow, if he has vowed it. For, as Climacus says, Step 4: "Obedience is the perfect abnegation of one's own soul and body, a voluntary death, a life without care, a voyage without loss, the burial of the will; it is to travel sleeping under a burden imposed by others, and to swim upon the arms of others lest you sink." Second, by meditating on the reasons that bend him to obedience and temper and soften the rigor of the command, so that when the Superior calls or commands something arduous, he immediately says with Samuel: "Here I am;" and with St. Paul: "Lord, what do You want me to do?" and especially by meditating on the obedience of Christ, who became obedient for us unto death, even death on a cross, so that He might restore us, lost through Adam's disobedience, by His example of obedience, and teach us to obey, as if to say: Look, and do, and obey according to the pattern which was shown to you on Mount Calvary. Third, by meditating on the degrees of obedience, so as to ascend them gradually. These degrees are three: the first and lowest is to perform the work commanded; the second, to will the work commanded, and to love it, and to undertake it willingly, promptly, and eagerly; the third, not only to will it but also to judge the work commanded to be better than any other, so that one submits not only one's will but also one's judgment to the Superior, and believes that what the Superior commands is better than what one's own mind or anyone else suggests. Fourth, by meditating on the ways to skillfully execute what is commanded.
Hence St. Bernard, in his sermon On the Virtue of Obedience: "A faithful obedient," he says, "knows no delays, flees tomorrow, is ignorant of slowness, anticipates the one commanding, prepares his eyes for seeing, his ears for hearing, his tongue for speaking, his hands for working, his feet for traveling, and gathers his whole self together to gather the will of the one commanding." And St. Jerome, in his letter to Rusticus: "Believe to be salutary whatever the head of the monastery has commanded, and do not judge the opinion of your superiors, whose office it is to obey and fulfill what is commanded, as Moses says: Hear, O Israel, and be silent." Cassian, book 4 of the Institutes: "The Egyptian monks hasten to complete whatever has been commanded by their Superior, as if it had been issued by God from heaven, without any discussion." And St. Gregory, book 2 on 1 Kings: "He does not know how to judge who has perfectly learned to obey." St. Basil, in the Monastic Constitutions, chapter 23: "The Apostles," he says, "with the neck of their mind bowed, took upon themselves the yoke of obedience, and with eager spirit advanced into markets, into insults, into stonings, into ignominies, into crosses, into various kinds of death. This obedience he who is truly a monk according to God must render to his Superior." Again St. Bernard in his sermon On the Virtue of Obedience: "The third degree of obedience," he says, "is to obey joyfully. Not from sadness, says the Apostle, or from necessity. Serenity in the face, sweetness in words greatly adorn the obedience of one who complies." Hence even that pagan poet says thus:
Above all, a good countenance Made them welcome.
"For what place is there for obedience where the sickness of sadness is seen? External signs usually reveal the will of the mind, and it is difficult for those who change their will not to show a sour face."
Such was the obedience of Abraham, who was therefore the father of the faithful and the patriarch of the obedient, of whom the Apostle says, Hebrews 11:8: "By faith," he says, "he who was called Abraham obeyed to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going." Greater still was his obedience in the sacrifice of his son Isaac; from whom God had previously promised him posterity as numerous as the stars of heaven: therefore then "against hope he believed in hope, etc., being fully assured that whatever God has promised He is able also to perform;" namely Abraham believed that if by sacrificing he killed his son, God would raise him from death, to provide the posterity promised to him from that son. The same St. Bernard in his treatise On Dispensation and Precept: "Perfect obedience," he says, "knows no law, is not confined by limits, not content with the narrow bounds of profession, is borne by a more generous will into the breadth of charity, and for everything that is enjoined extends itself infinitely by the spontaneous vigor of a generous and eager spirit, not considering measure."
After this verse and this saying the Septuagint adds: "The ways of the just are acceptable before the Lord; and through them even enemies are made friends," which does not exist in the Hebrew nor in the Latin; the latter part however exists in both in the next chapter, verse 7, where I will explain it. The Author of the Greek Chain gives the reason here: For since, he says, the just tirelessly fulfill the will of God, it happens that they are able to make friends even out of enemies. For once they have dedicated and consecrated themselves to God, they also intercede for others, and reconcile those who were enemies to God, and make them friends.
In a similar manner the Septuagint transposes the verses that follow next, and places them in a different location and order than they are in the Hebrew and Latin.
29. THE LORD IS FAR FROM THE IMPIOUS: AND HE WILL HEAR THE PRAYERS OF THE JUST
God is everywhere and in all things really and personally through His essence, presence, and power; yet He is far from the impious in terms of favor and help, because He hates them and does not hear them when they implore His aid; but He is near to the just, namely through love and beneficence, inasmuch as He protects them, directs them, and hears those who invoke Him. It is the usual metalepsis and metonymy: for from God's distance is understood His not hearing, because among men distance and a great gap and separation are the reason why someone does not hear the one crying out. This gap and distance mystically and spiritually between God and the sinner is caused by pride, lust, and other sins. Therefore God is far from the impious through hatred: for He hates and detests them, because they distance themselves from God through their crimes which are supremely hateful and contrary to God. Again, God hears the just when they pray, because they hear God commanding and obey Him: therefore since they do the will of God, God in turn does their will and renders them requital. Conversely, the impious do not do the will of God but of the devil; hence likewise God does not do their will.
The Psalmist gives a third reason, that the impious do not invoke God in truth, that is, with a true and sincere heart and love, as the just do. For thus he says in Psalm 144, verse 18: "The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. He will do the will of those who fear Him, and He will hear their prayers and save them." Do you wish, then, that God hear you? You first hear God knocking and calling. Do you wish that God do your will? You first do the will of God. Do you wish that God love you with a sincere heart, wish you well and do you good? You first love God with a sincere heart. So the Author of the Greek Chain says: God is not absent from the impious in place, he says, but in mind, that is, in favor and grace, or certainly in manner and way of life, according to that saying:
As far as heaven is distant from earth, so far are My ways distant from your ways, says the Lord.
And Polythronius in the same place: "God is not absent," he says, "by a gap of space, but by a difference of purpose; for contraries are accustomed to be very far apart from each other. And as the just are near to God (and it is certain that this does not refer to place), so also they are easily heard by Him at any moment."
This is what the Psalmist says, Psalm 36: "Delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." Therefore St. Chrysostom, Homily 41 on Genesis, teaches that just and holy men bring salvation not only to themselves but often to the whole city and state by their prayers. "When therefore you see," he says, "a man clothed in vile outer garments, but inwardly clothed with virtue, do not despise what appears outwardly, but contemplate the riches of his soul and his inner glory. Such was the blessed Elijah, who had only a sheepskin cloak: but Ahab in his purple needed that sheepskin of Elijah's. See the poverty of Ahab, and the riches of Elijah."
30. THE LIGHT OF THE EYES GLADDENS THE SOUL (in Hebrew, the heart); GOOD NEWS FATTENS THE BONES
In Hebrew, bone; the Septuagint, an eye contemplating beautiful things gladdens the heart: and good news fattens the bones. For "report" the Hebrew is שמועה scemua, that is, a hearing, a message, a report, a fame.
Hence first, Aben-Ezra, referring these words to the three following verses, takes scemua, that is, a hearing, to mean a rebuke that one hears, about which the following verse speaks, that is: Light, which is drunk in by the eyes, brings pleasure to the heart: but when one has listened to a rebuke, in which life is situated, and has dwelt among the wise, then rebukes will bring greater growth than if one had heard some good news. In the same way by scemua you may understand the hearing of Sacred Scripture, the law, sacred doctrine, pious books, etc.; for the reading or hearing of these wonderfully fattens the bones, that is, the innermost part of the soul, and fills it with the marrow of holy thoughts and desires, by which the whole spirit of man grows warm and is strengthened in the love of God.
Second, others take scemua, that is, a hearing, to mean the fame of virtues, works, and examples of the saints, by which a person is well regarded among others, that is: Just as light wonderfully refreshes the eyes, and thence the heart and soul of the beholder: so the fame of virtues and examples refreshes the hearing, and thence the mind of the listener, and strengthens his bones and power for similar deeds: for bones often signify the powers and strength of the soul, says St. Jerome on Isaiah 58, according to Psalm 34:10: "All my bones shall say: Lord, who is like You?" Hence Christ, Matthew 5: "So," He says, "let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Where St. Chrysostom says: "Nothing," he says, "makes a man so remarkable and conspicuous, even if he desires to hide with great effort, as this splendor of virtue; for just as if surrounded by the sun itself, so indeed the just man shines more brightly; and he not only sends forth rays of light onto the earth, but radiates with his own brightness even above heaven itself."
Moreover the fame of virtues fattens the bones of the soul not only of those who hear, who are spurred to emulate them, as I have already said from St. Chrysostom and Origen, but also of the very person endowed with virtue, about whom the fame is. For this person, noticing that this good opinion about him produces admiration and imitation in the minds of his hearers, is gladdened, spurred on, and strengthened to multiply and increase the works of virtue which are of such splendor and example to others.
Third and most genuinely, by scemua understand fame, report, and good news, that is: Just as the light of the sun, rising in the morning or in spring after the long darkness of night or winter, and shining upon the world, wonderfully illuminates, gladdens, enlivens, strengthens, and vivifies the eyes of those who behold it, and thence their heart and soul, so likewise does good news: when something joyful is announced, it not only soothes the ears, but through the ears penetrates all the way to the heart and mind and its bones, that is, pervades, gladdens, vivifies, and strengthens its inmost marrow; indeed it also refreshes, irrigates, and enlivens the very bones of the body. For he here compares the two primary senses, namely sight and hearing, in that, just as things seen, especially light, delight the mind, so likewise things heard, namely reports of joyful matters, delight the mind, and consequently the body and bones through the natural sympathy by which an emotion, for example joy or sadness of mind, is transferred and passes into the body that is joined to the soul; for intense joy so affects the mind that it overflows and abounds into the body. Therefore take bones both metaphorically for the innermost parts of the soul, and literally for the bones of the body; for just as sad news contracts, casts down, and dismays the mind and body with fear and grief, so conversely joyful news, especially when greatly desired, instills and inspires joy, life, and vigor in both the soul and the body of the hearers; just as now the joyful news of the faith triumphing throughout the whole world, especially in Germany, France, Ethiopia, and Tartary, wonderfully refreshes, animates, and strengthens Catholics.
Therefore among the ancients, messengers of good things were signified by kites, which are the heralds of spring and its cheerfulness, which therefore the ancients worshipped; for it was the custom among some peoples to worship kites, because they appeared as the faithful heralds of springtime after the harshness of freezing winter. Hence the proverb: "He prostrates himself before the kite."
Such was St. John the Baptist, the messenger of the Gospel, the groomsman, indeed the herald of Christ; for he foretold peace and the mildness of the heavenly spring, proclaiming that the Savior and salvation were already present. Hence his voice filled the ears of all with a wondrous pleasantness of joy: "The kingdom of heaven has drawn near," he says. "Prepare the way of the Lord." So our Caussin, book 6 of the Historical Parables, chapter 75. Such joyful messengers were the Apostles and the other heralds of the Gospel. For "Evangelium" in Greek means the same as a good and joyful message in Latin, according to what the Angel announcing to the shepherds the birth of Christ said:
"Behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all the people; for this day is born to you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord," Luke 2:10. Such messengers were the Prophets, and especially Isaiah, who concerning Christ and His passion and redemption wove not so much a prophecy as a history, and was not so much a Prophet as an Evangelist, as St. Jerome attests. Hence of the Apostles he says, chapter 52, verse 7: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who announces and preaches peace, who announces good things, who preaches salvation, who says to Zion: Your God shall reign!" And chapter 53:1: "Who has believed our report (in Hebrew שמועה scemua, the same word as here)? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" etc.
Finally Basil in the Greek Chain, partly mystically, partly literally, expounds this verse thus: "The eye," he says, "then truly contemplates good things when it is not harmed but perfected by the contemplation and comprehension of those things that come into view. For the contemplation of created things is naturally suited to strengthen the powers of the soul. But good fame is either that which one hears about another; or certainly that which someone has acquired for himself through virtue and learning; or he calls every truly just person, who keeps his mind always intent on the observance of Christ's commandments, an eye contemplating good things. For such a one gladdens God. Finally, the fame and voice that will be supremely welcome and exceedingly joyful will be that which the just will one day hear, namely that of Christ: Come, blessed of My Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you. For this will wonderfully refresh and fatten the just, whom He calls bones on account of the firmness of their faith."
Indeed whoever receives the message of his predestination, election, and eternal happiness has reason to rejoice, reason to exult with all the marrow of his soul and bones, because this message brings him the security of blessedness and of every good. Therefore St. Francis, when in ecstasy he had been assured of his predestination, as soon as he came to himself, immediately exclaimed: "Praised be my Lord, to Him glory and honor without end;" indeed he spent the next eight days in such a way that he could not speak of anything, nor even recite the canonical Hours, but had only this on his lips, and always repeated it: "Praised be the Lord," so great was the joy and exultation with which his spirit was thrilled, and indeed justly and deservedly.
St. Mary of Oignies, having received a similar message of her predestination, as if rapt outside herself, kept repeating with jubilation: "We shall go to the Holy of Holies. And what is the Holy of Holies?" So relates Cardinal James of Vitry in her Life. Blessed Peter of Alcantara, recently given a sure hope of salvation, at death sang with the Psalmist: "I was glad when they said to me: We shall go to the house of the Lord."
31. THE EAR THAT HEARS THE REBUKES OF LIFE SHALL DWELL IN THE MIDST OF THE WISE
"Rebukes of life," says Jansenius, by a Hebrew phrase means vital rebukes, that is, salutary and life-giving ones, which both teach how to live rightly here and lead to eternal life. He who willingly hears such rebukes is said to be about to dwell in the midst of the wise, that is, among the wise, either because he will rejoice to be among them, seeking their company, by whom he can be admonished and corrected; or because he will be made worthy to be himself honored among the wise and to obtain the name and place of a wise man.
So Bede: "The disciple," he says, "who obediently assents to the rebukes of his teachers, by making progress generally ascends even to the chair of a teacher. Finally Paul, who humbly submitted himself to the rebuke of his Creator, afterwards attained sublimely to the seat of Apostolic dignity." Here fits that saying of Climacus: "Every day drink rebukes like the water of life."
32. HE WHO REJECTS DISCIPLINE DESPISES HIS OWN SOUL; BUT HE WHO ACQUIESCES TO REBUKES IS POSSESSOR OF HIS HEART
The Septuagint, he who casts out (the Chaldean, abandons) discipline hates himself; but he who keeps correction loves his own soul. The meaning is clear. Its reason is that discipline, that is, instruction, correction, and chastisement of vices, is the supreme good of the soul; for it illuminates, purges, adorns, and decorates and perfects it with every virtue. Therefore he who despises and hates discipline despises and hates his own soul, just as a sick man who hates medicine and the physician hates his own health: for medicine is directed toward health. So he who neglects to break up his field with the plow and weed it with the hoe despises it and its good, because he prevents the crops that the field would produce, with which he would adorn himself and enrich his master. For what the plow is to the field, the hoe to the garden, the file to iron, lye to cloth, the furnace to gold, the comb to the head, carding to linen, threshing to wheat, the bridle to the horse, the cautery to the wound, medicine to the fever, the rod to the child, this is what discipline is to the carnal man addicted to vices.
BUT HE WHO ACQUIESCES TO REBUKES IS POSSESSOR OF HIS HEART. — In Hebrew קונה kone, that is, acquirer, buyer, possessor of his heart, that is: He who acquiesces to correction acquires dominion over his heart and becomes its possessor, both because he does not allow it to wander at will and give itself over to its own liberty and concupiscence; and because he dominates its pride, anger, impatience, and other emotions and passions, and bridles them and brings them under the yoke of reason and correction; and finally because he bends and governs it at will. Conversely, he who does not acquiesce to rebukes does not possess his heart, but is possessed by his heart's pride, anger, impatience, disobedience; he is the slave and bondservant of his own passions. Therefore he who acquiesces to rebukes is the possessor of his heart and is master of himself.
Such a person therefore possesses his heart, first, through humility, by which he humbles and subjects it to himself, that is, to reason and discipline. Second, through meekness, because with meekness he receives the cleansing agent of correction, according to that saying of Christ: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth," Matthew 5. Third, through patience, by which he patiently bears the rebukes of others and allows himself to be admonished and chastised for his vices, according to that saying of Christ: "In your patience you shall possess your souls." Fourth, through obedience, by which he makes his heart obey the one correcting, whether that person is a Superior or someone else. Fifth, through wisdom and prudence, because he wisely and prudently amends the faults of which he is accused, and embraces the opposing virtues. Hence the Chaldean translates: and he who hears rebuke possesses (the Syriac, acquires) wisdom, or understanding. "For such a person," says Dionysius, "rightly perceives that rebuke is a work of mercy, a spiritual alms, a salutary remedy, an indication of charity, an effect of inner love and holy justice." Therefore just as a master who buys a slave or an ox acquires dominion over him and possesses him by every right, so that he may do whatever he pleases with him: so likewise he who subjects his heart to correction and discipline enslaves it and makes it his servant, so that he possesses it as a bondservant and can bend and turn it wherever he wills. But this servitude of the heart gives it true freedom, because it causes it to be governed by wisdom, discipline, law, and by God Himself; and to serve God is to reign. Just as therefore the heavens, says Philo, since they lack mind and prudence, allow themselves to be governed and moved by the assisting intelligence, and this is their good and the good of the whole universe: so likewise the young and others who have little experience and prudence, if they are wise, should allow themselves to be governed, taught, and directed by a wise man; for thus they will learn from him the wisdom they do not have of themselves, and will conduct all their affairs wisely.
Hence sixth, such a person possesses his heart through love, because he compels it to love God, and out of love for God to submit itself to law and correction. Hence the Septuagint translates: but he who keeps corrections loves his own soul, that is: He who hates correction and the one who corrects does not hate that person so much as himself and his own good (for such is the correction of vices); but he who loves and observes corrections and the one correcting does not love that person so much as himself and his own good, because through them he learns to pursue vices with hatred, to love virtues, to worship and revere God.
33. THE FEAR OF THE LORD IS THE DISCIPLINE OF WISDOM; AND HUMILITY PRECEDES GLORY
In Hebrew, before glory or in the face of glory, humility; the Syriac, the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, and the praise of the humble walks before it, that is: The fear of God, by chastising vices through discipline, teaches true wisdom, that is, virtue and righteousness, which is the supreme dignity and glory of man; therefore for anyone to attain this glory, it is necessary that humility go before, by which out of the fear of God one humbly submits oneself to discipline and correction. Therefore this is the path to glory, namely: the fear of God leads to discipline, discipline to wisdom, wisdom to glory, both present and eternal. Hence the Septuagint, the beginning, or rather the sovereignty (for ἀρχή means both) of glory shall answer him, that is: The fear of God and discipline at first seem hard, troublesome, humble, and lowly; but do not be frightened, O faithful one fearing God, because at last as fruit, reward, and recompense they will bring you the sovereignty of glory. Hence we see such persons being chosen and promoted to positions of governance, to dignities and prelacies, both secular and ecclesiastical. The Complutensians add: "But glory precedes the humble." Which words, as the Romans note, seem to be an alternate interpretation of the aforesaid saying; hence they, following Procopius, delete them. Moreover the Author of the Greek Chain translates the Septuagint thus: the fear of the Lord begets discipline and wisdom; and each is the beginning of glory, which humility precedes, that is: Nothing could constrain the mind of man, which is free and its own master, with the laws of discipline as with chains, except the fear of God. Therefore this begets discipline, and through it wisdom and glory, which accordingly the humility of discipline precedes. Hence also the Arabic, following the Septuagint as usual, translates: the beginning of nobility is its response, and glory walks, or runs before the humble.
For humility the Hebrew is ענוה anava, that is, humility, mildness, modesty; also humiliation, oppression, affliction. Hence first, Symmachus and Theodotion translate: before glory, modesty, or meekness; and Cajetan, in the face of honor (or before honor and glory) meekness, that is: "Through meekness men are elevated to an honorable state. For the meek are loved, and are considered fit for governing, as being free from the passions of the mind. Or before honor, that is, before a man of honor, meekness flourishes, because such a person delights in meekness both his own and that of others." So far Cajetan.
Second, others translate: the fear of the Lord is the chastisement of wisdom, and before glory, affliction; which St. Peter, 1 Peter 1:11, renders as παθήματα, that is, afflictions, sufferings, when he says: "Foretelling those sufferings that are in Christ and the subsequent glories." See what was said there.
Third, Vatablus translates: before glory there is abasement, that is: God, before He glorifies anyone, first casts him down, lays him low, and humbles him; which our Translator renders most aptly: humility precedes glory, according to the meaning assigned at the beginning. Namely, it has been decreed by eternal law that one must travel and ascend to glory by the way of humility. This is the way, and there is no other. This is what Christ says: "Everyone who humbles himself shall be exalted." And of Christ Paul says: "He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God also exalted Him, and gave Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth," Philippians 2:9. Conversely, of pride Solomon says, in the next chapter, verse 18: "Pride precedes destruction."
Fourth, from the fact that the Hebrew literally has "before glory, humility," the Complutensian Septuagint translates conversely: but glory precedes the humble; following which the Syriac translates: the praise of the humble walks before him; the Chaldean: he who is glorious, let him be humble. Both are therefore true: both that humility precedes glory, and conversely, that glory precedes humility: namely, humility precedes glory as the merit of glory; in turn, glory precedes humility as the hope, crown, and reward of humility; just as therefore merit in the order of merit precedes reward in the genus of meritorious cause, so likewise humility precedes glory; and just as reward in the order of reward precedes merit in the genus of final cause (hence to the one laboring and striving, the reward is usually proposed before the labor and the contest), so likewise glory precedes humility. These two things are therefore connected, and one follows from the other: namely, from the fact that humility precedes glory in the order of merit, it necessarily follows that glory precedes humility in the order of reward. Thus Christ, says the Apostle, Hebrews 12:2, "for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame." Hence St. Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 3: "Humility precedes glory," this means, he says, "just as calamity accompanies insolence, so splendor and glory accompany humility. For the Lord resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble: and He brings contraries upon contraries in turn, He who measures all things justly."
Here the axioms and paradoxes of St. Augustine on humility are relevant. The first: "God, though He is the most excellent of all, is reached not by pride but by humility:" so he says, in the last homily among the 50; the second: "The Lord is exalted, and He looks upon the lowly, and the lofty He knows from afar, Psalm 137. He puts lofty in place of the proud; therefore He looks upon the former to lift them up, and knows the latter to bring them down and cast them low," ibid.; the third: "The serpent knows that we cannot return (to God) except through humility, we who fell through pride. He himself was our leader to pride; let us now follow Christ as our leader to humility," ibid. homily 12; the fourth: "By the steps of humility one ascends to the heights of heaven; because God who is exalted is reached not by pride but by humility, let us learn humility, through which we shall be able to draw near to God:" so he says, sermon 213 On the Seasons; the fifth: "Through pride the wondrous creature of the Angels fell from heaven: through humility the fragility of human nature ascended to heaven," ibid.; the sixth: "The more the heart is inclined to lowly things by humility, the more it advances in the heights: for he who is humble shall be exalted in glory," ibid.; the seventh: "The more humble anyone is about himself, the greater he will be in the sight of God. But the more glorious the proud man appears among men, the more abject he will be before God: for he who does good works without humility carries dust into the wind," ibid.; the eighth: "Descend so that you may ascend, humble yourself so that you may be exalted, lest when exalted you may be humbled: for he who seems worthless to himself is beautiful before God: those who displease themselves please God: therefore be small in your own eyes, so that you may be great in the eyes of God," ibid.; the ninth: "In the highest honor let your humility be the highest. The praise of honor is the virtue of humility," ibid.; the tenth: "Pride made demons out of Angels, humility makes men like Angels." So the Author of the sermon to the Brothers in the Desert, among the works of St. Augustine, volume 10, sermon 12.
Here also the maxims of St. Cyril and St. Ambrose, which Dionysius the Carthusian cites here, are relevant. Cyril's: "Believe me, he who considers himself great degrades himself most. Just as he who judges himself wise becomes foolish. Indeed light is confounded by light, and height is bowed down by height. Therefore where there is deep humility, there is lofty dignity, and where there is great abasement from yourself, there from virtue comes the greatest ennoblement: and while we judge ourselves unworthy of worldly positions, humility soon makes us worthy of eternal and heavenly mansions." St. Ambrose: "Whoever desires to hold the heights of divinity, let him pursue the depths of humility; whoever wishes to surpass his brother by reigning in heaven, let him first surpass him by serving on earth, as the Apostle says: In honor, anticipating one another; let him overcome him by acts of service, so that he may overcome him in holiness."
Therefore the step to glory is humility and humiliation. Conversely, the step to ruin is pride and the proud exaltation of oneself. Therefore St. Bernard wisely says, sermon 34 on the Song of Songs: "It is necessary," he says, "for one striving for higher things to think humbly of himself, lest while he lifts himself above himself, he fall from himself." And shortly after: "Without the merit of humility, the greatest things are by no means obtained." And St. Augustine in the Sentences, number 88: "One does not approach," he says, "the height of God except through humility; the submissive draws near to Him, the haughty recedes far from Him." Moreover, as the same says in the same place, number 83: "True humility of the faithful is to be proud in nothing, to murmur about nothing; to be neither ungrateful nor querulous; but in all of God's judgments to give thanks to God and praise God, whose every work is either just or kind." Following Solomon in his customary way, Sirach 11:1: "Wisdom," he says, "will exalt the head of the humbled and will cause him to sit in the midst of the great." See what was said there.