Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent

By means of righteousness we come into God's presence, as Moses did when he entered the thick cloud where God was. On the other hand, by the practice of evil a person leaves the presence of the Lord. For example, Cain, when he killed his brother, left the Lord's presence as far as his will was concerned.

And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, that is, from the inner parts of those dwellings in which he had been living with his parents until then, and was often accustomed to see Him in angelic form.

He dwelled in the land as a fugitive to the east of Eden. Eden is interpreted as pleasure or delight, by which name paradise is designated, about which it is said above: "And the Lord God planted a garden of pleasure from the beginning," which ancient interpreters have thus translated: "And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden to the east," from which it is understood that paradise is established to the eastern region of the world. Therefore, Cain dwelled not to the eastern region of paradise, otherwise he would dwell beyond this world, but in the eastern parts of the world, where paradise is nearby, although inaccessible and unknown to mortals. All things that are said literally about the justice or martyrdom of Abel, and about the depravity and condemnation of Cain, mystically testify to the passion of the Lord, the incarnation and persecution, and the destruction of the Jews. For the Lord says to those same Jews: "If you believed Moses, you would perhaps believe me as well; for he wrote about me" (John 5:46). Thus Cain was the firstborn, Abel the second. The people of the Jews were God's first possession, as He Himself said to Moses, "Israel is my son, my firstborn" (Exodus 4:22); the second is the people of the gentiles, for whom especially the Son of God deemed it worthy to be born in the flesh and to die. Abel was a shepherd of sheep, and the Lord said: "I am the good shepherd" (John 10:14). But Cain was a farmer, because the people of the Jews were involved in earthly and temporal affairs, either pursuing these alone or serving the Lord with these in mind, as they carnally understood those things which the prophets spoke mystically about the heavenly promise, saying: "If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land" (Isaiah 1:19).

And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod to the east of Eden. By the presence of the Lord is usually understood the recognition by which He manifests and is known. Therefore, deservedly, the people who have withdrawn from the grace of divine recognition are said to dwell on earth. For they cannot say with the elect, "Our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Philippians 3:20). The Septuagint interpreters translated this passage thus: "Now Cain went out from the presence of the Lord God and dwelt in the land of Naid opposite Eden." Naid, however, is translated as "fugitive," or as we find in the book of Hebrew names, "unstable motion and fluctuation," which some, including Josephus, agree to be the place where Cain dwelt. Furthermore, our interpreter understood not the name of a place, but the significance of the thing itself; because Cain would be always unstable and fluctuating and of uncertain abodes. How much this matches the present state of the Jews, the whole world is a witness. They are also rightly said to dwell opposite Eden. For Eden signifies pleasure or delight: because indeed that faithless people, as much as they turn away from the knowledge of truth and entangle themselves in earthly affairs, so much they live a life contrary to heavenly delights; and because they only thirst for temporal joys, they are adversaries with the dry throats of their hearts to the torrent of divine pleasure by which the righteous are refreshed.

The Scripture makes good sense: "Cain left God's presence and went to live in the land of Nod, opposite Eden." Nod means "disturbance," Eden, "the good life." The good life from which the transgressor was expelled consisted in faith, knowledge, peace. Those wise in their own eyes … are happy to transfer to the disturbance of a tossing sea. They drop from the knowledge of the One who knows no birth to the realm of birth and death. Their opinions are constantly changing.

After Cain received the punishment and the sign had been added to it … Moses said that "Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden." Cain, therefore, separated himself from his parents and his kin because he saw that they would not intermarry with him.

The land of Nod is so called because it was the land in which Cain wandered about in fear and trembling. But the land also received a second curse when God said, "When you till the earth it shall no longer yield to you its strength."

There the families of the two brothers had separated: Cain went off by himself and lived in the land of Nod, a place lower still than that of Seth and Enosh; but those who lived on higher ground, who were called "the children of God," left their own region and came down to take wives from the daughters of Cain down below.

(Verse 16.) And he dwelt in the land of Naid. Which the Septuagint translated as Naid, but in Hebrew it is called Nod, meaning 'shaking', that is, unstable and fluctuating, with an uncertain dwelling place. Therefore, it is not the land of Naid, as our common people think, but the divine sentence is fulfilled, that he wandered and fled here and there.

Consider now the text: "And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived, and brought forth Enoch; and he built a city and called the name thereof by the name of his son Enoch." It does not at all follow from these words that we must believe Cain's first son was Enoch, as though "Cain knew his wife" must refer to their first intercourse. You have the same expression used of the first father, Adam, but not only in reference to the conception of Cain, who seems to have been his firstborn, since a little later Scripture records, "Adam knew his wife, and she conceived and brought forth a son and called his name Seth."

Now, it is recorded of Cain that he built a city, while Abel, as though he were merely a pilgrim on earth, built none. For the true city of the saints is in heaven, though here on earth it produces citizens in whom it wanders as on a pilgrimage through time looking for the kingdom of eternity. When that day comes, it will gather together all those who, rising in their bodies, shall have that kingdom given to them in which, along with their Prince, the King of Eternity, they shall reign forever and ever.

Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. He built a city, and he called its name after his son's name, Enoch. Just as from the beginning of the world, starting with the murder of Abel, the passions of the saints were present; so too in the malice and persecution of Cain, the betrayals of the reprobate are suggested, which will continue in the world until the end of the age; thus in the city that Cain built, it was symbolically intimated that the entire hope of the wicked is to be fixed on the kingdom and happiness of this world, as they have no faith or desire for future goods. The Lord speaks of this city through the prophet Hosea: "I am God, not human, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not enter into the city" (Hosea 11:9). For neither Abel nor Seth, who was born in his place, are read to have built a city or houses: for they clearly designated, or rather they were the first fruits of those who rejoice to sing to their Creator: "For I am a sojourner with you, a wanderer, as were all my fathers" (Psalm 39:12). This fits well with the promise of the Lord we mentioned earlier: "I am God and not human, the Holy One in your midst": because to the extent that they render themselves foreigners from the association of the worldly city, they are therefore more worthy of the dwelling of their Creator. Cain aptly called the city by the name of his son Enoch, to designate that he would have successors who, being excluded from the heavenly fatherland, would fix their hearts on the delight of this life. And well indeed is Enoch interpreted as Dedication, because the reprobates, while they desire to rejoice for what they work in the present, as if dedicating the city which they build for themselves in the first generation. Conversely, in the lineage of the human race which descended through Seth to Noah, the seventh from Adam is born as Enoch, who is read to have walked before God and was not found because God took him: for indeed the rest and joy and the entire hope of the elect is in the future Sabbath, who, after walking with the Lord in this life, humbly following His commandments, are taken by Him into the life of eternal rest and no longer appear among mortals, because they live with Him immortally. They are indeed His city and temple, now daily striving towards perfection through good works, and then, their labors completed, reigning with Him, and in their own dedication, which will perpetually be celebrated through the presence of the Holy Spirit, each rejoices as if in the name of Enoch.

The text runs: "Methushael begot Lamech, who took two wives: the name of the one was Ada, and the name of the other Sella. And Ada brought forth Jobel; who was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of herdsmen. His brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the psaltery and cittara. Sella bore Tobel; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tobel was Noema." This is as far as the line of descent from Cain is carried. There are eight generations in all, including Adam. The seventh is that of Lamech, who was the husband of two wives; the eighth is that of his children, among whom is the woman who is mentioned by name. What is here delicately intimated is that to the very end of its existence the earthly city will be propagated by physical births proceeding from the union of the sexes. This is why we are given the proper names of the wives of the last man mentioned as begetting children—a practice unheard of before the flood, except in the case of Eve.

Moreover, Enoch begot Irad, and Irad begot Mehujael, and Mehujael begot Methushael, and Methushael begot Lamech, who took two wives: the name of one was Adah, and the name of the other was Zillah, and Adah bore Jabal. The progeny of Cain is counted up to the seventh generation, and in this generation, he himself was killed by Lamech, being freed from the sevenfold punishments which he had long borne. In this entire offspring that was born from him, having been also polluted by the adultery of Lamech adding to the curse, perished with the coming flood. Defiled indeed by adultery in the sixth generation, but destroyed by the flood in the seventh generation, in which it is spiritually conveyed that the city of the impious, that is, the entire society of the reprobate, will corrupt itself with crimes in the six ages of this world, but in the seventh, which is in the future, it will perish eternally. For just as Enoch, the seventh from Adam, was taken up into paradise and man did not see him, because he lives in peace with God, so the seventh from Cain, Jabal, is interpreted as "Change," and he was destroyed by the flood with his brothers and all his progeny, and man did not see him, because he was punished with eternal death, and from the glory of the world which he loved, he was changed into the punishment which he did not foresee. In these, it is clearly indicated, as we have said, that the holy tend towards rest in another life after the six ages of this world, and the reprobate towards punishment, as also the history narrated by the Lord about the poor Lazarus and the proud rich man clearly proves.

That Cain remained alive until the seventh generation is clear. First, … it had been so decreed concerning him. Second, the length of the lives of those first generations also testifies to it. For if his father Adam remained alive until the ninth generation, that of Lamech, and was gathered from the world in the fifty-sixth year of Lamech, it is no great thing that Cain should remain until the seventh generation.

He begot, he says, Ada Jabal, who was the father of those who dwell in tents and shepherds, and the name of his brother was Jubal. He was the father of those who play the harp and organ. Sella also begot Tubal-Cain, who was a forger in every kind of bronze and iron work. All these things which are said to have been found or made by the sons of Lamech relate to the cultivation, adornment, or enticements of this life: but none such are read of Abel, nor of Seth who was born in his place, nor of his grandchildren, but they are proved to have led a simple life on earth like strangers. For even if Abel was a shepherd of sheep, he did not so devote himself to this service as to build himself tents in which he could engage more comfortably in it. As for the harp and organ, it is far from likely that so great a man would have given any time to them. Indeed, anyone who diligently observes all the works made of bronze and iron will clearly recognize that if the human race had kept the natural law rightly, even after being expelled from the joys of paradise by the fault of transgression, it would by no means need all these things: whence it is evident that all these were invented by the sons of the curse, although later, as the human race degenerated from the purity of its first way of life, even good servants of God sometimes engaged in such things for the sake of social living. But with a great distinction, of course, because the wicked delighted in such things as their highest good: whereas the chosen either utterly renounce them or use them for some convenience of this life, until they reach the eternal, as a traveler uses a lodging or provisions while passing through. In short, the patriarchs lived in tents, but like strangers on earth, to distinguish them from those who lived in cities and houses as citizens of the earth. The psalmists used the harp and organ, but to praise the Lord with them: and on the contrary, the prophet reproves those who resounded with the harp, tambourine, and lyre in banquets. There were learned men among the people of God in all works of bronze and iron, as well as silver and gold: but God himself commanded them to transfer this art to the distinction of his tabernacle. The prophet also, proclaiming the joys of the Lord's incarnation, predicted that harmful works of iron would be removed and changed for the better, saying, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore (Isa. II, 4). Nor should it be passed over negligently that when men began to be defiled by adultery, to devote more than right to the tending of flocks, to be dissolved by musical modes, to engage in forging arts, then they were destroyed by the overhanging flood. But we must guard more diligently lest the last day find us ensnared by such things beyond measure, for the Lord, speaking of the day of judgment, mentioned this time to incite us to the study of caution, saying: For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they did not know until the flood came and took them all away; so will be the coming of the Son of Man (Matt. XXIV, 38).

The sister of Tubalcain is Noema. Noema is interpreted as Pleasure. Well, the lineage of Cain fittingly ends with the birth of a woman; and the same woman is named Pleasure: because the entire intention of the wicked in the world serves allurements, and they desire to end their life in the fulfillment of carnal pleasures. Indeed, after this woman was born, not long after, the entire cursed progeny was finished by the flood: because when they submit the neck of their mind to the delights of the world, when they say peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them. It should be noted, however, that delight or pleasure can be understood in two ways, that is, in both good and evil: in good, namely, when it is said, "But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace" (Psalm 37:11). And again: "They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures" (Psalm 36:8). From which pleasure paradise is also named, because surely man was placed in it to enjoy perpetually the most blessed and holy delights of the flesh and soul in the presence of his Maker. But pleasure is understood in an evil sense when certain lovers of pleasures more than of God are noted by the Apostle. The name Noema is fittingly applied to them, in whose generation at first the world's age, except for a few, was destroyed. Therefore, the human race had departed from Eden, that is, from the delights of internal goods; and, having abandoned heavenly things, was cultivating the earth, and had come to the birth of a woman, who would be named Noema, that is, Pleasure: and not long after, everything perished in the cataclysm: so that indeed it might be indicated, both by the birth of such offspring and by the outcome of the ensuing disaster, that those who neglect spiritual things and subjugate themselves to the pleasures of the flesh rightly hasten toward destruction. And indeed Noema was born in the seventh generation from Cain. But if you wish to count the generations from Adam and also number all the sons of Lamech, you will find Noema in the eleventh place. For Lamech is the seventh from Adam, and when you add his four children, you indeed fulfill the number eleven. The number eleven, which exceeds ten, is often used to designate sin, which is committed by the transgression of the decalogue. And therefore, rightly, the reprobate generation is terminated and perishes in the eleventh number, and that in a woman: because while despising the precepts of the divine law, striving to be satiated by depraved pleasures, they build sudden destruction for themselves.

Some think that Cain was destroyed by Lamech on the grounds that he lived until that time to pay the longer penalty. But this is not true. For Lamech seems to have perpetrated two murders from what he tells us. "I have killed a man and a youth"—the man for wounding and the youth for bruising. Now, a wound is one thing and a bruise another; and a man is one thing and a youth another. "For Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, but Lamech seventy times sevenfold." It is right for me to undergo four hundred and ninety chastisements, if truly God's judgment against Cain is just, that he should undergo seven punishments. In fact, as he did not learn to murder from another, so he did not see the murderer undergoing the penalty. But I, having before my eyes the man groaning and trembling and also the greatness of the anger of God, was not brought to my senses by the example. Therefore I deserve to pay four hundred and ninety penalties.

And Lamech said to his wives Ada and Zillah: "Hear my voice, you wives of Lamech; give ear to my speech, for I have slain a man for wounding me, and a young man for bruising me." The man or young man that he mentions signifies Cain, whom the same Lamech unintentionally killed, as Jerome testifies to be written in a certain Hebrew volume. He killed him both in his wound and in his bruise, because he brought death and damnation upon himself for killing him whom God had granted life.

Some, because they think that Cain was avenged for seven generations, say that Lamech was evil, because God had said, "All flesh has corrupted its path," and also because the wives of Lamech saw that the line of their generation would be cut off. They were giving birth not to males but to females only, for Moses said that it was "when men multiplied on the earth and daughters were born to them." When these wives saw the plight of their generation, they became fearful and knew that the judgment decreed against Cain and his seven generations had come upon their generation. Lamech, then, in his cleverness, comforted them, saying, "I have killed a man for wounding me and a youth for striking me. Just as God caused Cain to remain so that seven generations would perish with him, so God will cause me to remain, because I have killed two, so that seventy-seven generations should die with me. Before the seventy-seven generations come, however, we will die, and through the cup of death that we taste we will escape from that punishment which, because of me, will extend to seventy-seven generations."

Still others say that Lamech, who was cunning and crafty, saw the plight of his generation: that the Sethites refused to intermingle with them because of the reproach of their father Cain, who was still alive, and that the lands would become uncultivated from the lack of plowmen and their generation would thus come to an end. Lamech, therefore, moved by zeal, killed Cain together with his one son whom he had begotten and who resembled him, lest through this one son who resembled him the memory of his shame continue through their generations. When he killed Cain, who had been like a wall between the two tribes to keep them from tyrannizing each other, Lamech said to his wives as if in secret, "A man and a youth have been killed, but take and adorn your daughters for the sons of Seth. Because of the murders that I have committed and because of the adornment and beauty of your daughters, those who refused to be married to us in the past six generations might now consent to marry with us in our generation."

"Lamech said," the text in fact goes on, "to his wives Ada and Sella, Listen to my voice, wives of Lamech, hearken to my words: I killed a man for wounding me, and a young man for striking me. On Cain fell sevenfold vengeance, but on Lamech seventy times sevenfold." Apply your attention to the utmost. I beseech you, put aside all worldly thoughts and let us study these words with precision so that nothing may escape us, but rather we should proceed to their deepest meaning and be able to light upon the treasure concealed in these brief phrases. "Lamech said to his wives Ada and Sella," the text says, "Listen to my voice, wives of Lamech, hearken to my words." Consider at once, I ask you, from the outset how much benefit this man gained from the punishment inflicted on Cain. Not only does he not await accusation from someone else to the effect that he has been guilty of this sin or some worse one, but without anyone's accusing him or censuring him he confesses his own guilt, admits his crimes and outlines to his wives the magnitude of his sin, as to fulfill the proverb of the inspired writer, "He who accuses himself at the beginning of the speech is in the right." You see, confession is of the greatest efficacy for correction of faults. Thus the denial of guilt after the committing of sin proves worse than the sins themselves. This was the condition of that man who killed his brother and who when questioned by the loving God did not merely decline to confess his crime but even dared to lie to God and thus caused his life to be lengthened. Accordingly Lamech, when he fell into the same sins, arrived at the conclusion that denial would only lead to his receiving a severer punishment, and so he summoned his wives, without anyone's accusing or charging him, and made a personal confession of his sins to them in his own words. By comparing what he had done to the crimes committed by Cain, he limited the punishment coming to him.

Some interpreters understand this not of two men or, as others fantasize, of Cain, but of one and the same young man: "a man I have killed for wounding me and a young man for bruising me." That is, a young man approaching maturity. He escapes vengeance through confession of sin, and pronouncing judgment on himself, he prevents divine judgment.

Sevenfold vengeance shall be taken for Cain, but for Lamech seventy-sevenfold. Sevenfold vengeance was taken for Cain, as he bore the penalties of fratricide and envy as a wandering fugitive up to the seventh generation. But for Lamech seventy-sevenfold, because, as Jerome testifies, reported to him by the Hebrews, and Josephus confirms the same, seventy-seven souls were generated from the lineage of Cain, which perished in the flood. They say that in this number the vengeance upon Lamech was accomplished, as his lineage persisted until the flood. Lamech is interpreted as "Smiting" or "Smitten," both interpretations fitting the same man who struck Cain and for this same parricide he was struck by divine vengeance. Mystically, however, Lamech signifies mankind, both smitten by the deceit of the ancient enemy in the first parent, and smiting itself by the accumulation of daily sins, for which vengeance was given seventy-sevenfold; because until the advent of Christ, who appeared in the world in the seventy-seventh generation, the guilt of the first transgression pressed upon mankind, until He came to take away the sins of the world, and by the door of the kingdom of heaven, opened by his baptism or passion, lead us into eternal life which we lost in Adam. Then, therefore, vengeance upon Lamech ceased because, with the sting of death and sin broken by the Lord's passion and resurrection, mankind returned to the heavenly kingdom.

The first mystery is that of the creation of beings, and there the Antichrist is represented by Lamech who was the first to introduce bigamy and was a transgressor of the natural law and given to extreme lust. Then "the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair, and they took wives for themselves, as many as they wished." Because of this came the Flood. And hence it is possible to surmise what the Antichrist will be like: he is the filthiest one. And his symbolic meaning is shown in this, that he would kill the one to whom a token had been given, that is, the Jews represented by Cain. Wherefore Lamech "shall be avenged seventy times sevenfold," for his sin will be greater than the sin of the Jews.

It is quite possible that when Adam was divinely inspired to say, after Seth was born, "God has given me another seed, for Abel whom Cain slew," there is no implication here that Seth was the next born in the order of time but only that he was destined to be a fit heir in the order of holiness.

And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son, and he called his name Seth, saying: God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel. After he mentioned the fratricide Cain being extinguished, and repeated that his progeny was cursed in the seventh generation, he returns to explain the restoration of the holy seed, and that this remained perpetually despite the perishing of the impious. Now Seth is interpreted as "appointed" or "resurrection," the reason for the name being revealed by the parent saying:

The Lord has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, whom Cain killed. He was appointed in place of Abel, not only in the order of birth but also in the merit of virtue, filling the place of his brother, whose devotion of mind is shown to have also passed to his offspring, as it is added:

We agree that weakness of will and sexual immorality are passions inspired by the devil. But the harmony of responsible marriage occupies a middle position. When there is self-control, it leads to prayer; when there is reverent bridal union, to childbearing. At any rate, there is a proper time for the breeding of children, and Scripture calls it knowledge, in the words "Adam knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore a son, and called him by the name of Seth, 'for God has raised up for me another child in Abel's place.' "

And when she had conceived, she bare a son and called his name Sêth, for, said she, God hath raised me up another seed instead of Abel whom Cain slew; implying by this that Abel has died childless, and the seed of Cain is to perish; this hath God given me as a new foundation for the human race. So far Eve.

(Verse 25) And he called his name Seth. For God has provided me another offspring in place of Abel, whom Cain killed. Seth, properly θέσις, that is, position, is called because God had set him in place of Abel. Finally, Aquila says: And he called his name Seth, saying: For God has placed another offspring for me.

We have two lines of succession, one descending from Cain and the other from the son who was born to Adam in order to be the heir of Abel who was killed and to whom Adam gave the name of Seth. He is referred to in the words "God has given me another seed, for Abel whom Cain slew." Thus it is that the two series of generations that are kept so distinct, the one from Seth and the other from Cain, symbolize the two cities with which I am dealing in this work, the heavenly city in exile on earth and the earthly city, whose only search and satisfaction are for and in the joys of earth.

Seth means "resurrection," and the name of his son Enosh means "man." The name Adam also means "man," but in Hebrew it can be used for any human person, either male or female; as one can see from the text: "He created them male and female; and blessed them and called their name Adam." This text leaves no doubt that Eve was given her proper name, whereas the common noun "adam," or "human being," applied to both Adam and Eve. It was different with the name Enosh. This means "man," Hebrew scholars tell us, in the sense of a man as distinguished from a woman. Thus Enosh was a "son" of "resurrection."

But to Seth also was born a son, whom he called Enos. He began to invoke the name of the Lord. Enos is interpreted as Man or Vir: whence it is proper that he who has such a name begins to invoke the name of the Lord, imploring the help of the Creator all the more earnestly in his daily prayers, the more he remembers that he is made of frail nature. Mystically, however, just as Abel slain by Cain denotes the suffering Lord; so Seth born for him designates him risen from the dead: hence, aptly among the Septuagint Translators, it is reported that his father or mother said at his birth: For God has raised up for me another seed for Abel, whom Cain killed. For this reason it is rightly called another seed according to the mystical senses, since the same Lord who was slain has risen again, because indeed he was slain mortal, he rose immortal: he died so that we might not fear death: he rose to give us hope and faith in rising again from death: whose separation of seeds, speaking of our resurrection, the Apostle has plainly distinguished, saying, It is sown in corruption, it rises in incorruption: it is sown in dishonor, it rises in glory: it is sown in weakness, it rises in power: it is sown a natural body, it rises a spiritual body (I Cor. XV, 42). And concerning the Lord himself, Although he died, he says, of weakness, yet he lives by the power of God (II Cor. XIII, 4). Enos truly, the son of Seth, figuratively expresses the Christian people, who through faith and the sacrament of the Lord's passion and resurrection are daily born from water and the Holy Spirit throughout the whole world. For preferring the grace of his regeneration to his first generation, he is accustomed to invoke the help of the name of the Lord in all that he does, saying: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name (Matt. VI, 9), etc., in that same Lord's prayer, or in others with which we are accustomed to implore his grace, without which we are worth nothing; whence also we are rightly called by the name Enos, that is, Man, on account of the consciousness of our frailty: on account of the hope of our future immortality, we are the sons of Seth, that is, of the Resurrection.

The Holy Spirit came upon all the righteous men and prophets, such as Enosh, Enoch, Noah and so on, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

After Seth begot Enosh, Moses wrote "at that time he began to call on the name of the Lord." Because Seth had separated himself from the house of Cain, the Sethites were called by the name of the Lord, that is, the just people of the Lord.

(Verse 26) And he called his name Enos: this one hoped to invoke the name of the Lord God. Just as Adam () is interpreted as 'man': so also Enos () according to the variety of the Hebrew language is called 'man' or 'vir'. And it is beautiful because he had this word, it is written about him, 'Then was the beginning of invoking the name of the Lord God': although many Hebrews interpret it differently, that at that time idols were first made in the name of the Lord and in his likeness.

And I hope, O man, that you imitate the example of this kind, so that you yourself may bear fruit of joy and delight! The sweetness of your grace is within yourself, it sprouts from you, it remains in you, it is within you, that is, the joy of your conscience is to be sought within yourself. Therefore, it says: Drink water from your own vessels, and from the fountains of your own wells (Prov., V, 15).

"Let the fountain of your water be your own and let no stranger share with you." For all who do not love God are strangers, are antichrists. And although they enter the basilicas, they cannot be numbered among the sons of God. That fountain of life does not belong to them. Even an evil person can have baptism; even an evil person can have prophecy. We find that king Saul had prophecy; he was persecuting the holy David and was filled with the Spirit of prophecy and began to prophesy. Even an evil person can receive the sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord, for about such it has been said, "He who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgment to himself." Even an evil person can have the name of Christ, that is, even an evil person can be called Christian; and about these it has been said, "They profaned the name of their God." Therefore, even an evil man can have all these mysteries. But he cannot have love and be evil. This, then, is the peculiar gift; it is the unique fountain. For drinking of this the Spirit of God encourages you; for drinking of himself the Spirit of God encourages you.

"Drink water out of your own cistern," that is, examine your own resources, do not go to the springs belonging to others, but from your own streams gather for yourself the consolations of life. Do you have metal plates, clothing, beasts of burden, utensils of every kind? Sell them; permit all things to go except your [soul's] liberty.

"Drink water from your own cistern," etc. Use your own wife's desire and cherish her with devoted services.

Let us return to the sacred Scriptures and "drink water from our own cisterns and running water from our own wells." Let us drink of the living water, "springing up unto life everlasting." … Not visible rivers merely watering the earth with its thorns and trees, but enlightening souls.

[Daniel 2:22] "It is He who reveals deep and hidden things, and He knows what is placed in the darkness, and with Him is the light." A man to whom God makes profound revelations and who can say, "O the depth of the riches of the knowledge and wisdom of God!" (Romans 11:33), he it is who by the indwelling Spirit probes even into the deep things of God, and digs the deepest of wells in the depths of his soul. He is a man who has stirred up the whole earth, which is wont to conceal the deep waters, and he observes the command of God, saying: "Drink water from thy vessels and from the spring of thy wells" (Proverbs 5:15). As for the words which follow, "He knows what is placed in the darkness, and with Him is the light," the darkness signifies ignorance, and the light signifies knowledge and learning. Therefore as wrong cannot hide God away, so right encompasses and surrounds Him. Or else we should interpret the words to mean all the dark mysteries and deep things (concerning God), according to what we read in Proverbs: "He understands also the parable and the dark saying." (Proverbs 1:6, LXX) This in turn is equivalent to what we read in the Psalms: "Dark waters in the clouds of the sky" (Psalm 18:11). For one who ascends to the heights and forsakes the things of earth, and like the birds themselves seeks after the most rarified atmosphere and everything ethereal, he becomes like a cloud to which the truth of God penetrates and which habitually showers rain upon the saints. Replete with a plenitude of knowledge, he contains in his breast many dark waters enveloped with deep darkness, a darkness which only Moses can penetrate and speak with God face to face (Exodus 33:11), of Whom the Scripture says: "He hath made darkness His hiding-place" (Psalm 18:11).

"Drink the waters from your own wells, fresh water from your own source." … As the prophet Isaiah declares, "You will be like a well-watered garden, like a flowing spring whose waters will never fail. And places emptied for ages will be built up in you. You will lift up the foundations laid by generation after generation. You will be called the builder of fences, the one who turns the pathways toward peace." … And so it will happen that not only the whole thrust and thought of your heart but even all the wanderings and the straying of your thoughts will turn into a holy and unending meditation on the law of God.

Attempt, O hearer, to have your own well and your own spring, so that you too, when you take up a book of the Scriptures, may begin even from your own understanding to bring forth some meaning, and in accordance with those things which you have learned in the church, you too attempt to drink from the fountain of your own abilities. You have the nature of "living water" within you. There are within you perennial veins and streams flowing with rational understanding, if only they have not been filled with earth and rubbish. But get busy to dig out your earth and to clean out the filth, that is, to remove the idleness of your natural bent and to cast out the inactivity of your heart.

"Let your fountains be dispersed abroad," etc. Give your son and daughter in marriage to others, and do this openly with many witnesses.

"Let them be yours alone," etc. Retain in your own power alone with whom you join your children in marriage, and let neither fornicators nor prostitutes be partakers with your offspring.

Ye wives, be subject to your own husbands, and have them in esteem, and serve them with fear and love, as holy Sarah honoured Abraham. For she could not endure to call him by his name, but called him lord, when she said, "My lord is old." In like manner, ye husbands, love your own wives as your own members, as partners in life, and fellow-helpers for the procreation of children. For says He, "Rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her conversation be to thee as a loving hind, and a pleasant foal; let her alone guide thee, and be with thee at all times: for if thou beest every way encompassed with her friendship, thou wilt be happy in her society." Love them therefore as your own members, as your very bodies; for so it is written, "The Lord has testified between thee and between the wife of thy youth; and she is thy partner, and another has not made her: and she is the remains of thy spirit;" and, "Take heed to your spirit, and do not forsake the wife of thy youth."

"Let your fountain be blessed," etc. Maintain such temperance with the woman you married in your youth, even in old age, that by faithful chastity you may rightly gain a blessing in your offspring. "A loving doe, a graceful fawn." Let her always be your beloved spouse, who, like a doe that avoids serpents, shuns harlots and drives them away from her home. Let a son be born from her, and he himself be a very strict lover of chastity.

The same principle (by the way) applies to the difficult problem of wives. Variability is one of the virtues of a woman. It avoids the crude requirement of polygamy. So long as you have one good wife you are sure to have a spiritual harem.

"Let her breasts satisfy you at all times," etc. He does not teach that one should always be occupied with conjugal work, but advises not to marry another while the first wife is alive, or ever associate with a prostitute. Otherwise, what he says, "Drink water from your own cistern and flowing water from your own well," teaches that one should beware of heretics and attend to the custody of the Scriptures and reading. Keep the knowledge, he says, that you preach to others, and the watering of your speech pours out. "Let your fountains be dispersed abroad, and divide your waters in the streets." When you have kept it yourself, then also preach to others, and in the great multitude of listeners, dispense divine words according to each one's quality. "Let them be yours alone." We divide the waters in the streets and yet possess them alone, when we also broadly spread the preaching outwardly, and yet by it we do not aim to achieve human praises. "And let strangers not share with you." Unclean spirits become the teacher's partners if they corrupt his mind with pride while he preaches, or with heresy, or any other vice. But alone he possesses the waters when faithfully connected with the Church's members, he keeps himself free from the company of strangers. "Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth." Let your doctrine be, and whoever is born from it, in the blessing of the Church, and rejoice with her to whom you have been joined from youth, that is, from the first time of believing. "A loving doe, a graceful fawn; let her breasts satisfy you at all times, and always be enraptured with her love." The most beloved or most pleasing deer, as some manuscripts have it, is the holy Church, which is accustomed to hate and crush the serpent-like doctrine. The most pleasing young stag is the people, delightful by the variety of its virtues, and always kindled by the emulation of the same pure faith. We are intoxicated by its breasts, when we are instructed by the pages of both Testaments against the deceptions of heretics. To always delight in its peace and love is a great occasion for exercising virtues.

He shows also, by the mention of the creature (the hind), the purity of that pleasure; and by the roe he intimates the quick responsive affection of the wife. And whereas he knows many things to excite, he secures them against these, and puts upon them the indissoluble bond of affection, setting constancy before them. And as for the rest, wisdom, figuratively speaking, like a stag, can repel and crush the snaky doctrines of the heterodox. Let her therefore, says he, be with thee, like a roe, to keep all virtue fresh. And whereas a wife and wisdom are not in this respect the same, let her rather lead thee; for thus thou shalt conceive good thoughts.

Why are you led astray, my son, by a foreign woman? etc. And it should be understood of both the prostitute and heresy.

When Scripture says, "Do not keep going steady with a foreign woman," it is advising us to make use of secular education but not to settle there permanently. Each generation received beneficial gifts at the appropriate points, but they were in preparation for the Word of the Lord.

The Lord looks upon the ways of man, etc. Let adulterers not think they are covered by the darkness of night against the wall, nor heretics that their schemes can be hidden, because the darkness will not be obscured from the Lord, and night will be illuminated like day.

Let those who are bound fear, those who are loosed fear. Let those who are loosed be afraid of being bound; those who are bound pray to be loosed. "Each one is tied up in the threads of his own sins." And apart from the church, nothing is loosed.

The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, etc. There is a difference between a sinner and a wicked person, because a sinner is called anyone who falls into either small or great crimes; but a wicked person is one who either never accepts the faith or, by the enormity of his crimes, becomes anathema from the faith he once received, like heretics or Catholics involved in public scandals, who are bound by the chains of their sins and perish with the incessant increase of their depravity. For one who makes a rope, always by twisting and entangling thread upon thread, increases it. Such is the strength of evil deeds, such are the books of heretics, in which they bind wrong with wrong, doing nothing other in writing than tightening the bonds.

Clothed as you are in the rotten garments of your offenses and "held fast in the meshes of your own sins," listen to the prophet's voice saying, "Wash yourselves clean! Put away the misdeeds of your souls from before my eyes," that the angelic choir may chant over you: "Happy [are] they whose faults are taken away, whose sins are covered."

I have previously said that we are punished by God because of our sins, and now I say that we are punished by ourselves. Both are true. We are, indeed, punished by God, but we act so that he has to punish us. Since we ourselves cause our own punishment, who doubts that we punish ourselves for our own crimes? For, whoever gives cause for his punishment punishes himself, according to the saying, "Each one is bound by the rope of his own sins." Therefore, if evil people are bound by the ropes of their own sins, each and every sinner, doubtless, binds himself when he sins.

He will die because he lacked discipline, etc. Because he had disputed much about adulterers or heretics, as is his custom, he shows in the close of his narrative what the end of such people is; that is, they tend towards eternal death, who have hated the discipline of life. He calls it the multitude of folly, when heretics consider themselves wiser than the holy Fathers, or when the wicked, doing the works of darkness, either think the Lord does not see these things or believe they can easily endure His wrath.

"He will perish here with those who have no discipline; and he will be driven out of the abundance of his fatness." One who becomes the prey of sin and lacks discipline will experience the same things. Indeed the one who consorts with murderers becomes a murderer. See what bitter kind of death he [Solomon] designates when he says that he [the wicked person] will die with such companions. It is indeed horrible to depart from life with a bad reputation. Depravity—what he [Solomon] calls "fatness"—multiplies so that the flesh is destroyed completely by the works of flesh, keeping one away from the very kind of life that could save him. He [the wicked person] perishes because of imprudence, not because of lustful desires: he had a legitimate means to satisfy his desire, that is, his wife. Therefore nobody is allowed to accuse nature, but only human intemperance which is not proper to nature.

My son, if you have become surety for your friend, etc. The plain sense of this letter is clear, as it advises one who has become surety for a friend to diligently admonish that friend to repay the money owed to the creditor, thus freeing both himself and the friend. Allegorically, however, in this passage, it addresses the teacher; and further, in the subsequent passage, it instructs anyone wandering on how they should conduct themselves cautiously. It is said to the instructor, If you have become surety for your friend, you have struck your hand with a stranger. Which is openly to say: If you have taken the soul of a brother into the danger of your conduct, you have already bound your mind with the care of solicitude, which was previously absent.

My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, and art snared with the words of thy mouth, and art taken with thine own speeches. For to be surety for a friend is to take charge of the soul of another on the surety of one's own behaviour. Whence also the hand is stricken with a stranger, because the mind is bound with the care of a responsibility which before was not. But he is snared with the words of his mouth, and taken with his own speeches, because, while he is compelled to speak good things to those who are committed to him, he must needs himself in the first place observe the things that he speaks. He is therefore snared with the words of his mouth, being constrained by the requirement of reason not to let his life be relaxed to what agrees not with his teaching. Hence before the strict judge he is compelled to accomplish as much in deed as it is plain he has enjoined on others with his voice.

You are caught by the words of your mouth, etc. Because when you are compelled to speak good words in preaching what has been entrusted to you, you must first keep what you have said yourself.

Therefore, do what I say, my son, etc. Run, hurry, rouse your friend. Not only remember to keep vigil yourself by living well, but also detach by preaching the one over whom you preside from the body of sin.

For whosoever is put over others for an example of life is admonished not only to keep watch himself, but also to arouse his friend. For it is not enough for him to keep watch in living well, if he do not also sever him when he is set over from the torpor of sin. For it is well said, "Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor let thine eyelids slumber." For indeed to give sleep to the eyes is to cease from earnestness, so as to neglect altogether the care of our subordinates. But the eyelids slumber when our thoughts, weighed down by sloth, connive at what they know ought to be reproved in subordinates. For to be fast asleep is neither to know nor to correct the deeds of those committed to us. But to know what things are to be blamed, and still through laziness of mind not to amend them by meet rebukes, is not to sleep, but to slumber. Yet the eye through slumbering passes into the deepest sleep; since for the most part, when one who is over others cuts not off the evil that he knows, he comes sooner or later, as his negligence deserves, not even to know what is done wrong by his subjects. Wherefore those who are over others are to be admonished, that through earnestness of circumspection they have eyes watchful within and round about, and strive to become living creatures of heaven.

(Verse 16) And the Lord of hosts will be exalted in judgment: and the holy God will be sanctified in righteousness. When the people are led captive, because they have no knowledge, and die of hunger, and with thirst shrivel up, and the grave enlarges its appetite: and the mighty and noble and glorious descend into the depths, and man is humbled, and the vir is abased, and all receive according to their merits: then the Lord will be exalted in judgment, whose judgment previously seemed unjust, and the holy God will be sanctified in righteousness by all, so that what is said in the Gospel may be fulfilled: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name (Matthew 6:9); and: Righteous Father, the world has not known thee (John 17:25). Where should we be careful not to anticipate the judgment of God, whose judgments are great and unsearchable, and about whom the Apostle speaks: His judgments are unsearchable and his ways are unfathomable (Rom. XI, 33), until he enlightens the hidden things of darkness and reveals the thoughts of the hearts (I Cor. IV, 5), who says in the Gospel: Do not judge, so that you may not be judged (Matth. VII, 1). To which statement the Apostle Paul concurs, commanding: Who are you to judge someone else's servant? He stands or falls to his own master. And he shall stand, for God is able to make him stand. (Romans 14:4)

183. Third, as to the exaltation of God who punishes them: and the Lord of hosts shall be exalted, he will appear high, who was first despised, in just judgment, and the holy God, holy in himself, shall be sanctified, that is, he will appear holy; above: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day (Isa 2:11).

(Verse 17) And the lambs will be fed in their order: and the deserted places will be turned into abundance, and strangers will feast upon them. Instead of the lambs being fed in their order, which is understood in a positive sense, I do not know what the LXX, desiring something else, translated as 'they will be fed as plundered bulls'; understanding lambs as bulls, and again interpreting strangers as lambs. But when the Lord is exalted in judgment, and sanctified in His righteousness, so that the evil farmers may be destroyed, and the lofty cedar may be cut down by the axe of the Lord; then those who are among the number of lambs, not of goats, will be fed in the meadows of the Church, and will say: 'The Lord feeds me, and I lack nothing' (Psalm 23:1); and the people of the nations will eat the deserted things of the Jews, turned into abundance. This is according to the tropology. Moreover, to complete the order of the narrative, the same thing is said in other words, which we have read above: Your land is devoured by strangers in your presence, and it is deserted and destroyed by foreign peoples (Isaiah 1:7). For the multitude of nations gathered from the whole world dwell in Judea, and the previous peoples being expelled, therefore blindness has happened to the house of Israel, so that the fullness of the Gentiles may enter (Romans 11). Beautifully, according to the LXX, they were plundered and devastated and led into captivity like bulls, of whom the Lord had said: Fat bulls have surrounded me, so that the lambs may occupy the places of the bulls.

184. Fourth, against the species of gluttony which is "sumptuously," he sets out the devouring of their goods by their enemies: and the lambs shall feed, that is, they shall be consumed by your enemies, according to their order, for the better are first, as to animals; and as to products of the soil, strangers shall eat the deserts, that is, the fields deserted by you, turned into fruitfulness, that is, made more fertile: the Lord shall bring you, and your king, whom you shall have appointed over you, into a nation which you and your fathers know not (Deut 28:36); and below this in the same place: the stranger that lives with you in the land, shall rise up over you, and shall be higher (Deut 28:43).

Mystically: the lambs, that is, the saints, shall feed, shall be refreshed by the teaching of God the Father, according to their order, that is, their capacity; strangers, the Gentiles; and deserts, what has been deserted by the Jews, namely the Sacred Scriptures, turned into fruitfulness, of spiritual understanding.

For each and every person braids a rope for himself in his sins.… Who makes the rope long? Who adds sin to sin? How are sins added to sins? When the sins that have been committed are combined with other sins. He committed a theft; that no one may find out that he committed it, he seeks out an astrologer. It would be enough to have committed the theft; why do you want to join a sin to a sin? Look, two sins. When you are prevented from approaching the astrologer, you blaspheme the bishop. Look, three sins. When you hear, "Send him outside the church," you say, "I'm taking myself to Donatus's group." Look, you add a fourth sin.

Our Lord shows what reward awaits hypocritical workers when he made a scourge of cords and drove them all out of the temple. They are cast out as sharers of the inheritance of the saints if, after they are chosen to be among the saints, they either perform good acts deceitfully or evil acts openly. He also drives out the sheep and oxen when he shows the life and teaching of such persons deserve condemnation. The cords with which he expelled the wicked persons from the temple by scourging them are the progressive development of [their] evil actions, which provide material to the strict Judge for condemning those who are to be rejected.… The person who heaps sins upon sins, for which he will be condemned more severely, is like one lengthening the cords with which he can be bound and scourged, adding to them little by little.

(Verse 18, 19.) Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as if with a cart rope. Those who say: let his work speed up and come quickly, so that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel approach and come, so that we may know it. As for the cart rope, the Septuagint translated it as a strap of the yoke of a heifer or a cow. And it is more commonly read that the ropes are called sins. Among them is this: Each one is bound by the cords of their own sins (Proverbs 5:22). And the Lord, rebuking the delinquent people who had joined sins with sins, made a scourge out of cords, showing them how they had made the house of God a den of thieves (John 2), and turned the house of prayer into a house of trade (Matthew 21). Also, the guest of the Lord's supper, not wearing a wedding garment, was bound hand and foot and thrown into the outer darkness (Matthew 22). And the Lord came to say to those who were in chains: Go forth (Isaiah 49:9); and to those who dwelt in darkness: Be revealed (Psalm 146:8). For he loosens the bound, and enlightens the blind, whom Jeremiah calls bound to the earth. He does not lament those who have begun to sin and immediately stop, for there is no one on earth who does good and does not sin at times (Eccl. 7:2); but those who extend their sins with a long cord. And so we read in Numbers (Chapter 19), the red heifer, whose ashes are the purification of the people, must not be sacrificed and offered on the altar of the Lord unless it has not done earthly works, and has not worn the yoke, nor has been bound by the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar. And in this same prophecy, the daughters of Zion are also girded with the cord of truth. Achitophel and Judas (one of whom betrayed David, the other the Lord) were both hung by very long ropes, dragging their own sins, thinking that the evil of conscience would end with their immediate death, and that there would be nothing after death. But what is called cords of vanity according to the Hebrew and all other interpreters signifies that sin is easily covered up for those who commit it, and it is so empty and easy that it is woven like spider webs. But when we want to leave, we are bound by the strongest chains. But those who remember what is written in Zacharia understand more easily a wagon full and burdened with sins, that wickedness sits upon a talent of lead (Zach. V): and the Egyptians who were burdened with a heavy load of sins, as lead were immersed in the Red Sea (Exod. XV). And in another place a sinner speaks: My iniquities have gone over my head: like a heavy burden they have been loaded upon me (Ps. XXXVII). But these things are said to the leaders of the Jews, who are known for their greed and luxury: that, being provoked by the Lord to repentance, and afterwards by His Apostles, they continue until today in blasphemies, and three times each day in all synagogues they curse the name of Christian under the name of Nazarenes. And the meaning is: Woe to you who think that the day of judgment will not come, or that the captivity which the prophetic word predicts will not come: you who say to the Prophet: How long will you threaten us with the wrath of God? We want her to know, let her come now. However, they speak this ironically, because they do not think she will come, but rather pretend to be a Prophet.

185. Woe to you that draw. Here he denounces the pertinacity of their sinning:

and first, he denounces their fault,

second, he threatens punishment, where it says, therefore as the tongue of the fire devours the stubble (Isa 5:24).

Concerning the first, he does two things:

first, he denounces the fault in general,

second, he explains it in particular, where it says, that say (Isa 5:19).

Therefore, he first says: woe to you that draw, that is, draw out, iniquity with cords of vanity, that is, with the vain occasions by which man is drawn to sin, while the fault is prolonged by increase: his own iniquities catch the wicked, and he is fast bound with the ropes of his own sins (Prov 5:22). And this is said as to common sins; as to grave sins, however, he adds: and sin as the rope of a cart, that is, the rope by which a cart is bound and drawn, which is larger than a cord. And he designates the weight of the sin in the cart, below: loose the bands of wickedness, undo the bundles that oppress (Isa 58:6).

188. Note on the words above, and sin as the rope of a cart (Isa 5:18), that sin is first called a cord:

and this is because it draws us, first, to the pattern of sin: immediately he follows her as an ox led to be a victim . . . and not knowing that he is drawn like a fool to bonds (Prov 7:22);

second, it draws us to the custom of sinning: a wild ass accustomed to the wilderness in the desire of his heart, snuffed up the wind of his love (Jer 2:24);

third, to the destruction of eternal death: deliver them that are led to death: and those that are drawn to death, forbear not to deliver (Prov 24:11).

189. Second, sin is called vanity: and this is because it falls short

first, of the imitation of divine truth: all men are vain, in whom there is not the knowledge of God (Wis 13:1);

second, of the attainment of the end we hope for: but to the sinner he has given vexation, and superfluous care, to heap up and to gather together, and to give it to him that has pleased God: but these also are vanity, and a fruitless solicitude of the mind (Eccl 2:26);

third, of long length of time: the son of man is not immortal, and they are delighted with the vanity of evil (Sir 17:29); all those things are passed away like a shadow, and like a post that runs on (Wis 5:9).

190. Third, sin is called a bond: and this is because it binds

first, the intellect so that it may not see: for while the wicked thought to be able to have dominion over the holy nation, they themselves being fettered with the bonds of darkness, and a long night, shut up in their houses, exiled, they pleased the eternal providence. And while they thought to lie hid in their obscure sins, they were scattered under a dark veil of forgetfulness (Wis 17:2-3);

second, it binds the hand so that it may not do good;

third, the feet so that they may not advance.

Concerning these two, Matthew 22:13 says: bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness.

191. Fourth, sin is called a cart, and this is because it oppresses

first, with the burden of servitude: and there you shall serve strange gods day and night, which shall not give you any rest (Jer 16:13);

second, with fear of the heart: for whereas wickedness is fearful, it bears witness of its condemnation (Wis 17:10);

third, with uneasiness of conscience, below: but the heart of the wicked is like the raging sea, which cannot rest (Isa 57:20).

186. That say. Here he shows those vanities in particular, from which they drew sin upon themselves. And this as to three things:

first, as to their contempt of the judge;

second, as to their excusing of sin, where it says, woe to you that call evil good (Isa 5:20);

third, as to the presumption of their sinning, where it says, woe to you that are wise (Isa 5:21).

And this is the threefold cord, which is not easily broken (Eccl 4:12).

187. They have contempt for the threat of the judge because of two things,

namely because of the delay of the sentence; hence he says: let him make haste, and let his work, of captivity, which you threaten, come quickly: for because sentence is not speedily pronounced against the evil, the children of men commit evils without any fear (Eccl 8:11).

Second, because of the distance of the judge; hence he says, let him come near, as if to say: he is in heaven and cannot see, but let him be near: for they have said: the Lord has forsaken the earth, and the Lord sees not (Ezek 9:9).

"Woe unto them that call evil good." For this text is to be understood to refer not to humans but to those things that make humans evil, and the prophet's accusation is rightly applied to one who calls adultery good. But if someone should call another good whom he believes chaste, not knowing that he is an adulterer, he is deceived not in his understanding of good and evil but through the secrets of human conduct. He is calling a person good whom he believes to possess that which indubitably is good. The adulterer he would call evil, the chaste person good, and he calls the person in question good simply through not knowing that he is an adulterer and not chaste.

Opposing adherence to peace, we have the spirit of malice and cruelty, of hatred and anger, and these two lead to complete perversion: the malicious man turns every good into evil, while the angry man turns every evil into good and considers good the actual rendering of evil. Hence they "change darkness into light, and light into darkness." Such as these are unqualified to listen to God's Law.

Some accept little gifts and presents and endeavor to corrupt just cases, as the prophet says: "Putting darkness for light, and light for darkness: saying what is sweet is bitter, and what is bitter, sweet." Therefore, they hear cases and decide them unjustly. They accept earthly gifts and lose eternal rewards; gaining money, they lose eternity. O miserable fellow, if you have done this or do it or attempt it, you pay attention to what you are acquiring but do not notice what you lose. By acquiring gold, you offend God, for while your money coffer is filled your conscience is weakened. In a few days or years your soul will leave your body; then the gold will remain in the coffer, but your unfortunate soul will descend into hell. However, if you had judged justly, refusing happily to serve avarice or dissipation, your soul would be lifted up to the kingdom full of God and your moneybox would stay in the world without gold. Therefore I beseech you, brothers, and I adjure you by him who redeemed you with his precious blood, observe justice in every case with all your strength, and think more carefully of the salvation of your soul.

All injustice begins in the mind. And anomalies accustom the mind to the idea of unreason and untruth. ... When people have got used to unreason they can no longer be startled at injustice. When people have grown familiar with an anomaly, they are prepared to that extent for a grievance; they may think the grievance grievous, but they can no longer think it strange.

As it is, exactly the reverse is true. Papers are permitted to terrify and darken the fancy of the young with innumerable details, but not permitted to state in clean legal language what the thing is about. They are allowed to give any fact about the thing except the fact that it is a sin.

A new philosophy generally means in practice the praise of some old vice. We have had the sophist who defends cruelty, and calls it masculinity. We have had the sophist who defends profligacy, and calls it the liberty of the emotions. We have had the sophist who defends idleness, and calls it art. It will almost certainly happen—it can almost certainly be prophesied—that in this saturnalia of sophistry there will at some time or other arise a sophist who desires to idealise cowardice.

The word "modest" will soon become like the word "honourable," which is said to be employed by the Japanese before any word that occurs in a polite sentence, as "Put honourable umbrella in honourable umbrella-stand;" or "condescend to clean honourable boots." We shall read in the future that the modest King went out in his modest crown, clad from head to foot in modest gold and attended with his ten thousand modest earls, their swords modestly drawn. No! if we have to pay for splendour let us praise it as splendour, not as simplicity.

Men always attempt to avoid condemning a thing upon merely moral grounds. If I beat my grandmother to death to-morrow in the middle of Battersea Park, you may be perfectly certain that people will say everything about it except the simple and fairly obvious fact that it is wrong. Some will call it insane; that is, will accuse it of a deficiency of intelligence. This is not necessarily true at all. You could not tell whether the act was unintelligent or not unless you knew my grandmother. Some will call it vulgar, disgusting, and the rest of it; that is, they will accuse it of a lack of manners. Perhaps it does show a lack of manners; but this is scarcely its most serious disadvantage. Others will talk about the loathsome spectacle and the revolting scene; that is, they will accuse it of a deficiency of art, or æsthetic beauty. This again depends on the circumstances: in order to be quite certain that the appearance of the old lady has definitely deteriorated under the process of being beaten to death, it is necessary for the philosophical critic to be quite certain how ugly she was before. Another school of thinkers will say that the action is lacking in efficiency: that it is an uneconomic waste of a good grandmother. But that could only depend on the value, which is again an individual matter. The only real point that is worth mentioning is that the action is wicked, because your grandmother has a right not to be beaten to death. But of this simple moral explanation modern journalism has, as I say, a standing fear. It will call the action anything else—mad, bestial, vulgar, idiotic, rather than call it sinful.

Right is right, even if nobody does it. Wrong is wrong, even if everybody is wrong about it.

But every now and then men jump up with the new something or other and say that everything can be had without sacrifice, that bad is good if you are only enlightened, and that there is no real difference between being shaved and not being shaved. The difference, they say, is only a difference of degree; everything is evolutionary and relative. Shavedness is immanent in man. Every ten-penny nail is a Potential Razor. The superstitious people of the past (they say) believed that a lot of black bristles standing out at right angles to one's face was a positive affair. But the higher criticism teaches us better. Bristles are merely negative. They are a Shadow where Shaving should be.

"Do you see that fire?" I asked. "If we had a real fighting democracy, some one would burn you in it; like the devil-worshipper that you are."

"Perhaps," he said, in his tired, fair way. "Only what you call evil I call good."

Now things every bit as wild as this are being received in silence every day. All strokes slip on the smoothness of a polished wall. All blows fall soundless on the softness of a padded cell. For madness is a passive as well as an active state: it is a paralysis, a refusal of the nerves to respond to the normal stimuli, as well as an unnatural stimulation. There are commonwealths, plainly to be distinguished here and there in history, which pass from prosperity to squalor, or from glory to insignificance, or from freedom to slavery, not only in silence, but with serenity. The face still smiles while the limbs, literally and loathsomely, are dropping from the body. These are peoples that have lost the power of astonishment at their own actions. When they give birth to a fantastic fashion or a foolish law, they do not start or stare at the monster they have brought forth. They have grown used to their own unreason; chaos is their cosmos; and the whirlwind is the breath of their nostrils. These nations are really in danger of going off their heads en masse; of becoming one vast vision of imbecility, with toppling cities and crazy country-sides, all dotted with industrious lunatics. One of these countries is modern England.

The clue to all this tangle is as simple as it is terrible. If England is an aristocracy, England is dying. If this system IS the country, as some say, the country is stiffening into more than the pomp and paralysis of China. It is the final sign of imbecility in a people that it calls cats dogs and describes the sun as the moon--and is very particular about the preciseness of these pseudonyms. To be wrong, and to be carefully wrong, that is the definition of decadence. The disease called aphasia, in which people begin by saying tea when they mean coffee, commonly ends in their silence. Silence of this stiff sort is the chief mark of the powerful parts of modern society. They all seem straining to keep things in rather than to let things out. For the kings of finance speechlessness is counted a way of being strong, though it should rather be counted a way of being sly. By this time the Parliament does not parley any more than the Speaker speaks. Even the newspaper editors and proprietors are more despotic and dangerous by what they do not utter than by what they do. We have all heard the expression "golden silence." The expression "brazen silence" is the only adequate phrase for our editors. If we wake out of this throttled, gaping, and wordless nightmare, we must awake with a yell. The Revolution that releases England from the fixed falsity of its present position will be not less noisy than other revolutions. It will contain, I fear, a great deal of that rude accomplishment described among little boys as "calling names"; but that will not matter much so long as they are the right names.

It is of the same crime to call goodness, light and sweetness by contrary names as it is to apply the names of the virtues to evil, darkness and bitterness. This is directed against those who do not think it a sin to curse the good, nor consider it an offense to praise evil. The Jews called good evil, and light darkness, and sweetness bitterness, when they received Barabbas, thief and traitor, while crucifying Jesus, who came only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, to save those who were dying. In Barabbas we can understand the devil, who though he was night and darkness, changed to appear as an angel of light. Hence the apostle said, "What participation does righteousness have with iniquity? What does light have in common with darkness? What agreement does Christ have with Belial?" For a lamp must not be taken and placed under a basket or a bed but should be set on a stand that it might illuminate everyone. Nor should a tree that bears evil fruit be called a good tree. Hence it is told with mystical language in Genesis that God separated the light from the darkness, both of which were born above the waters in the beginning. But the Savior himself testifies in the Gospel that he shall be called good: "The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep." He also calls himself light: "I am the light of the world." And we say that he is the daily heavenly bread with which we are filled: "Taste and see how sweet is the Lord."

(Verse 20) Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil: who put darkness for light, and light for darkness: who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. It is of the same crime to call good, light, and sweet by the opposite names, as to call evil, darkness, and bitter by the names of virtues. This is what the Jews do, who consider good evil, and light darkness, and sweet bitter, welcoming Barabbas, the author of robbery and sedition, and crucifying Jesus, who had come only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, to save what was lost. Let us understand Barabbas as the devil, who, although he is darkness and night, is transformed into an angel of light (Matthew XXVII). Therefore, the Apostle also speaks: What sharing of righteousness with iniquity? What fellowship does light have with darkness? What agreement is there between Christ and Belial (2 Corinthians VI, 14, 15)? For a lamp is not to be taken away and put under a bushel, or under a bed, but to be placed on a lampstand, so that it may give light to everyone. Nor is a tree that bears evil fruit to be called a good tree (Matthew V). And in the mystical language of Genesis, it is narrated that God separated light from darkness, which were hovering over the abyss in the beginning (Gen. I). And He Himself, being called the Good Shepherd, speaks in the Gospel: The Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep (John X, 11). He also says that He is the light: I am the light of the world (John VIII, 12), and we, who are nourished by the heavenly bread every day, say: Taste and see how sweet the Lord is (Ps. XXIII, 9). On the contrary, when we say: Deliver us from evil (Matthew 6:13); and: The world is set in wickedness (1 John 5:19), we desire to be freed from the snares of the devil. Moreover, we frequently read that he himself is signified by names of darkness and bitterness. But we can also say that all contrary doctrines are bitter to the truth, and only the sweet truth. Therefore, we must be careful not to follow falsehood in place of truth, nor darkness in place of light. For there are many paths that appear straight to men, and their last ends lead into the depths of Hell. Also, the just man perishes in his justice, of whom it is said: Do not be excessively righteous (Eccl. VII, 17). For these reasons, Israel promises to walk in the royal way, not deviating to the left or to the right (Deut. V). And to speak what I feel: it is difficult to escape this curse, since we often flatter the wicked because of their power, and despise the good because of their poverty. Aquila interprets this saying as follows: Woe to those who say that good is evil and evil is good (Prov. XVII, 13). This meaning is also in accordance with what Solomon says in Proverbs: He who judges the just as unjust and the unjust as just, both are abominable before God. The scribes and Pharisees, who do not accept the words of the Savior but instead follow human traditions and old wives' tales, have made good into evil and evil into good.

Must we be servile to the whim of those who are wicked? If they wish valueless praise conferred upon them, is it becoming that we, too, heap valueless and laughable praise on them? And this especially since they who wish to be ridiculous should not be laughed at by those who are honorable, just as they who desire to be decorated even with the label of false praise should not be praised in a lying manner. Our prime consideration should be not so much what they wish to hear as what it is fitting for us to say, especially since the prophet says, "Woe to them who speak sweet for bitter things and bitter for sweet things."

For, in like manner, they also who oppose martyrdoms, representing salvation to be destruction, transmute sweet into bitter, as well as light into darkness. Thus, by preferring this very wretched life to that most blessed one, they put bitter for sweet, as well as darkness for light.

192. Woe to you that call evil good. Here he sets out vanity as to the excusing of sin.

And first, as to the effect: that call evil good: the evil of their hands they call good (Mic 7:3);

second, as to the intellect: that put darkness for light, truth for error: men loved darkness rather than the light (John 3:19);

third, as to the affections: that put bitter for sweet, thinking the life of sin to be sweet: and it was not enough for them to err about the knowledge of God, but whereas they lived in a great war of ignorance, they call so many and so great evils peace (Wis 14:22).

That the Black One may find no means of entrance, let us flee from every vanity, let us utterly hate the works of the way of wickedness. Do not, by retiring apart, live a solitary life, as if you were already [fully] justified; but coming together in one place, make common inquiry concerning what tends to your general welfare. For the Scripture saith, "Woe to them who are wise to themselves, and prudent in their own sight!"

Consider as your superiors one another, especially those who are not committed to your charge, your neighbors, because even those whom you see doing certain wicked things—you do not know what good things may lie hidden in them. Therefore let each one strive to be great, but yet in some way not know that he is, lest while he arrogantly attributes greatness to himself, he lose it. For hence it is said through the prophet: "Woe to you who are wise in your own eyes, and prudent before yourselves." Hence Paul says: "Be not wise in your own eyes." Hence against the proud Saul it is said: "When you were little in your own eyes, you were made head among the tribes of Israel." As if it were openly said: When you saw yourself as little, I made you great above others. But because you now see yourself as great, you are esteemed little by me.

Who is the greatest subverter of the people of God—he who, relying on the power of free choice, despises the help of the Creator and is satisfied with following his own will, or he who dreads to be judged by the details of the Lord's commandments?

(Verse 21.) Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight. For it is said, you yourselves appear to be wise, who follow human wisdom, not God's: and since you do not receive the power of God and the wisdom of God, you think you are wise (1 Corinthians 1). The Stoics claim that there is a difference between wisdom and prudence, in that wisdom is the knowledge of divine and human things, while prudence pertains only to mortal affairs. Furthermore, these things are said against the scribes and Pharisees, who, having the key of knowledge, neither enter themselves nor allow others to enter to Christ (Luke 11).

193. Woe to you that are wise. Here he sets out the third vanity as to the presumption of their sinning, which concerns three things.

First, wisdom of heart, both in speculative things: you that are wise: be not wise in your own conceit (Prov 3:7); and in practical things: prudent: be not prudent in your own conceits (Rom 12:16).

(Verse 22.) Woe to those who are mighty in drinking wine, and men of strength in mixing strong drink, that is, drunkenness. To those mentioned above who rise early in the morning to pursue drunkenness, and drink until evening, so that you burn with wine, he now also speaks of those who are mighty in drinking wine, and men of strength in mixing strong drink (Deuteronomy 32). Those who were intoxicated with the wine of dragons, and with the deadly venom of asps, they slandered with the power of the Lord. And they themselves, drunk, intoxicated the people, so that, like frenzied bacchantes, they shouted against the Lord. According to the tropology, we have already said: priests entering the Tabernacle of God should not drink wine and strong drink (Leviticus 10). We now add, that it is also commanded to the Nazarenes, who dedicate themselves to the Lord, that they should not drink wine or strong drink, or anything made from grapes, nor even eat dried grapes or vinegar made from wine (Numbers 6). But in Proverbs it is also commanded: Powerful men who are prone to anger; do not drink wine, lest when they drink, they forget wisdom. I think that there is an analogy between wine and drunkenness, in that wine is one disturbance out of many, for example, of lust, greed, gluttony, and envy. Drunkenness, on the other hand, contains within itself all the passions of vices, which we can more accurately call disturbances in the Latin language, because they overturn the state of the mind and make the drunkards unaware of what they are doing. Therefore, those who are in charge ought to be free from vices, especially anger, which is closest to madness, so that they may not harm their subjects even more as they gain more power. For someone who is full of drunkenness, he pretends to possess certain virtues by deceiving others and creating illusions.

193. Second, as to the power of the body for sinning: you that are mighty to drink; they boast that they are able to drink much and to become drunk, because of the custom of the land in which mixed wine is drunk, below: let the islands keep silence before me, and the nations take new strength (Isa 41:1); they are glad when they have done evil, and rejoice in the most wicked things (Prov 2:14).

(Verse 23.) You justify the wicked for bribes, and take away the justice of the righteous from them. And this is a part of the vices of the vineyard, which has produced sour grapes instead of grapes, and while the Lord waits to bring judgment, it commits iniquity by justifying the wicked for bribes and not considering the causes but the gifts, which even blind the eyes of the wise. Therefore, we must be cautious not to be intoxicated with wine, in which there is excess (Deuteronomy 16:19; Ephesians 5), and not expose the shame of our thighs (Genesis 9), and not flatter the wicked for bribes and despise the justice of the righteous because of poverty. And as it is commanded in the Epistle of James: not to honor the wicked rich and despise the holy poor, let us not become judges of iniquity.

193. Third, as to authority: that justify, that is, you say that you have such authority that at your will you are able to justify the wicked, so that whatever pleases you may have the force of law, below: woe to them that make wicked laws: and when they write, write injustice (Isa 10:1); he that justifies the wicked, and he that condemns the just (Prov 17:15); and if a man give not something into their mouth, they prepare war against him (Mic 3:5).

(Verse 24) Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours straw, and the heat of flames consumes it, so their root will be like embers, and their blossom will rise like dust. For they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts and have blasphemed the word of the Holy One of Israel. Because of the higher causes of pride, drunkenness, and greed, they have brought forth thorns, hay, wood, straw, and will burn the brambles. Therefore, the root of their wickedness will be reduced to ashes, and all the beauty and splendor of wealth and the body will be compared to dust (I Cor. III). For they not only did these things, but by these steps they arrived at blasphemy, so that they would not receive the law of the Lord, and they blasphemed the word of the Holy One of Israel; concerning which we read above: From Zion the law will go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:3). The root can be understood as evil thoughts, but the fruit and the shoot as evil deeds and words, so that what lies hidden in the root may be revealed in the shoot: both of which will be consumed by the fire of the Lord. And so the Apostle (Heb. XII, 15), refers to the root of bitterness springing up, speaking of evil.

194. Therefore as the tongue of the fire devours. Here he threatens punishment.

And first, he sets out the punishment of consumption under the metaphor of fire, therefore, because you draw iniquity placing a root for yourself in your sins, as the flame of fire consumes the stubble which it touches, and the heat of the flame consumes that which is at a distance—for persecution slayed the captives and afflicted the others: without, the sword shall lay them waste, and terror within (Deut 32:25), so shall their root be as ashes, as to the things in which they trusted, whether their fathers or their kindred, and their bud, that is, their sons, shall go up as dust. In which is noted the strength coming forth from these causes: and all that do wickedly shall be stubble: and it comes shall set them on fire (Mal 4:1).

195. Second, he places the process and order of the punishment.

And first, he sets out the cause of punishment, and especially as to the first vanity; hence he says: for they have cast away the law, having contempt for it in their heart, and have blasphemed the word of the Holy One of Israel, mocking with their mouth: they obeyed not your voice, and they walked not in your law (Jer 32:32).

"Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people." He wanted them to be a people of his own and to be called as such, but this is not what they wanted. Because of this he gives a sign of approaching war and of a multitude of the slain that would fill the mountains with dead corpses. The whole country would become full of their dead. All this would happen to them at the hands of the enemy invaders. The enemies did not do this on their own; rather, God himself brought them about, drawing and leading their enemies to the siege of the accused Israelites.

(Verse 25.) Therefore the wrath of the Lord's fury is upon His people, and He stretches out His hand against them and strikes them, and the mountains tremble, and their dead bodies become like refuse in the middle of the streets. In all of this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is still outstretched. For they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, which the Lord had promised to give through Jeremiah, saying: 'Behold, the days are coming,' says the Lord, 'when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt' (Jeremiah 31:31-32). And the people of Holy Israel blasphemed His speech, saying: He has a devil, and He is a Samaritan (John 8:48); and: Is not this the carpenter's son (Matthew 13:55)? Therefore, the fury of the Lord was kindled against His people, who were previously angry with the rulers and the powerful, who were wise in their own eyes, and justified the wicked for bribes, and their tongue devoured them like fire, and the heat of the flame consumed them, so that the mighty would suffer mighty torments. And He stretched out His hand against the people whom He calls His own; because they are His portion and the inheritance of His possession (Deut. XXXII). But He stretched out His hand to strike, and His fury was kindled, as we read in another place: O Lord, rebuke me not in Thy fury, neither chasten me in Thy wrath (Ps. VI, 1). And Jeremiah says: Correct us, O Lord, but with judgment; not in Thine anger (Jerem. X, 24). However, the Lord is said to be angry, not because He is subject to human disturbances, but because we who sin do not fear the Lord unless we hear Him expressing His anger. Therefore, the Apostle writes (Rom. II) that the goodness and patience of God provoke us to repentance: but we, according to the hardness and impenitence of our heart, treasure up wrath to ourselves against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. And concerning the hand that is stretched forth or lifted up against the sinful people, Job speaks more explicitly: For the hand of the Lord has touched me (Job. XIX, 21). And the devil, knowing the mighty hand of the Lord, and the arm that is revealed to all nations, says to the Lord: send forth your hand, and touch all that he has, unless he blesses you to your face (Job 2:5). But what is said as if it were past, which is future, follows a prophetic custom, in which the things that are said to be future are so certain, that they are thought to be past. This is also sung in the Psalms: They gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink (Psalm 69:22). And again: They have divided my garments among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots (Ps. XXI, 19). And what follows: And he struck him, that is, his people, and the mountains were troubled: some mountains are thought to be opposing strengths; or they are the spirits who are in the ministry of God, and to whom sinners are handed over for punishment. But we think that it is said hyperbolically, that the mountains are also moved because of the magnitude of the impending evils, and that all the streets of cities are filled with the corpses of the dead. No one doubts that this happened to the Jews after the passion of the Lord under Vespasian and Adrian. And when these things were done, it is not against their fury: but still his hand stretched out, or elevated, which shows the appearance of one being angry and striking. And it is to be noted in all these things, that it does not reproach them for idolatry, nor for any other sins for which they have offended God, but because they have rejected the law of the Gospel, and blasphemed the word of the Lord.

195. Second, the wrath of the one who punishes: therefore is the wrath of the Lord kindled; he speaks after the manner of the process of wrath in men. And the Lord was exceedingly angry (Ps 105[106]:40).

Third, the infliction of the punishment: and he has stretched out his hand, the hand of his power to strike them, which, in sparing them, he had kept folded: and he will stretch out his hand upon the north, and will destroy Assyria: and he will make the beautiful city a wilderness (Zeph 2:13).

Fourth, the effect of the punishment in the massacre of souls: the mountains, that is, the great, were troubled, because of their fear.

196. The Gloss says that this is said hyperbolically.

On the contrary, this implies that the prophet goes beyond the truth.

And to this is to be said that in some writings this is taken to mean going beyond the truth simply, but in Holy Scripture, it is taken for going beyond the truth according to the opinion of men; as if to say: the trouble will be beyond what can be believed. Or otherwise: hyperbole is a certain trope, and in tropological speech, one thing is said and another is understood; hence there is no falsehood in regard to the sense which it intends to make, just as in metaphor; as if to say: the trouble will be so great that the mountains, if such a thing were possible, shall be troubled: the mountains were troubled with his strength (Ps 45:4[46:3]). And, as to baseness of their bodies, their carcasses became as dung: they shall not be gathered, and they shall not be buried: they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth (Jer 8:2); they shall die by the death of grievous illnesses: they shall not be lamented, and they shall not be buried, they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth (Jer 16:4).

197. For after this his anger is not turned away. Here he places the common and ultimate punishment, as to their captivity by the Romans. And concerning this, three things are set out:

first, the preparation of the army;

second, the disposition of the army, where it says, and behold they shall come with speed swiftly (Isa 5:26);

third, the infliction of the punishment, where it says, and they shall keep fast hold of it (Isa 5:29).

Concerning the first, three things are set out.

First, the indignation of the one who gathers the army together: for after this, as if to say: just as you add sins to sins, so he will add punishment to punishment, below: no man shall spare his brother. And he shall turn to the right hand, and shall be hungry: and shall eat on the left hand, and shall not be filled (Isa 9:19-20).