title: Liber Sapientiae

source_edition: Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 113, coll. 1167B–1184B

source_text:
## PROLOGUS.

[1167B]

Liber Sapientiae apud Hebraeos nusquam est. Unde et ipse stylus Graecam magis eloquentiam redolet. Hunc Judaei Philonis esse affirmant. Qui proinde Sapientiae nominatur, quia in eo Christi adventus, qui est sapientia Patris et passio ejus, evidenter exprimitur.

## CAPUT PRIMUM.

VERS. 1.-- *Diligite justitiam,* etc. [n: (RAB. in lib. Sap., tom. III.)] Hunc librum Hieronymus asserit non a Salomone, etc., *usque ad Diligite justitiam,* etc. *Terram.* Carnem, scilicet discrete reprimitis, ne superbiat contra spiritum. Quasi: *Primum quaerite regnum Dei [n: (Matth. VI)]*, etc. *In simplicitate.* Id est voluntati illius vos subjicite: et mandata custodite; [1167C] quasi dicat: Qui non intelligitis, nolite reprehendere, quia secreta Dei non possunt humana ratione comprehendi, quia incomprehensibilia sunt judicia ejus, et investigabiles viae ejus [n: (Rom. XI)].

VERS. 4.-- *Quoniam in malevolam,* etc. Id est in animali homine, juxta illud: *Animalis homo non percipit [n: (I Cor. II)]*, etc. Et ideo non dixit spiritum, id est animam spiritualem. [n: (RAB.)] Frustra sibi blandiuntur philosophi, et haeretici, et falsi Christiani. Soli enim mundo corde sapientiam Dei possunt percipere.

VERS. 6.-- *Benignus.* Contra illos invehitur, qui cogitationes bonas et malas dicunt a Deo immitti; cum Deus velit omnes salvos fieri homines, et ad [1167D] cognitionem veritatis venire. Ipse enim neminem tentat, ut decipiat, sed ut probet, unde: *Tentavit Deus Abraham [n: (Gen. XXII)]*; et, *Proba me et tenta me [n: (Psal. XXV)]*, etc. Unusquisque autem tentatur a concupiscentia sua, et justo Dei judicio permittitur cadere, qui spiritui veritatis noluit obedire.

VERS. 7.-- *Et hoc quod continet omnia.* Id est Spiritus, qui omnia gubernat et regit. Vel, qui attingit a fine usque ad finem, *scientiam habet vocis,* id est, intelligentiam Scripturarum praestat hominibus. Vel, *quod continet omnia,* id est, homo qui convenientem habet cum omni creatura. *Scientiam habet vocis,* id est diversarum linguarum Spiritu sancto, qui dedit apostolis loqui diversis linguis magnalia Dei. Vel *quod continet omnia,* id est Spiritus sanctus, [1168B] qui omnia replet sua essentia, *scientiam habet vocis,* id Verbi Dei, id est ejusdem est scientiae cum Verbo. Vel, *hoc quod continet omnia,* id est Ecclesiam, in qua *alii datur sermo scientiae,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Qui in principio *ferebatur super aquas,* et majestate sua omnem creaturam implet et continet.

VERS. 8.-- *Propter hoc.* [n: (RAB.)] Sicut electi donum scientiae et pietatis per Spiritum accipiunt: sic reprobi, superbia sua inflati, errorem suum impudenter proferunt; quoniam spiritum Dei celare non possunt, nec justam poenam evadunt: quia sicut oculi Domini super justos, et aures ejus in preces eorum, ita vultus Domini super facientes mala.

VERS. 11.-- *Custodite ergo.* [n: (RAB.)] Perniciosae sunt murmurationes et detractiones, unde: *Susurrones [1168C] enim et detractores Deo sunt odibiles [n: (Rom. I)]*; unde: *Qui detrahit alicui rei, in futurum se obligat [n: (Prov. XIII)]*. *Os quod mentitur.* [n: (ID.)] Est mendacium levioris culpae, etc., *usque ad* et ipsum bonum remunerat.

VERS. 12.-- *Nolite zelare.* [n: (ID.)] Enumeravit, quae sunt homini noxia, etc., *usque ad* sed potius ex vitio.

VERS. 16.-- *Et sponsiones.* Percussimus foedus cum morte, et cum inferno fecimus pactum.

## CAPUT II.

VERS. 1.-- *Dixerunt enim.* [n: (RAB.)] Vox perditorum, etc., *usque ad* et in nihilum redigemur.

VERS. 2.-- *Quoniam fumus.* Vere nihil erimus, [1168D] quia *fumus et flatus est in naribus nostris.* id est, in corpore nostro, id est corpus nostrum fumo et flatui comparatur, qui simul oriuntur et deficiunt. *Et sermo scintilla.* Id est anima comparabilis scintillae, quae statim fit nihil, *sermo* dico, id est, anima. *Ad commovendum cor nostrum.* Id est vegetat corpus. Et quod ita sit exponendum, probat subdens. *Quia exstinctus cinis,* et post, *spiritus diffundetur*

VERS. 10.-- *Opprimamus.* [n: (RAB.)] Generaliter pertinent haec ad eos, etc., *usque ad* nec ipsi capiti parent, sed blasphemant, et arguunt.

VERS. 17.-- *Videamus.* [n: (RAB.)] Similia in Evangelio dicuntur, ubi pontifices et Pharisaei consilium inierunt, quomodo Jesum morti traderent: et in cruce posito illudebant, dicentes: *Alios salvos fecit, seipsum [1169A] autem,* etc. *Si Rex Israel est, descendat nunc de cruce [n: (Matth. XXVII)]*, etc.

VERS. 20.-- *Morte turpissima.* Cruce, scilicet, quae usque ad passionem Christi poena reorum fuit, nunc tropaeum est victoriae.

VERS. 23.-- *Quoniam Deus.* Id est, non est auctor malorum Deus; ad immortalitatem enim creavit hominem, qui diabolicae consentiens suggestioni, mortis sententiae subjectus est.

## CAPUT III.

VERS. 1.-- *Justorum autem animae.* [n: (RAB.)] In priori capite iniquorum sententia expressa est, etc., *usque ad* unde: *Pretiosa in conspectu Domini mors sanctorum ejus [n: (Psal. CXV)]*.

[1169B]VERS. 7.-- *Scintillae.* Scintilla duo facit, scilicet mutat cito arundinetum, et vindicat.

VERS. 8.-- *Et regnabit Dominus.* Cum quo et membra regnabunt. Unde in Daniele: *Regnum et potestas, et magnitudo regni, quae est super coelum, dabitur populo sanctorum Altissimi [n: (Dan. VII)]*.

VERS. 11.-- *Sapientiam.* [n: (RAB.)] Possunt haeretici in hac sententia notari, etc., *usque ad* sed operationem reproborum maledictione aeterna dignum esse ostendit.

VERS. 13.-- *Quoniam felix.* [n: (ID.)] Potest in *sterili* et in *spadone* virginum ordo intelligi, etc., *usque ad* in voluntate animi, non debilitate corporis.

VERS. 18.-- *In die agnitionis.* Id est, judicii, quando electi a judice suo agniti, ad regnum possidendum [1169C] invitabuntur; mali autem nulla spe restaurationis consolabuntur, sed in aeternum cruciandi a conspectu summi regis expellentur.

## CAPUT IV.

VERS. 1.-- *O quam pulchra est,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Vituperatis et haereticis et schismaticis laudat catholicos, etc., *usque ad* et ideo ait: *Cum claritate,* etc.

VERS. 2.-- *Praemium vincens.* Praemium datum pro certamine transitorio, quod majus est illis certaminibus et persecutionibus.

VERS. 3.-- *Multigena autem impiorum.* Alternatim de catholicis et haereticis loquitur, ut horum laudabilem sapientiam, illorum vituperabilem demonstret versutiam. *Plantationes.* Quoniam μόσχος Graece, vitulus Latine dicitur: μοσκεύματα, quidam [1169D] non intellexerunt esse plantationes, et *vitulamina* interpretati sunt: qui error tam multos codices praeoccupavit, ut vix inveniatur aliter scriptum.

VERS. 7.-- *Justus,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Cum dixisset de malorum interitu, etc., *usque ad* illi de vita ad mortem aeternam.

VERS. 10.-- *Placens Deo.* [n: (RAB.)] Non ideo tollit Deus, etc., *usque ad* unde Petrus, *Novit Deus pios de tentatione eripere, iniquos vero in diem judicii cruciandos reservare [n: (I Petr. I)]*.

VERS. 12.-- *Fascinatio.* [n: (ID.)] Notatur hac sententia, etc., *usque ad* Deus enim eos a malorum societate separavit, ut *absconderet eos in abscondito faciei suae a conturbatione hominum [n: (Psal. XXX)]*.

[1170A]VERS. 19.-- *Disrumpet illos inflatos sine voce,* quia erunt inexcusabiles: *quia cum cognovissent Deum, non sicut Deum glorificaverunt, aut gratias egerunt, sed evanuerunt in pravis cogitationibus suis [n: (Rom. I)]*.

## CAPUT V.

VERS. 1-7.-- *Tunc,* etc. *Lassati sumus,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Lassati sunt philosophi, etc., *usque ad* unde dicunt dolentes, *Quid nobis profuit superbia?*

VERS. 9-12.-- *Tanquam umbra.* [n: (RAB.)] Per *umbram,* oblivionem mentis, etc., *usque ad* quae praecedunt occasum vitae corruptibilis. [n: (ID.)] Per *avem,* excellentiam, etc., *usque ad* gementes nulla voce consolationis relevabuntur.

VERS. 14.-- *Talia dixerunt in inferno hi qui.* [1170B] Adhuc quatuor species alias introducit, quibus stultam spem iniquorum demonstrat, qua praesentia mensura tantum putant, vel evadere se impunitos.

VERS. 15.-- *Lanugo est, quae a vento tollitur.* Quae ex flore herbarum marcido oriens, carnis fragilitatem exprimit, quae a vento aegritudinis, vel molestia corporis cito tolletur, *quia omnis caro fenum. Et tanquam spuma gracilis.* Spuma ex aquis edita super aquam enatat. Hic est appetitus humani favoris, et jactantiae vulgaris, quae procella tentationis vel discussione judicii dissolvitur, vel dispergitur, id est quam vana fuit probatur.

VERS. 16.-- *Justi autem in perpetuum vivent.* [n: (RAB.)] Post peccatorum poenas, etc., *usque ad* Dei fruentur, in quo totam suam spem posuerunt.

[1170C]VERS. 18.-- *Accipiet armaturam.* [n: (RAB.)] Creator omnium, etc., *usque ad* cum resistere non valeant.

VERS. 22.-- *Et ad certum locum.* Quacunque necesse est: non enim potest esse confusum, quod est divina sapientia ordinatum.

VERS. 23.-- *Et flumina,* id est, persecutionum commotiones, plerumque enim corda pravorum quae praedicatio non emollit, flagellum collectionis frangit.

## CAPUT VI.

*Melior est sapientia,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Monet rectores Ecclesiae, etc., *usque ad* non solum opera, sed cognitiones et voluntates judicabit.

VERS. 7.-- *Exiguo enim conceditur misericordia.* His scilicet, qui per ignorantiam, vel fragilitatem, vel necessitatem peccaverunt, et humili poenitentia [1170D] deleverunt. *Potentes autem potenter,* etc., qui, scilicet, mandata Dei contemnendo, gravia peccata commiserunt, nec poenituerunt. Sicut enim potentiores fuerunt in impietate, fortiora sustinebunt tormenta gehennae. [n: (ANAST.)] Quamnam ob causam, etc., *usque ad cui autem multum, multum quoque exigetur ab eo.*

VERS. 8.-- *Non enim subtrahet personam.* Unde: *Non est personarum acceptor Deus, unumquemque juxta vias suas judicat [n: (Act. X)]*.

VERS. 10.-- *Ad vos ergo reges,* etc. Finito sermone ad potentes, et eorum duritia duris sermonibus increpata; ad rectores Ecclesiae exhortationem convertit, et sapientiam miris praeconiis extollit.

VERS. 12.-- *Diligite,* etc., *et habebitis disciplinam.* Qui diligit sapientiam, servat in moribus disciplinam. Non enim amat sapientiam, qui non servat disciplinam. Unde: *Si diligitis me, mandata mea servate [n: (Joan. XIV)]*.

VERS. 14.-- *Praeoccupat qui se concupiscunt.* Gratis se offerens. Ipse enim est *via, veritas, et vita [n: (Joan. XIV)]*: per ipsum itur, in ipsum tenditur, ad ipsum pervenitur.

VERS. 15.-- *Assidentem illam,* etc. Semper paratam, scilicet auxiliari, unde: *Ecce ego sto ad ostium, et pulso, si quis aperuerit mihi, introibo ad eum et coenabo cum illo, et ipse mecum [n: (Apoc. III)]*. In praesenti studendum est sapientiae, et secundum normam disciplinae ejus vivendum.

[1171B]VERS. 22.-- *Si ergo delectamini.* [n: (RAB.)] Reges admonet, etc., *usque ad* regni coelestis coronam assequetur.

VERS. 25.-- *Neque cum invidia tabescente.* Invidia non communicat sapientiae, quia per invidiam diaboli introivit mors in mundum, et per sapientiam liberatur ab ea genus humanum.

VERS. 27.-- *Ergo accipite.* [n: (RAB.)] Ostensura sapientia, etc., *usque ad* perfectiores et sanativi et vitales esse dicuntur.

## CAPUT VII.

VERS. 5.-- *Nemo enim ex regibus.* [n: (RAB.)] Ostendit quod omnis homo, etc., *usque ad* sicut perfectus Deus, ita et perfectus homo est Jesus Christus.

VERS. 9.-- *Nec comparavi,* etc. Unde: Inventa [1171C] una pretiosa margarita, vendit omnia, et emit eam. Qui enim coelestem sapientiam veraciter invenit, id est verbum Dei, despicit omnia emolumenta praesentis vitae, philosophiam, eloquentiam, et divinae theoricae vacare contendit.

VERS. 11.-- *Venerunt,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Hoc expertus Salomon, etc., *usque ad* unde et sol, quia solus in die inter astra luceat, sic nominatur.

VERS. 15.-- *Ipsae sapientiae dux.* [n: (RAB.)] Deus Pater incarnati Filii, cui dedit omnem potestatem in coelo et in terra.

VERS. 17.-- *Ipse enim.* [n: (RAB.)] De Salomone dicit Scriptura, Deus dedit, etc., *usque ad* ipse enim illuminat omnem hominem venientem in hunc mundum, *quem qui sequitur, non ambulat in tenebris* [1171D] [n: (Joan. I)]

VERS. 22-24.-- *Est enim in illa spiritus intelligentiae sanctus,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Ut Isaias ostendit, omnia dona Spiritus sancti in humanitate Salvatoris existunt, in quo sunt omnes thesauri sapientiae et scientiae absconditi, et plenitudo Divinitatis, cui non datur spiritus ad mensuram. [n: (ID.)] Spiritus qui implet omnia, mobilis simul et stabilis dicitur. *Homo* enim ubique discurrit, ubique obviam venit, et repente, ubi non creditur, invenitur. Omnipotens ergo Spiritus, ut ubique praesens signetur, stabilis simul et mobilis dicitur. [n: (ID.)] Unde: *Splendor gloriae et figura substantiae ejus [n: (Heb. I)]*, regens omnia verbo, etc., *usque ad* in tempore Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis.

## CAPUT VIII.

[1172A]

VERS. 1.-- *Attingit a fine.* Id est a principio mundi usque ad adventum Christi, mirifica opera et sincera testimonia per Vetus Testamentum fortiter asserit, et ab incarnatione Verbi usque ad finem mundi suavitatem Evangelii exponit. *A fine* ergo *usque ad finem fortiter pertingit,* quia ubique perfecte agit: finis enim perfectionem significat.

VERS. 3.-- *Glorificat contubernium,* id est, repraesentat *generositatem illius,* scilicet Patris, qui est ei coaeternus et coomnipotens, vel partim de temporali nativitate, partim de aeterna potest legi. Habet *contubernium Dei.* Id est, humanitatem, in qua habitat Deus, qui est sapientia Patris. Vel *glorificat generositatem illius,* id est Dei Patris, id est, ejusdem essentiae [1172B] est cum Patre ab aeterno genita, nata in tempore de matre.

VERS. 4.-- *Doctrix enim est disciplinae.* De plenitudine ejus omnes accepimus: per quem gratia et veritas facta est, id est revelata. *Deum nemo vidit unquam, sed Filius, qui est in sinu Patris, ipse enarravit [n: (Joan. I)]*.

VERS. 7.-- *Et labores hujus.* Nihil enim desidiosum in operibus ejus. Quaecunque sunt vera, quaecunque pudica, quaecunque justa, agit, et agenda suis committit. *Sobrietatem enim et sapientiam.* [n: (RAB.)] Qui temperans est, etc., *usque ad* et dedit illam Jacob puero suo.

VERS. 11.-- *Admirabilis.* Partus Virginis omnibus [1172C] fuit admirandus, quia in resurrectionem et ruinam multorum exstitit, qui stat in signum populorum, super quem continebunt reges os suum, ipsum gentes deprecabuntur.

VERS. 16.-- *Intrans in domum.* [n: (RAB.)] Post praedicationem, post operis laborem, quibus auditoribus sancti solatium praebent, ad se redeuntes divinae contemplationi vacant, ubi supernae dulcedinis quietem inveniunt. [n: (ID. ex Greg. )] Corporales deliciae, etc., *usque ad* unde David: *Gustate et videte quoniam suavis [n: (Psal. XXXIII)]*, etc. [n: (ORIG.)] Qui aperit os mutum, etc., *usque ad* justitia autem quod distributor et judex meritorum sit.

VERS. 19.-- *Puer autem,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Salomon in pueritia postulaverat a Deo sapientiam, et ut recte [1172D] judicaret populum, et discerneret inter bonum et malum: factus est ergo sapientissimus, et videtur sortitus animam bonam, qui habuit cor sapiens et intelligens. Sed quomodo convenit ei quod dicitur:

VERS. 20.-- *Veni ad corpus incoinquinatum,* etc., cum mulierem alienigenam amaverit, et idola aedificaverit? Videtur ergo magis convenire populo sanctorum qui in baptismo regeneratus est, et fide Salvatoris imbutus, pueritiam indolis suae bonae, et simplicis innocentiae perceperit, et cunctis studiis certaverit pervenire ad culmen virtutum: unde sequitur: *Et cum essem magis bonus,* etc. Pater non judicat quemquam, sed omne judicium dedit Filio. Hujus membra facti sunt imitantes eum.

## CAPUT IX.

[1173A]

VERS. 7.-- *Tu autem elegisti,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] David, quia vir, etc., *usque ad* virtus et sapientia Dei, et imago Dei invisibilis.

VERS. 13.-- *Quis enim hominum.* Admiratur excellentiam Dei. Quasi: *O altitudo divitiarum sapientiae et scientiae Dei! [n: (Rom. XI.)] Et, Quis novit sensum Domini, aut quis consiliarius ejus fuit? [n: (Isa. XL.)]*

VERS. 17.-- *Sensum autem.* Nemo scit quae fiunt in corde hominis nisi spiritus hominis, et nemo novit quae sunt Dei nisi Spiritus Dei. Spiritus autem omnia scrutatur, etiam profunda Dei qui illuminat corda sanctorum.

## CAPUT X.

[1173B]VERS. 1.-- *Haec illum, qui primus.* [n: (RAB.)] Bonitate Dei primus homo creatus, in paradiso locatus, cunctis animantibus praelatus: per transgressionem mandati, in miseriis hujus saeculi dejectus est; et per Dei sapientiam, id est Christum, reparatus, magnum pietatis divinae indicium est.

VERS. 3.-- *Injustus in ira.* Ut Cain, qui fratrem non juste peremit, cujus piaculi vindicta in diluvio soluta est, et generatio Cain deleta: sed Dei sapientia Noe, de stirpe Seth, ad reparationem orbis cum filiis suis in arca servavit.

VERS. 5.-- *Haec et in consensu superbiae,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Diabolus per superbiam, etc., *usque ad* humilitas Christi adunavit.

VERS. 6.-- *Haec justum,* etc. Hinc Petrus ait: [1173C] Civitatem *Sodomorum et Gomorrhaeorum in cinerem redigens eversione damnavit; exemplum eorum qui impie acturi sunt ponens, et justum Lot oppressum a nefandorum injuriis, ac luxuriosa conversatione eripuit [n: (II Petr. II)]*, etc. Uxor Lot retro respiciens, in statuam salis conversa est, ne qui per gratiam Dei ad vitam vocati sumus, veterem hominem respiciamus, media via remanentes. In statuam salis versa alios salit, unde: *Mementote uxoris Lot [n: (Luc. XVII)]*, ne scilicet tanquam fatui negligamus, sed prudenter caveamus.

VERS. 8.-- *Sapientiam enim,* etc. *Haec autem,* etc. Jacob fugiens Esau fratrem suum venit ad Laban avunculum suum, et in itinere per somnium vidit scalam erectam, et angelos Dei ascendentes et [1173D] descendentes, et ipsum Dominum innixum scalae dicentem sibi: *Ego sum Deus Abraham patris tui, et Deus Isaac; terram in qua dormis dabo tibi, et semini tuo [n: (Gen. XXVIII)]*. Veniens autem in Mesopotamiam Liam et Rachel duxit, pro quibus oves Laban diu pavit. Qui eum mercede sua fraudulenter privare voluit. Sed per sapientiam Dei privatus est Laban, et Jacob ditatus, cum multis opibus rediit. Mystice vero haec ad martyres pertinent, quos Christi misericordia a persecutoribus liberavit, confortans eos gratia Spiritus sancti et spe futurae mercedis; et tandem victis hostibus, ad regnum coelorum perduxit, ad laudem et gloriam nominis sui.

VERS. 13.-- *Haec venditum justum,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] [1174A] Mystice Sapientia Dei martyres de persecutionibus eripuit, et exaltavit in regno coelesti. Unde cum Christo venturi sunt judices hostium suorum.

VERS. 15.-- *Haec populum justum.* [n: (RAB.)] Mystice. Liberat Deus electos suos a persecutoribus, etc., *usque ad* ad praemia regni, ubi perpetuo decantant laudes liberatori suo.

VERS. 21.-- *Quoniam sapientia,* etc. Sine sapientia Dei nec humana mens aliquid digne cogitare, nec os proferre potest: ab ipso ergo et sapientia et eloquentia petenda est.

## CAPUT XI.

VERS. 1.-- *Dixerit opera,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Populus Christianus per desertum hujus mundi prophetiam [1174B] sequitur, ut perveniat ad patriam regni coelestis; unde Petrus: *Habemus propheticum sermonem, cui bene facitis attendentes quasi lucernae lucenti in caliginoso loco [n: (II Petr. I)]*, etc.

VERS. 4.-- *De petra altissima,* etc. Petra autem erat Christus, qui virga crucis percussus, quae erat in manibus, id est in scripturis prophetarum, fudit aquam vivam.

VERS. 5.-- *Per quae enim poenas,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Memoratis beneficiis, etc., *usque ad* sive ergo patiantur, sive non, gloria est eis.

VERS. 10.-- *Cum enim tentati.* [n: (RAB.)] Israelitas peccantes dignis plagis corripuit Deus, et poenitentes consolatus est, Aegyptios et Chananaeos tanquam misericordia indignos exterminavit. *Tormenta,* etc. [1174C] A Pharaone, ubicunque scilicet essent. Vel, non tam hi quos Israelitae recenti clade per singulas civitates peremerunt, puniti sunt; sed et omnes Chananaei audientes victoriam populi Dei; unde Raab dicit: *Irruit in nos terror vester [n: (Jos. II)]*, etc. Mystice autem, Judaei, qui incarnationem Filii Dei, et praedicationem despiciebant, ubique terrarum vagi, et profugi variis cladibus affliguntur. Gentiles vero ad fidem conversi, et suscipientes paternam correctionem a Dei misericordia non recedunt: ut qui fuerant in capite, sint in cauda, et e converso.

VERS. 13.-- *Duplex,* etc. Praeteritorum malorum recordatio non minuitur, et praesentium tempestas augetur. Unde nec habent spem remedii, quia poenitentiam simulantes, non student emendationi; [1174D] unde: *Cum occideret eos, quaerebant eum, et dilexerunt eum [n: (Psal. LXXVII)]*, etc.

VERS. 15.-- *Non similiter justis,* etc. Quia non similiter peccant. Septies enim cadit justus, et resurgit: impius autem, cum in profundum venerit malorum, contemnit.

VERS. 16.-- *Quod quidam errantes,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Dignum fuit, etc., *usque ad* tota enim intentio est eorum genus humanum persequi, et cruciare id omnibus modis.

VERS. 21.-- *Sed omnia in mensura,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Quia omnia secundum veritatem, etc., *usque ad* quando illuminabuntur abscondita tenebrarum, et revelabuntur consilia cordium.

[1175A]VERS. 23.-- *Momentum staterae,* etc. Simile dicit Isaias: *Ecce gentes sicut stilla situlae, et quasi momentum staterae reputatae sunt [n: (Isa. XL)]*; vult enim intelligi, quod mens, et ratio, et sensus Domini, per quem omnia facta sunt, et sine quo factum est nihil, ille sit de quo dicitur: *Verbo Domini coeli firmati sunt [n: (Psal. XXXII)]*, etc. *Omnes gentes quae non cognoverunt creatorem suum,* ad comparationem Dei *quasi stilla situlae sunt, et quasi momentum staterae* quod leviter declinatur, *et sicut gutta roris antelucani [n: (Sap. XI)]*, quae primo aspectu solis siccatur. Vel sicut situlae stilla, si fluit a portante despicitur, vel negligitur: ita gentium multitudo coelesti splendori, supernis mysteriis, et angelorum multitudini comparata, pro nihilo ducitur.

[1175B]VERS. 25.-- *Diligis enim,* etc. Bonus opifex, et opus suum diligit et regit: et si homo aliquando peccat, sustinet in multa patientia, et per poenitentiam in melius convertit. Unde: *Solem suum facit oriri super bonos et malos, et pluit super justos et injustos [n: (Matth. V)]*; impoenitentes autem justo judicio damnantur: *Justus enim Dominus, et justitias dilexit [n: (Psal. X)]*.

## CAPUT XII.

*O Quam bonus et suavis,* etc. Per eos quos reples, vel per alios quos volueris; unde: *Ille arguet mundum de peccato, et de justitia, et de judicio [n: (Joan. XVI)]*.

VERS. 3.-- *Illos enim antiquos inhabitatores.* [n: (RAB.)] Historialiter dicit, etc., *usque ad* virtutes adjuvante [1175C] Spiritu sancto, utiles fructus afferent.

VERS. 12.-- *Quis enim dicet,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Manifesta ratione ostendit, quod non est contradicendum Creatori, si creaturam suam secundum propriam disponit voluntatem: quia in voluntate ejus universa sunt posita, et non est qui possit resistere ei. *Justus est in omnibus viis suis [n: (Psal. CXLIV)]*; unde sequitur, *Cum ergo sis justus [n: (Rom. IX)]*, etc.

VERS. 16.-- *Virtus enim,* etc. Quia judicium Dei, sive in correctione electorum, sive in damnatione malorum, summae aequitatis perfectio est: et ideo per bonitatem suam diu differendo suspendit judicium, ut plures habeat, quibus reddat beneficium. Quando enim creatura se erigit contra Creatorem justa punitur vindicta, ut se inferiorem cognoscat. [1175D] Possunt haec ad passionem Christi referri, quem Pater pro nobis in mortem tradidit, et eum, qui non noverat peccatum, pro nobis peccatum fecit: qui nisi indebitam mortem susciperet, non nos a debita morte liberaret. Pater ergo justus justum puniens, juste omnia disponit. Omnipotens Deus cum summa tranquillitate judicat omnia: humani tamen affectus et membra, ei tropica locutione ascribuntur, ut secundum capacitatem nostram conformentur eloquia divina. Leguntur enim in Scripturis: oculi Domini, aures, manus, os, pedes, ira, furor, et hujusmodi, cum simplex natura nunquam recipiat varietatem, nec vera unitas divisionem. Multiplicia vero et diversa unus et idem operatur: Unde: *Mutabis eos, et [1176A] mutabuntur: tu autem ipse es, et anni tui [n: (Psal. CI)]*, etc. Et alibi: *Ego sum Deus, et non mutor [n: (Mal. III)]*. Et alibi: *Apud quem non est transmutatio [n: (Jac. I)]*, etc. Docuisti autem populum tuum: per mirifica opera Dei instruuntur fideles, ne complicentur iniquis; sed studeant se incontaminatos servare confitendo, et sperando in Domino, et non negligant poenitentiae tempus.

VERS. 15.-- *Cum ergo,* etc. Unde: *Multa flagella peccatoris, sperantem autem in Domino misericordia circumdabit [n: (Psal. XXXI)]*. Magna distantia est inter judicium electorum et reproborum. Illos Dominus corripit, ut emendet; hi superbiae et perfidiae poenas luunt, ut contra dominatorem omnium se repugnare non posse cognoscant. Felix judex qui pietatem et bonitatem [1176B] sui judicis semper inspicit. *Judicium enim sine misericordia illi qui non fecit misericordiam. [n: (Jac. II)]*.

VERS. 23.-- *Insensate,* etc., ut qui nolebant Creatorem agnoscere et honorare, digne traditi in reprobum sensum, facerent, ea, quae non conveniunt, contumeliis afficientes corpora sua in semetipsis: *Quia commutaverunt veritatem Dei in mendacium, et servierunt creaturae potius quam Creatori [n: (Rom. I)]*.

VERS. 26.-- *Qui autem ludibriis,* etc. Id est, qui a Deo flagellati non sunt correcti, condignam damnationem experti sunt: ad hoc corripit Deus, ut emendet. Qui autem ingratus et impatiens murmurat, de temporali tormento ducitur ad aeternum.

VERS. 27.-- *In his enim,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Gentilitas [1176C] dum idolis serviebat, etc., *usque ad* incorrectis aeternam poenam infligit.

## CAPUT XIII.

VERS. 1.-- *Scientia.* Timor scilicet et reverentia. Unde: Ecce timor Domini, ipse est sapientia, et recedere a malo intelligentia. Recedit enim a malo, qui recedit a cultura idolorum: Deum timet, qui mandata ejus custodit: quia *Initium sapientiae timor Domini. Intellectus bonus omnibus facientibus eum [n: (Psal. CX)]*. *De his* operibus, scilicet hominis, potuerunt cognoscere bonum artificem, qui proprie est, quia immutabilis, et semper idem, semper in se manens, regit omnia. Vanissima ergo vanitas hominum, qui pro Creatore creaturas venerantur. *Neque [1176D] operibus.* Alii ignem colebant, quem Vulcanum vocabant; alii aetherem vel aerem, quem Jovem et Junonem dicebant; alii nimiam aquam, id est Neptunum; alii gyrum stellarum, qui diversis figuris animalium, positiones et cursum distribuebant astrorum; alii solem, quem Phoebum vocabant; alii lunam, id est, Dianam. [n: (RAB.)] Dupliciter peccant, etc., *usque ad* in quibus cupiditas hominis damnatur.

VERS. 6.-- *Sed tamen,* etc. Hinc Paulus ait: *Revelatur enim ira Dei de coelo super omnem impietatem eorum, qui veritatem Dei in injustitia detinent; quia quod notum est Dei, manifestum est in illis [n: (Rom. I)]*, etc. Notitia Dei ex mundi fabrica percipitur. Ut enim Deus invisibilis ex invisibilibus cognosceretur, [1177A] opus ab eo factum est, quod opificem manifestaret, ut Deus omnium intelligeretur, qui hoc fecit, quod non possunt alii. Sed *cum cognovissent, non sicut Deum glorificaverunt, sed evanuerunt in cogitationibus suis* [n: (RAB.)]

VERS. 10.-- *Infelices,* etc. Qui scilicet Deos honorant, ut aurum oculis hauriant, et nitorem levigati marmoris vel eboris, aut insignes gemmis et coloribus vestes: et quanto ornatiora sunt templa, et pulchriora simulacra, tanto plus majestatis habent, vel habere dicuntur. Religio ergo est, vel creditur, quod cupiditas humana miratur.

VERS. 11.-- *Aut si quis artifex.* [n: (RAB.)] Insultat sapientia his, etc., *usque ad Quorum Deus venter est, et gloria in confusione eorum [n: (Philip. III)]*.

## CAPUT XIV.

[1177B]

VERS. 1.-- *Iterum alius navigare,* etc. Haec quoque contra idololatriam dicuntur. Maxima enim vecordia est, ut homo ad imaginem Dei editus, rationabilem ab ipso habens animum, quo excogitavit quomodo transiret fluctus, navem fabricans secundum artis suae peritiam, non honoret illum qui hanc sibi dedit scientiam, et invocet idolum, quod simili arte et majori vanitate formavit. Cum enim major sit qui fecit quam quod fit, facturam suam adorare insanire est. A Deo navigandi cursus petendus, a quo navigii praeparatio. Haeretici autem, qui vana fingunt simulacra errorum, ideo in fluctibus saeculi pereunt, quia navem Ecclesiae reliquerunt, [1177C] et gubernatorem Deum.

VERS. 3.-- *Quoniam dedisti.* Israelitas per mare Rubrum sicco vestigio traduxit Dei potentia, et Jordanis aquas divisit, ut terrorem incuteret gentibus exterminandis, fidelibus quoque inter saeculi fluctus et persecutiones, praeparat semitam fidei et constantiae, ut transeant illaesi, nec est humani solatii opus, ubi Deus ostendit mirabiles effectus virtutis suae.

VERS. 5.-- *Sed ut non essent,* etc. Creator dedit scientiam creaturae suae, qua sibi in praesenti consuleret, ut ejus voluntati deserviret. Unde Noe arcam facere jussit, in qua ipse et progenies ejus salvaretur, et caetera animantia ad restaurationem orbis reservarentur, cum genus humanum pro iniquitate sua [1177D] diluvio deleretur; unde Petrus: *In qua pauci, id est octo animae salvae factae sunt per aquam: quod et nos nunc similis formae salvos fecit baptisma [n: (Petr. III)]*, etc. Arca de lignis levigatis constructa, Ecclesiam significat, quae fit de collectione fidelium, artificio praedicatorum. Pauci, id est, octo animae salvae factae sunt per aquam mundo pereunte: quia ad comparationem reproborum parvus numerus est electorum. Pauci enim sunt qui viam vitae inveniunt. Aqua diluvii extra positos occidit, quia haereticum licet habentem baptismi sacramentum, ipsae aquae demergunt ad inferos, quae arcam levaverunt ad coelos. Octonarius quoque significat Ecclesiam, quod in sacramento Dominicae resurrectionis percipit lavacrum [1178A] baptismi. Ut sicut ipse resurrexit a mortuis per gloriam Patris, ita et nos in novitate vitae ambulemus aqua regenerationis abluti. Hinc Jeremias: *Stultus factus est omnis homo a scientia sua, confusus est factor in sculptili: quia mendax conflator ejus, nec est spiritus in eis. Vana enim sunt opera, et digna risu, et in tempore visitationis peribunt [n: (Jerem. X)]*.

VERS. 8.-- *Et qui fecit illud.* Simulacrum et cultura falsorum deorum. Diabolus enim inde punietur, quod sibi divinum honorem usurpat; et homo, qui pro Creatore creaturam honorat. Lignum vero saepe hominem significat. Benedictus ergo homo, qui veritatem dicit et facit. Haereticus autem, qui figmenta sua colit, maledictus est, et perditioni deditus, et opus, id est, doctrina ejus.

[1178B]VERS. 11.-- *Propter hoc.* Non est ignoscendum idolis, vel eorum inhabitatoribus, id est, daemonibus, quia homines ad imaginem Dei factos ab ipso retrahunt, et in erroris muscipula subvertunt. Haeretici quoque, qui homines seducunt, districtum non evadent judicium.

VERS. 12.-- *Initium.* Pessimum enim genus est fornicationis, quo anima recedit a Deo, et fornicatur cum idolis, vel divini dogmatis veritatem relinquit, et sequitur falsitatem haereticae pravitatis, vel opinionis. Hinc Paulus avaritiam idolorum servitutem appellat. Unde constat, omnem malam concupiscentiam fornicationem vocari, qua anima relicta superiori lege inferiorum voluptate, turpi naturarum quasi mercede, prostrata vel prostituta corrumpitur.

[1178C]VERS. 13.-- *Non enim,* etc. *Disperdat Dominus universa labia dolosa, et omnes qui loquuntur mendacium [n: (Psal. XI)]*. Hinc Jeremias: *Dii, qui coelos et terram non fecerunt, pereant de terra [n: (Jer. XI)]*, etc.; [n: (LACT. t. I)]. Propter hominum stultitiam, etc., *usque ad* divinos honores parentibus detulerunt, deferrique jusserunt.

VERS. 21.-- *Incommunicabile nomen.* Incommunicabile Dei scilicet omnipotentis nomen; qui solus est incomprehensibilis, insensibili et fragili materiae vel imagini ascripserunt.

VERS. 23.-- *Aut enim filios suos.* Sicut in sacris Saturni, cui propter odium Jovis, sine respectu pietatis [1178D] parvulos suos immolabant, et Bellonae ipsi sacerdotes proprio sanguine sacrificabant. Unde Quintilianus: Istud, inquit, si cogit Deus iratus est: et si iratus est, non acceptat sacrificia vestra. *Aut obscura sacrificia.* Sicut in sacris Isidis Aegyptiae, et Cereris Eleusinae faciebant. Nam sicut ibi Osiris planctu matris inquiritur, ita hic ad incestum patrui Plutonis matrimonium, rapta Proserpina. Quam quia facibus ex Aetna accensis, quaesisse Ceres in Sicilia dicitur, ideo sacra ejus ardentium taedarum jactatione celebrabantur. Similiter in sacris Liberi patris insaniunt, et magnae matris, ubi ad exemplum deorum (qui in festivitate satiati, noctem luxibus totam duxerunt) ludunt. Quia per libidinem et immunditiam diis suis placere putabant.

[1179A]VERS. 25.-- *Omnia commista.* Omnia enim confusa erant: ibi nulla ratio, nulla religio vera. Quanto quis sceleratior erat, tanto magis deo suo placere putabat.

VERS. 27.-- *Infandorum enim.* Nulla major dementia, quam Deum vivum deserere, et mortuis deservire. Cum enim mens se a creatore suo avertit, omnibus implicatur sceleribus. *Initium* enim *omnis peccati, superbia est [n: (Eccli. X)]*. *Finis.* Consummatio et plenitudo. Qui enim pro Deo colunt idolum, omnia reputantur in eis in peccatum.

VERS. 28.-- *Aut enim dum laetantur.* Quia dum jurant, nomen Dei polluunt, qui ait: *Non assumes nomen Dei tui in vanum, et per nomen deorum externorum ne juretis [n: (Exod. XX)]*; sed cum Deum illudere [1179B] se aestimant, in aeternam mortem semetipsos praecipitant. Haeretici autem errorum suorum simulacra colentes, perditionis suae causa fiunt, quorum et doctrina falsa, vita injusta, laetitia insana, mors nefanda: quia cum injuste jurant in idolo, nec sperant in Deo suo, ideo meritorum suorum recipient vindictam. Unde sequitur: *Non enim jurantium est virtus.*

## CAPUT XV.

VERS. 1.-- *Tu autem,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Justo enim judicio damnati sero poenitentes agnoscunt, quod antea credere noluerunt; unde: *Cognoscetur Dominus judicia faciens, in operibus manuum suarum comprehensus est peccator [n: (Psal. IX)]*; unde Joannes: *Qui habet spem in eo, sanctificat sicut et ille sanctus est: [1179C] et omnis qui in eo manet, non peccat [n: (I Joan. III)]*.

VERS. 3.-- *Nosse enim te,* etc. Perceptio est incorruptionis, et in futuro contemplationis; unde: *Haec est enim vita aeterna, ut cognoscant te verum Deum [n: (Joan. XVII)]*, etc.

VERS. 4.-- *Non enim in errorem.* Ex persona fidelium loquitur, qui Dei gratia muniti, non miscuere se gentilium iniquitati vel idololatriae: quia sine fructu justitiae est labor iste, et mortem meretur aeternam.

VERS. 6.-- *Malorum amatores,* etc. *Similes illis fiant, qui faciunt ea, et omnes qui confidunt in eis [n: (Psal. CXXXIV)]*. Inventores quoque falsorum dogmatum, et cultores digni sunt morte. Disperdet enim Deus virum qui haec fecerit, id est magistrum et [1179D] discipulum ejus. Reprobavit superius lignea, lapidea, vel aerea idola, nunc etiam fictilia damnat. Juste enim retributum est eis; ut qui de terra facti sunt, quia meliorem sui partem, id est animam, ad imaginem Dei creatam ad notandum Deum vivum, sequi nolebant; viliorem sui partem, id est, corpus terrenum imitando, luteum adorarent Deum, et sine boni operis fructu terrae insensibili, de qua sumpti sunt insensati, inutiles redderentur. Mystice autem haeretici et schismatici, qui veritatem Dei in injustitia detinent, et mendacium pro veritate in doctrinae suae simulacris colunt, licet eloquentia aut ficta virtute pallient, fragilia tamen et lutea sunt, quae fingunt.

[1180A]VERS. 10.-- *Cinis est cor eorum,* et foeda cogitatio eorum, et vita coeno sordidior; quia ignorant factorem suum, et evanescunt in cogitationibus suis. Sensum autem sanctorum patrum spernunt, et errores novos quasi ludos vanos propter favorem humanum et terrenum lucrum fingunt; errantes, scilicet et in errorem mittentes, ut inexcusabiles sint: cum judicabit Deus occulta cordium, et reddet unicuique secundum opera sua.

VERS. 13.-- *Hic enim scit,* etc. Nullam excusationem habent haeretici; quia scienter peccant, dum fidem sanam et rectam doctrinam nolunt imitari: magis terrenum sensum et fragilem quam spiritualem sequentes.

VERS. 17.-- *Melior est.* Quia melior est homo [1180B] idolis secundum rationem creationis; quia vivit et intelligit, illa autem nunquam. Sed quia magis sequitur vanitatem erroris, quam veritatis scientiam, *cum in honore sit, non intelligit: et comparatur jumentis insipientibus [n: (Psal. XLVIII)]*.

VERS. 18.-- *Insensata.* Quasi: nec discretionem habebant. In veritate enim viventia meliora sunt mortuis, sensibilia insensibilibus, rationalia irrationalibus. Sed dignum fuit, ut qui ignorabant Creatorem, in creaturis distinctionem non scirent. Qui enim laudem et benedictionem Dei in se habere negligit, in discretione animalium seipsum errare ostendit.

## CAPUT XVI.

[1180C]VERS. 2.-- *Pro quibus,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Populus Israel in deserto carnes concupivit, etc., *usque ad* ideo eis cruciandi juste traditi sunt.

VERS. 6.-- *Sed non in perpetuum.* [n: (RAB.)] Non enim serpens aeneus, etc., *usque ad* quia mortuus per humanitatem, quasi aeneus est per Divinitatem.

VERS. 9.-- *Illos enim,* etc. Probantur electi per afflictionem, et monentur ut peccata caveant, et bona faciant. Reprobi disperguntur, quia non corriguntur. Ideo idololatras parva animalia interimunt. Israelitas vero Dei cultores serpentes exterminare non possunt; quia novit Dominus pios de tentatione eripere: iniquos vero in die judicii reservare cruciandos.

VERS. 12.-- *Sed tuus, Domine, sermo.* Id est, [1180D] Filius, per quem omnia, cujus potestas ubique, qui omnia quaecunque voluit fecit; ipse curat corpora, ipse a spiritualibus bestiis animas salvat.

VERS. 14.-- *Homo autem occidit.* [n: (CHRYS.)] Homo per malitiam, etc., *usque ad* liber est ab omni crimine.

VERS. 16.-- *Negantes enim nosse,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Diversis plagis afflicti sunt Aegyptii, etc., *usque ad* quia ad Creatoris voluntatem omnia consentiunt.

VERS. 18.-- *Quodam enim tempore.* [n: (RAB.)] Sicut in Genesi legitur: Pluit Dominus super Sodomam et Gomorrham ignem et sulphur, ut disperderet impios: et in Exodo, grandinem pariter et ignem. In libro Numerorum: Misit ignitos serpentes contra [1181A] murmurantes, ut cognoscant impii quod omnis creatura parata est ulcisci injuriam Creatoris.

VERS. 20.-- *Pro quibus,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] In deserto datum est manna filiis Israel, etc., *usque ad Multa flagella peccatoris, sperantem autem in Domino misericordia circumdabit [n: (Psal. XXXI)]*.

VERS. 24.-- *Creatura enim,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Confundantur hic peccatores: qui cum caeterae creaturae factori suo deserviant, ipsi repugnant. Unde creaturarum omnium concordia flagellantur: et si non poenituerint, perpetuo cruciabuntur; bonis autem vera bona praeparantur.

VERS. 25.-- *Propter hoc,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Pluit Deus manna de coelo, etc., *usque ad* tanquam praevaricator legis in aeternum peribit.

[1181B]VERS. 28.-- *Ut notum omnibus,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Iste cibus historialiter pascebat, etc., *usque ad* ad ortum vero solis, id est, Christi dicamus: *Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis.*

## CAPUT XVII.

VERS. 1.-- *Magna enim.* [n: (RAB.)] Mystice. Omnes persecutores Ecclesiae Christi, scelerum suorum tenebras patiuntur, nec unquam securi esse possunt, quos vexant rectores tenebrarum harum usque ad exteriores tenebras, ubi erit fletus et stridor dentium; unde: *Omnis qui male agit, odit lucem [n: (Joan. III)]*, etc. Hinc Paulus: *Eratis aliquando tenebrae, nunc autem lux in Domino [n: (Ephes. V)]*, etc.

VERS. 4.-- *Neque enim.* Semper enim tenebras [1181C] comitatur horror: et quanto minus discernit quis, quae circa se sunt, tanto magis metuit, undique adversa pavitans. Sic Aegyptii triduo maximas tenebras patiebantur, quas nec sol, nec stellae poterant illuminare, et ubicunque jacebant, nimio terrore pavebant; quod autem dicit. *Tristes personas* eos terruisse, potuit fieri, ut daemones aliqua phantasmata ingererent, qui eos ad augmentum poenarum exterrerent. Persecutores quoque fidei et veritatis, circumdant tenebrae peccatorum, quia ignorant solem justitiae, nec praedicatores illustrant eos fulgore doctrinae. Hos etiam *sonitus descendens,* id est comminatio coelestis perturbat, et *personae tristes,* id est daemones, quandoque torturi terrificant; nec tamen agunt fructuose poenitentiam: sed desperantes thesaurizant [1181D] sibi iram in die judicii.

VERS. 6.-- *Timore plenus.* Quia undique poenas formidabant. Quanto enim sunt graviores dolores, tanto majores timentur horrores.

*Et magicae artis,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Cum Magi in Aegypto, etc., *usque ad* et antiquum serpentem cum angelis suis saevum patienter inimicum.

VERS. 9.-- *Et aerem,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Nimietatem timoris notat, quem imminentibus poenis redarguente conscientia patiuntur, cum autem semper timida nequitia, pavoris sui dat indicium, supplicio condemnata est.

VERS. 11.-- *Proditio,* etc. Timor scilicet prodit infirmitatem superbientis, qui vana spe auxiliorum [1182A] se extollit cogitando, cum posse se sperat, quod efficere non potest vel possit: et dum virtus minor est, valetudo rerum quas extrinsecus patitur, majorem putat esse potentiam, hoc in persecutoribus fidelium frequenter evenit, qui se potentes aestimant, cum sanctos cruciant, potentia eorum victi, mentis angustia contristati cognoscunt se non posse quod cupiebant et majorem esse fortitudinem Dei, qui sic vincit in militibus suis.

VERS. 13.-- *Illi autem,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Aegyptii scilicet horrore tenebrarum circumdati, etc., *usque ad* tanquam periculosum formidabant.

VERS. 19.-- *Omnis enim orbis.* Quasi: impii erant in tenebris, sed ubicunque habitabant filii Israel, lux erat.

[1182B]VERS. 20.-- *Imago tenebrarum.* Graviores sunt tenebrae spirituales corporalibus: quia ducunt homines ad exteriores tenebras, ubi erit fletus et stridor dentium, quas Aegyptiae tenebrae figurant. Sicut enim corpora ibi nullo bono operi utilia: ita et hic animae simul et corpora aeterno carcere damnantur; ubi nec ratio, nec locus, nec tempus est operandi.

## CAPUT XVIII.

VERS. 1.-- *Sanctis autem tuis.* [n: (RAB.)] Israelitae in Aegypto, etc., *usque ad* in prosperis et in adversis protegit.

VERS. 4.-- *Digni quidem,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Merito Aegyptii tenebrarum poenam patiebantur, etc., *usque ad* cujus mysterii ratio in antiquis patribus figurata, et [1182C] in adventu Christi completa est.

VERS. 9.-- *Absconse enim sacrificabant.* [n: (RAB.)] Populus Israel in Aegypto jussu Domini Pascha celebravit, etc., *usque ad* sed in abscondito cordis semper Domino sacrificant, unde: *Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus [n: (Psal. L)]*. Et alibi: *In me sunt, Deus, vota tua [n: (Psal. LV)]*, etc. [n: (ID.)] Memorat Deum percussisse primogenita Aegypti, ubi nec sicut prius simulaverunt Aegyptii, sed palam cogebant exire populum Dei dicentes: *Omnes moriemur [n: (Exod. XI)]*.

VERS. 15.-- *Omnipotens sermo tuus.* Filius de quo dicitur: *In principio erat Verbum [n: (Joan. I)]*, etc., hic brachium et dextera nominatur: propter effectivam divinae virtutis potentiam, hic tunc per angeli [1182D] ministerium judicia sua fecit in primogenitis Aegyptiorum, qui postmodum sanctificavit sibi primogenitos Hebraeos. Nunc quoque per aquam baptismi salvat multitudinem credentium, et interficit multitudinem spiritualium hostium.

VERS. 19.-- *Visiones.* [n: (RAB.)] Hoc divinae bonitatis est, quae peccantes castigat ut abstineant, et poenitentiam agant. Si autem patientia Dei abutuntur, sine excusatione in aeternum punientur.

VERS. 20.-- *Tetigit autem tunc et justos.* [n: (RAB.)] Memorat, etc., *usque ad* per quos interitum possimus evadere.

VERS. 24.-- *In veste enim poderis.* [n: (RAB.)] Byssum terrae deputant Hebraei, etc., *usque ad* in figura pontificali, [1183A] Christum futurum praenoscebat, sed quia viderat carne indutum, non Deum sed hominem purum credidit; unde: *Si cognovissent, nunquam Dominum gloriae crucifixissent [n: (I Cor. II)]*.

## CAPUT XIX.

*Impiis autem,* etc. Inimicis populi Dei: vindicta usque ad consummationem supervenit, quia nec vitam nec mores correxerunt, fictis enim argumentis simulabant poenitentiam, et ideo non meruerunt indulgentiam. Unde Pharao cum plagis afflictus, populum Dei se dimissurum promitteret, paululum respirans ad domesticam crudelitatem reversus est, donec in mari Rubro fluctibus submersus est. Persecutores enim Christiani nominis si perstiterint in malitia [1183B] sua, sentient in poena quantum valeat Dei justitia.

VERS. 8.-- *Videntes tua mirabilia.* Sic nos oportet liberatori nostro exsultantes gratias agere dicentes: *Benedic, anima mea, Dominum [n: (Psal. CIII)]*. Unde Apostolus: *Sine intermissione orate, in omnibus gratias agite [n: (I Thess. V)]*.

VERS. 10.-- *Produxit terra.* Nota quod inimicis Dei terra produxit muscas, et fluvius ranas; cultoribus autem Dei terra dedit fructum, et mare [1184A] carnis alimentum. Dignum est enim, ut fidelibus suis per opera sua nutrimentum, divina procuret providentia. Inimicis vero condignum tormentum per subditam sibi creaturam inferat.

*Juste enim patiebantur.* [n: (RAB.)] Qui antiquos Dei servos, etc., *usque ad* viam veritatis non agnoscit, et ostium quod Christus est, non invenit.

VERS. 17.-- *In se elementa.* Sicut in organo diversi soni ad concordiam melodiae temperamento consentiunt, ita discrepantia elementa servato jure naturae ad Creatoris voluntatem flectuntur: non enim creaturam sibi condidit contrariam, sed per omnia voluntati suae consentaneam. *Unde aestimari,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Homines enim et jumenta, etc., *usque ad* ut appareret quod elementa mundi non suae tantum conditioni, [1184B] sed Creatoris deservirent voluntati.

VERS. 20.-- *In omnibus enim magnificasti.* Misericors et miserator Dominus semper adest fidelibus suis, quos semper protegit et regit: quos aliquando in martyrio purgat. Unde: *Vasa figuli probat fornax, et homines justos tentatio tribulationis [n: (Eccl. XXVII)]*. Multae enim tribulationes justorum, et de omnibus his liberavit eos Dominus.

english:
## PROLOGUE.

[1167B]

The book of Wisdom is nowhere to be found among the Hebrews. Whence its very style savours rather of Greek eloquence. The Jews affirm this book to be Philo's. It is accordingly named of Wisdom, because in it the coming of Christ, who is the wisdom of the Father, and his passion, are plainly set forth.

## CHAPTER ONE.

VERS. 1.-- *Love justice,* etc. [n: (RAB. in lib. Sap., tom. III.)] Jerome asserts that this book is not by Solomon, etc., *as far as Love justice,* etc. *The earth.* The flesh, that is: you restrain it with discernment, lest it grow proud against the spirit. As if to say: *Seek ye first the kingdom of God [n: (Matth. VI)]*, etc. *In simplicity.* That is, subject yourselves to his will, and keep his commandments; [1167C] as if he should say: You who do not understand, do not find fault, because the secrets of God cannot be comprehended by human reason, because his judgments are incomprehensible, and his ways unsearchable [n: (Rom. XI)].

VERS. 4.-- *For into a malicious soul,* etc. That is, into the sensual man, according to that saying: *The sensual man perceiveth not [n: (I Cor. II)]*, etc. And therefore he did not say "spirit," that is, a spiritual soul. [n: (RAB.)] In vain do philosophers, and heretics, and false Christians flatter themselves. For only the clean of heart can receive the wisdom of God.

VERS. 6.-- *Kind.* He inveighs against those who say that thoughts both good and evil are sent in by God; whereas God will have all men to be saved, and to come to [1167D] the knowledge of the truth. For he himself tempts no man in order to deceive, but in order to prove, whence: *God tempted Abraham [n: (Gen. XXII)]*; and, *Prove me and try me [n: (Psal. XXV)]*, etc. But every man is tempted by his own concupiscence, and by the just judgment of God he is permitted to fall who has refused to obey the spirit of truth.

VERS. 7.-- *And that which containeth all things.* That is, the Spirit, who governs and rules all things. Or, he who reacheth from end to end, *hath knowledge of the voice,* that is, he affords men the understanding of the Scriptures. Or, *that which containeth all things,* that is, man, who has something in agreement with every creature. *Hath knowledge of the voice,* that is, of divers tongues, by the Holy Spirit, who gave the apostles to speak the wonderful works of God in divers tongues. Or *that which containeth all things,* that is, the Holy Spirit, [1168B] who fills all things with his essence, *hath knowledge of the voice,* that of the Word of God, that is, he is of the same knowledge with the Word. Or, *this which containeth all things,* that is, the Church, in which *to another is given the word of knowledge,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Who in the beginning *was borne over the waters,* and with his majesty fills and contains every creature.

VERS. 8.-- *For this cause.* [n: (RAB.)] As the elect receive the gift of knowledge and of piety through the Spirit: so the reprobate, puffed up with their own pride, shamelessly put forth their error; since they cannot hide it from the Spirit of God, nor do they escape a just punishment: because as the eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and his ears unto their prayers, so is the countenance of the Lord upon them that do evil things.

VERS. 11.-- *Keep yourselves therefore.* [n: (RAB.)] Murmurings and detractions are pernicious, whence: *For whisperers [1168C] and detractors are hateful to God [n: (Rom. I)]* [var: Vulg. Rom. 1:29–30 has these as items in a list of vices, *susurrones, detractores, Deo odibiles*, not as a proposition]; whence: *He that detracteth from any thing bindeth himself for the time to come [n: (Prov. XIII)]*. *The mouth that lieth.* [n: (ID.)] There is a lie of lighter fault, etc., *as far as* and rewards the good itself.

VERS. 12.-- *Be not zealous for death.* [n: (ID.)] He has enumerated the things that are hurtful to man, etc., *as far as* but rather out of vice.

VERS. 16.-- *And covenants.* We have struck a league with death, and with hell we have made a pact.

## CHAPTER II.

VERS. 1.-- *For they have said.* [n: (RAB.)] The voice of the lost, etc., *as far as* and we shall be brought to nothing.

VERS. 2.-- *For smoke.* Truly we shall be nothing, [1168D] because *smoke and breath is in our nostrils.* [var: Vulg. Sap. 2:2 *fumus flatus est*, "breath is smoke," with no *and*] that is, in our body, that is, our body is compared to smoke and to breath, which rise together and fail together. *And speech a spark.* That is, the soul is comparable to a spark, which straightway becomes nothing, *speech,* I say, that is, the soul. *To move our heart.* That is, it quickens the body. And that it is so to be expounded he proves by what he adds. *Because ashes being quenched,* [var: Vulg. Sap. 2:3 *qua extincta, cinis erit corpus nostrum*, "which being quenched, our body shall be ashes"] and afterwards, *the spirit shall be poured abroad*

VERS. 10.-- *Let us oppress.* [n: (RAB.)] These things pertain generally to those, etc., *as far as* nor do they themselves obey the head, but blaspheme and find fault.

VERS. 17.-- *Let us see.* [n: (RAB.)] The like is said in the Gospel, where the chief priests and the Pharisees took counsel how they might deliver Jesus to death: and when he was set upon the cross they mocked him, saying: *He saved others, himself [1169A] however,* etc. *If he be the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross [n: (Matth. XXVII)]*, etc.

VERS. 20.-- *By a most shameful death.* By the cross, that is, which until the passion of Christ was the punishment of the guilty, and is now the trophy of victory.

VERS. 23.-- *For God.* That is, God is not the author of evils; for he created man unto immortality, who, consenting to the devil's suggestion, was made subject to the sentence of death.

## CHAPTER III.

VERS. 1.-- *But the souls of the just.* [n: (RAB.)] In the former chapter the sentence of the wicked was set forth, etc., *as far as* whence: *Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints [n: (Psal. CXV)]*.

[1169B]VERS. 7.-- *Sparks.* A spark does two things, namely, it swiftly changes a reed-bed, and it avenges.

VERS. 8.-- *And the Lord shall reign.* With whom his members also shall reign. Whence in Daniel: *The kingdom and the power, and the greatness of the kingdom, which is above heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High [n: (Dan. VII)]* [var: Vulg. Dan. 7:27 *quae est subter omne caelum, detur*, "which is under the whole heaven, let it be given"].

VERS. 11.-- *Wisdom.* [n: (RAB.)] Heretics may be noted in this sentence, etc., *as far as* but he shows that the working of the reprobate is worthy of everlasting malediction.

VERS. 13.-- *For happy.* [n: (ID.)] In the *barren woman* and in the *eunuch* the order of virgins may be understood, etc., *as far as* in the will of the mind, not in the weakness of the body.

VERS. 18.-- *In the day of acknowledgment.* That is, of judgment, when the elect, acknowledged by their judge, shall be [1169C] invited to possess the kingdom; but the wicked shall be comforted by no hope of restoration, but, to be tormented for ever, shall be driven out from the sight of the sovereign king.

## CHAPTER IV.

VERS. 1.-- *O how beautiful is,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Having found fault with heretics and schismatics, he praises catholics, etc., *as far as* and therefore he says: *With glory,* etc.

VERS. 2.-- *A reward surpassing.* A reward given for a passing contest, which is greater than those contests and persecutions.

VERS. 3.-- *But the multiplied brood of the wicked.* He speaks by turns of catholics and of heretics, that he may show the praiseworthy wisdom of the one and the blameworthy craft of the other. *Plantings.* Since μόσχος in Greek is called vitulus in Latin: certain men [1169D] did not understand that μοσκεύματα are plantings, and rendered them *vitulamina*: which error has taken possession of so many manuscripts that it is scarcely to be found written otherwise.

VERS. 7.-- *The just man,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] When he had spoken of the destruction of the wicked, etc., *as far as* they from life unto everlasting death.

VERS. 10.-- *Pleasing God.* [n: (RAB.)] God does not take him away for this cause, etc., *as far as* whence Peter, *God knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, but to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be tormented [n: (I Petr. I)]* [var: Vulg. 2 Petr. 2:9 *Novit Dominus*, "the Lord knoweth"].

VERS. 12.-- *Bewitching.* [n: (ID.)] By this sentence there is noted, etc., *as far as* for God separated them from the fellowship of the wicked, that *he might hide them in the hiding of his face from the disturbance of men [n: (Psal. XXX)]*.

[1170A]VERS. 19.-- *He shall burst them puffed up and speechless,* because they shall be inexcusable: *because when they had known God, they have not glorified him as God, or given thanks, but became vain in their depraved thoughts [n: (Rom. I)]* [var: Vulg. Rom. 1:21 *in cogitationibus suis*, without *pravis*, "depraved"].

## CHAPTER V.

VERS. 1-7.-- *Then,* etc. *We wearied ourselves,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] The philosophers wearied themselves, etc., *as far as* whence they say, grieving, *What hath pride profited us?*

VERS. 9-12.-- *As a shadow.* [n: (RAB.)] By *a shadow,* the forgetfulness of the mind, etc., *as far as* which go before the setting of a corruptible life. [n: (ID.)] By *a bird,* excellence, etc., *as far as* groaning, they shall be relieved by no voice of consolation.

VERS. 14.-- *Such things they said in hell, they that.* [1170B] He introduces yet four other kinds, by which he shows the foolish hope of the wicked, whereby they reckon present things only by measure, or that they escape unpunished.

VERS. 15.-- *It is down, which is taken away by the wind.* Which, springing from the withered flower of the grasses, expresses the frailty of the flesh, which shall quickly be taken away by the wind of sickness, or by the trouble of the body, *because all flesh is grass. And as a thin froth.* Froth, brought forth out of the waters, swims upon the water. This is the appetite for human favour and for common boasting, which is dissolved by the storm of temptation or by the sifting of judgment, or is scattered abroad, that is, it is proved how vain it was.

VERS. 16.-- *But the just shall live for evermore.* [n: (RAB.)] After the punishments of sinners, etc., *as far as* of God they shall enjoy, in whom they have placed their whole hope.

[1170C]VERS. 18.-- *He shall take armour.* [n: (RAB.)] The Creator of all things, etc., *as far as* since they are not able to resist.

VERS. 22.-- *And to a certain place.* Wheresoever it is necessary: for that cannot be confused which has been ordered by the divine wisdom.

VERS. 23.-- *And the rivers,* that is, the commotions of persecutions, for very often the scourge of gathering breaks the hearts of the depraved which preaching does not soften.

## CHAPTER VI.

*Wisdom is better,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] He admonishes the rulers of the Church, etc., *as far as* he will judge not only works, but knowledges and wills.

VERS. 7.-- *For to the little one mercy is granted.* To those, that is, who have sinned through ignorance, or frailty, or necessity, and by humble penance have [1170D] blotted it out. *But the mighty mightily,* etc., that is, they who, by despising the commandments of God, have committed grievous sins, and have not repented. For as they were the mightier in impiety, so shall they endure the stronger torments of hell. [n: (ANAST.)] For what cause, etc., *as far as but to whom much, of him also much shall be required.*

VERS. 8.-- *For he will not except any man's person.* Whence: *God is not a respecter of persons, he judgeth every man according to his own ways [n: (Act. X)]* [var: Vulg. Act. 10:34 ends at *non est personarum acceptor Deus*; the following clause stands nowhere in Acts, and is nearest Jer. 17:10].

VERS. 10.-- *To you therefore, O kings,* etc. His discourse to the mighty being ended, and their hardness rebuked with hard words; he turns his exhortation to the rulers of the Church, and extols wisdom with wonderful praises.

VERS. 12.-- *Love them,* etc., *and you shall have discipline.* He that loves wisdom keeps discipline in his manners. For he does not love wisdom who does not keep discipline. Whence: *If you love me, keep my commandments [n: (Joan. XIV)]*.

VERS. 14.-- *She preventeth them that covet her.* Offering herself freely. For he himself is *the way, the truth, and the life [n: (Joan. XIV)]*: through him one goes, unto him one strives, to him one attains.

VERS. 15.-- *Her sitting by,* etc. Ever ready, that is, to help, whence: *Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if any man shall open to me, I will go in to him and will sup with him, and he with me [n: (Apoc. III)]* [var: Vulg. Apoc. 3:20 *si quis audierit vocem meam, et aperuerit mihi januam, intrabo ad illum*, "if any man shall hear my voice and open to me the door, I will come in to him"]. In the present life wisdom must be studied, and life led according to the rule of her discipline.

[1171B]VERS. 22.-- *If then you be delighted.* [n: (RAB.)] He admonishes kings, etc., *as far as* he shall obtain the crown of the heavenly kingdom.

VERS. 25.-- *Neither will I go with pining envy.* Envy does not have fellowship with wisdom, because through the envy of the devil death entered into the world, and through wisdom the human race is delivered from it.

VERS. 27.-- *Receive therefore.* [n: (RAB.)] Wisdom, about to show, etc., *as far as* they are said to be the more perfect and both healing and life-giving.

## CHAPTER VII.

VERS. 5.-- *For none of the kings.* [n: (RAB.)] He shows that every man, etc., *as far as* as he is perfect God, so also is Jesus Christ perfect man.

VERS. 9.-- *Neither did I compare,* etc. Whence: Having found [1171C] one precious pearl, he sells all things and buys it. For he who truly finds heavenly wisdom, that is, the word of God, despises all the profits of the present life, philosophy, eloquence, and strives to be at leisure for the divine contemplation.

VERS. 11.-- *There came,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Solomon, having proved this, etc., *as far as* whence also the sun is so named, because it alone among the stars shines in the day.

VERS. 15.-- *The guide of wisdom itself.* [var: Vulg. Sap. 7:15 *ipse sapientiae dux est*, "he himself is the guide of wisdom"] [n: (RAB.)] God the Father of the incarnate Son, to whom he gave all power in heaven and on earth.

VERS. 17.-- *For he.* [n: (RAB.)] Of Solomon the Scripture says, God gave, etc., *as far as* for he enlightens every man that cometh into this world, *whom he that followeth walketh not in darkness* [1171D] [n: (Joan. I)]

VERS. 22-24.-- *For in her is the spirit of understanding, holy,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] As Isaias shows, all the gifts of the Holy Spirit exist in the humanity of the Saviour, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge hidden, and the fulness of the Godhead, to whom the spirit is not given by measure. [n: (ID.)] The Spirit who fills all things is said to be at once movable and stable. For *man* runs about everywhere, everywhere comes to meet one, and suddenly, where he is not thought to be, is found. Therefore the almighty Spirit, that he may be marked as everywhere present, is said to be at once stable and movable. [n: (ID.)] Whence: *The brightness of glory and the figure of his substance [n: (Heb. I)]*, ruling all things by his word, etc., *as far as* in time the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.

## CHAPTER VIII.

[1172A]

VERS. 1.-- *She reacheth from end.* That is, from the beginning of the world unto the coming of Christ she mightily asserts wondrous works and sincere testimonies through the Old Testament, and from the incarnation of the Word unto the end of the world she sets forth the sweetness of the Gospel. *From end* therefore *unto end she reacheth mightily,* because she works perfectly everywhere: for "end" signifies perfection.

VERS. 3.-- *She glorifieth the fellowship,* that is, she represents *the nobility of him,* namely of the Father, who is coeternal and co-omnipotent with her, or it may be read partly of the temporal nativity, partly of the eternal. She has *the fellowship of God.* That is, the humanity in which God dwells, who is the wisdom of the Father. Or *she glorifieth the nobility of him,* that is, of God the Father, that is, she is of the same essence [1172B] with the Father, begotten of him from eternity, born in time of a mother.

VERS. 4.-- *For she is the teacher of discipline.* Of his fulness we all have received: through whom grace and truth was made, that is, revealed. *No man hath ever seen God, but the Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him [n: (Joan. I)]* [var: Vulg. Joan. 1:18 *unigenitus Filius*, "the only-begotten Son"].

VERS. 7.-- *And her labours.* For there is nothing slothful in her works. Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever modest, whatsoever just, she does, and commits to her own to be done. *For sobriety and wisdom.* [var: Vulg. Sap. 8:7 *sobrietatem enim et prudentiam docet*, "for she teacheth sobriety and prudence"] [n: (RAB.)] He who is temperate, etc., *as far as* and he gave her to Jacob his servant.

VERS. 11.-- *Admirable.* The Virgin's offspring was to all men [1172C] one to be wondered at, because he came forth unto the resurrection and the ruin of many, who stands for a sign of the peoples, over whom kings shall shut their mouth, whom the nations shall beseech.

VERS. 16.-- *Entering into the house.* [n: (RAB.)] After preaching, after the labour of work, by which the saints afford comfort to their hearers, returning to themselves they are at leisure for divine contemplation, where they find the rest of the sweetness above. [n: (ID. ex Greg. )] Bodily delights, etc., *as far as* whence David: *Taste and see that he is sweet [n: (Psal. XXXIII)]*, etc. [n: (ORIG.)] He who opens the mouth of the dumb, etc., *as far as* but justice, in that he is the distributor and the judge of merits.

VERS. 19.-- *And I was a child,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Solomon in his boyhood had asked wisdom of God, and that he might rightly [1172D] judge the people, and discern between good and evil: he was made therefore most wise, and seems to have obtained a good soul, who had a wise and understanding heart. But how does that agree with him which is said:

VERS. 20.-- *I came to a body undefiled,* etc., since he loved a woman of a strange nation, and built idols? It seems therefore to agree rather with the people of the saints, which has been regenerated in baptism, and, steeped in the faith of the Saviour, has received the boyhood of its good disposition and of a simple innocence, and with all its endeavours has striven to come to the summit of the virtues: whence there follows: *And when I was yet more good,* etc. The Father judgeth no man, but hath given all judgment to the Son. They that imitate him are made his members.

## CHAPTER IX.

[1173A]

VERS. 7.-- *But thou hast chosen,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] David, because a man, etc., *as far as* the power and the wisdom of God, and the image of the invisible God.

VERS. 13.-- *For what man.* He wonders at the excellence of God. As if: *O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! [n: (Rom. XI.)] And, Who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counsellor? [n: (Isa. XL.)]*

VERS. 17.-- *But the sense.* No man knows the things that are done in the heart of a man but the spirit of a man, and no man knows the things that are of God but the Spirit of God. But the Spirit searcheth all things, even the deep things of God, who enlightens the hearts of the saints.

## CHAPTER X.

[1173B]VERS. 1.-- *She kept him who was first formed.* [n: (RAB.)] The first man, created by the goodness of God, set in paradise, preferred before all living things: he was cast down through the transgression of the commandment into the miseries of this world; and that he was restored through the wisdom of God, that is, through Christ, is a great token of the divine mercy.

VERS. 3.-- *The unjust man in his wrath.* As Cain, who slew his brother unjustly, the vengeance for which crime was discharged in the flood, and the generation of Cain blotted out: but the wisdom of God preserved Noe, of the stock of Seth, with his sons in the ark, for the restoring of the world.

VERS. 5.-- *She also, in the consent of pride,* etc. [var: Vulg. Sap. 10:5 *in consensu nequitiae*, "in the consent of wickedness"] [n: (RAB.)] The devil through pride, etc., *as far as* the humility of Christ has united.

VERS. 6.-- *She delivered the just man,* etc. Hence Peter says: [1173C] The city *of the Sodomites and of the Gomorrhites, reducing it into ashes, he condemned with overthrow; setting them for an example of those that should act impiously, and delivered just Lot, oppressed by the injuries of the wicked, and by their riotous manner of life [n: (II Petr. II)]*, etc. Lot's wife, looking back, was turned into a statue of salt, that we who through the grace of God have been called unto life should not look back upon the old man, remaining in the middle of the way. Turned into a statue of salt she salts others, whence: *Remember Lot's wife [n: (Luc. XVII)]*, that is, that we should not be negligent like fools, but should beware prudently.

VERS. 8.-- *For wisdom,* etc. *But she,* etc. Jacob, fleeing from Esau his brother, came to Laban his uncle, and on the way saw in a dream a ladder set up, and the angels of God ascending and [1173D] descending, and the Lord himself leaning upon the ladder and saying to him: *I am the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac; the land wherein thou sleepest I will give to thee and to thy seed [n: (Gen. XXVIII)]*. And coming into Mesopotamia he took Lia and Rachel, for whom he long fed the sheep of Laban. And Laban wished fraudulently to cheat him of his wages. But by the wisdom of God Laban was stripped, and Jacob enriched, and returned with much wealth. But mystically these things pertain to the martyrs, whom the mercy of Christ delivered from their persecutors, strengthening them with the grace of the Holy Spirit and with the hope of the reward to come; and at last, their enemies overcome, it led them through to the kingdom of heaven, to the praise and glory of his own name.

VERS. 13.-- *She forsook not the just man that was sold,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] [1174A] Mystically the Wisdom of God rescued the martyrs out of persecutions, and exalted them in the heavenly kingdom. Whence they shall come with Christ as judges of their enemies.

VERS. 15.-- *She delivered the just people.* [n: (RAB.)] Mystically. God delivers his elect from their persecutors, etc., *as far as* to the rewards of the kingdom, where they perpetually sing praises to their deliverer.

VERS. 21.-- *Because wisdom,* etc. Without the wisdom of God neither can the human mind worthily think anything, nor the mouth utter it: from him therefore both wisdom and eloquence must be sought.

## CHAPTER XI.

VERS. 1.-- *She hath spoken the works,* etc. [var: Vulg. Sap. 11:1 *Direxit opera eorum*, "she directed their works"] [n: (RAB.)] The Christian people follows prophecy [1174B] through the desert of this world, that it may come to the fatherland of the heavenly kingdom; whence Peter: *We have the prophetic word, whereunto you do well to attend, as to a light shining in a dark place [n: (II Petr. I)]* [var: Vulg. 2 Petr. 1:19 *firmiorem propheticum sermonem*, "the more sure word of prophecy," and no *loco*], etc.

VERS. 4.-- *Out of the highest rock,* etc. And the rock was Christ, who, struck by the rod of the cross, which was in their hands, that is, in the writings of the prophets, poured forth living water.

VERS. 5.-- *For by what things they suffered punishments,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] The benefits being recalled, etc., *as far as* whether therefore they suffer, or not, it is glory to them.

VERS. 10.-- *For when they were tried.* [n: (RAB.)] God chastised the sinning Israelites with worthy plagues, and comforted them when they repented, the Egyptians and the Chanaanites, as unworthy of mercy, he destroyed. *Torments,* etc. [1174C] From Pharao, that is, wheresoever they were. Or, not so much were these punished whom the Israelites destroyed with a recent slaughter through the several cities; but all the Chanaanites also who heard of the victory of the people of God; whence Rahab says: *Your terror is fallen upon us [n: (Jos. II)]*, etc. But mystically, the Jews, who despised the incarnation of the Son of God and his preaching, wandering over the whole earth and as fugitives, are afflicted with divers slaughters. But the Gentiles, converted to the faith and receiving a father's correction, do not depart from the mercy of God: so that they who had been at the head are at the tail, and the contrary.

VERS. 13.-- *A double,* etc. The remembrance of past evils is not lessened, and the tempest of present ones is increased. Whence neither have they hope of a remedy, because, feigning penance, they are not zealous for amendment; [1174D] whence: *When he slew them, they sought him, and they loved him [n: (Psal. LXXVII)]* [var: Vulg. Ps. 77:34 *quaerebant eum et revertebantur, et diluculo veniebant ad eum*, "they sought him and returned, and came to him early in the morning"], etc.

VERS. 15.-- *Not in like manner as the just,* etc. Because they do not sin in like manner. For the just man falls seven times, and rises again: but the wicked, when he has come into the depth of evils, contemneth.

VERS. 16.-- *For that some, going astray,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] It was fitting, etc., *as far as* for their whole intention is to persecute the human race, and to torment it in all ways.

VERS. 21.-- *But all things in measure,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Because all things according to truth, etc., *as far as* when the hidden things of darkness shall be enlightened, and the counsels of hearts shall be revealed.

[1175A]VERS. 23.-- *The weight of a balance,* etc. Isaias says the like: *Behold the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are reckoned as the weight of a balance [n: (Isa. XL)]*; for he would have it understood that the mind, and the reason, and the sense of the Lord, through whom all things were made and without whom nothing was made, is he of whom it is said: *By the word of the Lord the heavens were established [n: (Psal. XXXII)]*, etc. *All the nations which have not known their creator,* in comparison of God *are as a drop of a bucket, and as the weight of a balance* which is lightly turned down, *and as a drop of the morning dew [n: (Sap. XI)]*, which is dried up at the first sight of the sun. Or, as the drop of a bucket, if it flows away it is despised or neglected by him that carries it: so the multitude of the nations, compared with the heavenly splendour, with the mysteries above, and with the multitude of angels, is reckoned as nothing.

[1175B]VERS. 25.-- *For thou lovest,* etc. A good workman both loves and rules his own work: and if a man sometimes sins, he bears with him in much patience, and through penance turns him to better things. Whence: *He maketh his sun to rise upon the good and the bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust [n: (Matth. V)]*; but the impenitent are condemned by a just judgment: *For the Lord is just, and hath loved justice [n: (Psal. X)]*.

## CHAPTER XII.

*O how good and sweet,* etc. Through those whom thou fillest, or through others whom thou shalt will; whence: *He shall convince the world of sin, and of justice, and of judgment [n: (Joan. XVI)]*.

VERS. 3.-- *For those ancient inhabitants.* [n: (RAB.)] He speaks historically, etc., *as far as* the virtues, with [1175C] the Holy Spirit helping, shall bring forth useful fruits.

VERS. 12.-- *For who shall say,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] He shows by manifest reason that the Creator is not to be contradicted, if he disposes his own creature according to his own will: because all things are placed in his will, and there is none who can resist him. *He is just in all his ways [n: (Psal. CXLIV)]* [var: Vulg. Ps. 144:17 *Justus Dominus in omnibus viis suis*, "the Lord is just in all his ways"]; whence there follows, *Since therefore thou art just [n: (Rom. IX)]*, etc.

VERS. 16.-- *For thy power,* etc. Because the judgment of God, whether in the correction of the elect or in the damnation of the wicked, is the perfection of the highest equity: and therefore through his goodness, by long deferring, he suspends judgment, that he may have the more to whom he may render a benefit. For when a creature raises itself against the Creator it is punished with a just vengeance, that it may know itself the lower. [1175D] These things may be referred to the passion of Christ, whom the Father delivered unto death for us, and made him, who had not known sin, to be sin for us: who, unless he had undergone an undeserved death, would not have freed us from the death we deserved. The Father therefore, being just, in punishing the just one disposes all things justly. Almighty God judges all things with the highest tranquillity: yet human affections and members are ascribed to him by a figurative manner of speech, that the divine utterances may be conformed to our capacity. For there are read in the Scriptures: the eyes of the Lord, ears, hands, mouth, feet, anger, fury, and the like, whereas a simple nature never admits variety, nor true unity division. But one and the same works manifold and diverse things: Whence: *Thou shalt change them, and [1176A] they shall be changed: but thou art the selfsame, and thy years [n: (Psal. CI)]*, etc. And elsewhere: *I am God, and I change not [n: (Mal. III)]* [var: Vulg. Mal. 3:6 *Ego enim Dominus, et non mutor*, "for I am the Lord, and I change not"]. And elsewhere: *With whom there is no change [n: (Jac. I)]*, etc. And thou hast taught thy people: through the wondrous works of God the faithful are instructed, that they be not entangled with the wicked; but that they may study to keep themselves undefiled by confessing, and by hoping in the Lord, and may not neglect the time of penance.

VERS. 15.-- *Since therefore,* etc. Whence: *Many are the scourges of the sinner, but mercy shall encompass him that hopeth in the Lord [n: (Psal. XXXI)]*. There is a great distance between the judgment of the elect and that of the reprobate. Those the Lord chastises, that he may amend them; these pay the penalties of pride and of perfidy, that they may know that they cannot fight back against the ruler of all. Happy the judge who always looks upon the mercy and the goodness [1176B] of his own judge. *For judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy. [n: (Jac. II)]*.

VERS. 23.-- *Senselessly,* etc., that they who would not acknowledge and honour the Creator, being worthily delivered up to a reprobate sense, should do those things which are not fitting, dishonouring their own bodies in themselves: *Because they changed the truth of God into a lie, and served the creature rather than the Creator [n: (Rom. I)]*.

VERS. 26.-- *But they that by mockeries,* etc. That is, they who, being scourged by God, were not corrected, have experienced a condemnation fully deserved: to this end God chastises, that he may amend. But he who, ungrateful and impatient, murmurs, is led from temporal torment to eternal.

VERS. 27.-- *For in these things,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] The Gentile world, [1176C] while it served idols, etc., *as far as* he inflicts eternal punishment upon the uncorrected.

## CHAPTER XIII.

VERS. 1.-- *Knowledge.* Fear, that is, and reverence. Whence: Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding. For he departs from evil who departs from the worship of idols: he fears God who keeps his commandments: because *The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding to all that do it [n: (Psal. CX)]*. *From these* works, that is, of man, they were able to know the good workman, who properly is, because he is unchangeable and always the same, always abiding in himself, and rules all things. Most vain therefore is the vanity of men, who venerate creatures instead of the Creator. *Nor [1176D] by the works.* Some worshipped fire, which they called Vulcan; others the ether or the air, which they called Jupiter and Juno; others the excess of water, that is, Neptune; others the circle of the stars, men who distributed the positions and the course of the stars among the various figures of animals; others the sun, which they called Phoebus; others the moon, that is, Diana. [n: (RAB.)] They sin in two ways, etc., *as far as* in which the covetousness of man is condemned.

VERS. 6.-- *But yet,* etc. Hence Paul says: *For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all the impiety of those who detain the truth of God in injustice; because that which is known of God is manifest in them [n: (Rom. I)]* [var: Vulg. Rom. 1:18 *super omnem impietatem, et injustitiam hominum eorum*, "against all the impiety and injustice of those men"], etc. The knowledge of God is perceived from the fabric of the world. For that the invisible God might be known from invisible things [cj: *invisibilibus*; read *visibilibus*, "from visible things"], [1177A] a work was made by him which should manifest the workman, that he should be understood to be the God of all who made this thing, which others cannot make. But *when they had known him, they glorified him not as God, but became vain in their thoughts* [n: (RAB.)]

VERS. 10.-- *Unhappy,* etc. They, that is, who honour gods that they may drink in gold with their eyes, and the sheen of polished marble or of ivory, or garments notable with gems and with colours: and the more adorned the temples are, and the fairer the images, the more of majesty they have, or are said to have. Religion therefore is, or is believed to be, that which human covetousness admires.

VERS. 11.-- *Or if any artificer.* [n: (RAB.)] Wisdom insults over these, etc., *as far as Whose God is their belly, and their glory is in their confusion [n: (Philip. III)]*.

## CHAPTER XIV.

[1177B]

VERS. 1.-- *Again, another purposing to sail,* etc. These things also are said against idolatry. For it is the greatest madness that a man brought forth to the image of God, having from him a reasonable mind, by which he devised how he might cross the waves, building a ship according to the skill of his art, should not honour him who gave him this knowledge, and should call upon an idol which he has formed by a like art and with a greater vanity. For since he who has made is greater than that which is made, to adore one's own handiwork is to be mad. From God the course of sailing must be sought, from whom is the equipping of the ship. But heretics, who feign the vain images of their errors, perish in the waves of the world for this cause, that they have forsaken the ship of the Church, [1177C] and God the pilot.

VERS. 3.-- *For thou hast given.* The power of God led the Israelites through the Red Sea dry-shod, and divided the waters of the Jordan, that it might strike terror into the nations that were to be destroyed, for the faithful also, amid the waves and the persecutions of the world, it prepares a path of faith and of constancy, that they may pass over unhurt, nor is there need of human solace where God shows the wondrous effects of his power.

VERS. 5.-- *But that they might not be void,* etc. The Creator gave knowledge to his creature, whereby it might take counsel for itself in the present, that it might serve his will. Whence he commanded Noe to make an ark, in which he himself and his offspring should be saved, and the rest of the living creatures reserved for the restoring of the world, when the human race for its iniquity [1177D] should be blotted out by the flood; whence Peter: *Wherein a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water: which also we now, of like form, baptism hath saved [n: (Petr. III)]* [var: Vulg. 1 Petr. 3:21 *Quod et vos nunc*, "which also you now"], etc. The ark, built of planed timbers, signifies the Church, which is made of the gathering of the faithful, by the craftsmanship of the preachers. A few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water while the world perished: because in comparison with the reprobate the number of the elect is small. For they are few who find the way of life. The water of the flood slew those placed outside, because, though a heretic have the sacrament of baptism, those very waters drown him to hell which lifted the ark to heaven. The number eight also signifies the Church, in that in the sacrament of the Lord's resurrection it receives the laver [1178A] of baptism. That, as he himself rose from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also, washed with the water of regeneration, may walk in newness of life. Hence Jeremias: *Every man is become a fool by his own knowledge, the maker is confounded in the graven thing: because his founder is a liar, and there is no spirit in them. For their works are vain, and worthy of laughter, and in the time of visitation they shall perish [n: (Jerem. X)]* [var: Vulg. Jer. 10:14 *confusus est artifex omnis in sculptili, quoniam falsum est quod conflavit*, "every artificer is confounded in the graven thing, for what he hath cast is false"].

VERS. 8.-- *And he that made it.* The image and the worship of false gods. For the devil shall be punished on this account, that he usurps to himself divine honour; and man too, who honours the creature instead of the Creator. And wood often signifies man. Blessed therefore is the man who speaks and does the truth. But the heretic, who worships his own fictions, is accursed, and given over to perdition, and so is his work, that is, his doctrine.

[1178B]VERS. 11.-- *For this cause.* There is no pardon to be given to idols, or to those that dwell in them, that is, to demons, because they draw back from him men made to the image of God, and overthrow them in the snare of error. Heretics also, who seduce men, shall not escape a strict judgment.

VERS. 12.-- *The beginning.* For it is the worst kind of fornication, by which the soul departs from God and commits fornication with idols, or forsakes the truth of the divine teaching and follows the falsehood of heretical depravity, or of opinion. Hence Paul calls covetousness the service of idols. Whence it is plain that every evil concupiscence is called fornication, by which the soul, having left the higher law, is corrupted by the pleasure of lower things, being laid low or prostituted for the base wage, as it were, of natures.

[1178C]VERS. 13.-- *For not,* etc. [var: Vulg. Sap 14:13 *neque enim*] *May the Lord destroy all deceitful lips, and all that speak lies [n: (Psal. XI)]* [var: Vulg. Ps. 11:4 *et linguam magniloquam*, "and the tongue that speaketh proud things"; the second clause here is Ps. 5:7, *perdes omnes qui loquuntur mendacium*]. Hence Jeremias: *Let the gods that have not made heaven and earth perish from the earth [n: (Jer. XI)]*, etc.; [n: (LACT. t. I)]. Because of the folly of men, etc., *as far as* they bestowed divine honours upon their parents, and commanded them to be bestowed.

VERS. 21.-- *The incommunicable name.* The incommunicable name, that is, of almighty God; who alone is incomprehensible, they ascribed to senseless and frail matter, or to an image.

VERS. 23.-- *For either they sacrifice their own sons.* As in the rites of Saturn, to whom, because of his hatred of Jupiter, without regard of piety [1178D] they immolated their own little ones, and to Bellona the priests themselves sacrificed with their own blood. Whence Quintilian: That, says he, if God compels it, he is angry: and if he is angry, he does not accept your sacrifices. *Or dark sacrifices.* As they did in the rites of Isis of Egypt, and of Ceres of Eleusis. For as there Osiris is sought with the wailing of his mother, so here Proserpine, carried off, is sought for the incestuous marriage of her uncle Pluto. And because Ceres is said to have sought her in Sicily with torches kindled from Aetna, therefore her rites were celebrated with the tossing of burning brands. In like manner they rave in the rites of father Liber, and of the great mother, where after the example of the gods (who, being sated in the festivity, spent the whole night in debaucheries) they play. Because by lust and by uncleanness they thought to please their own gods.

[1179A]VERS. 25.-- *All things mingled together.* For all things were confused: there was no reason there, no true religion. The more wicked a man was, the more he thought he pleased his own god.

VERS. 27.-- *For of the unspeakable.* There is no greater madness than to forsake the living God and to serve the dead. For when the mind turns itself away from its creator, it is entangled in all crimes. For *the beginning* of *all sin is pride [n: (Eccli. X)]*. *The end.* The consummation and the fulness. For as to those who worship an idol instead of God, all things in them are reputed unto sin.

VERS. 28.-- *For either they are mad while they rejoice.* Because, while they swear, they defile the name of God, who says: *Thou shalt not take the name of thy God in vain, and by the name of strange gods you shall not swear [n: (Exod. XX)]* [var: Vulg. Exod. 20:7 *nomen Domini Dei tui*, "the name of the Lord thy God"; the second clause is Exod. 23:13, *per nomen externorum deorum non jurabitis*]; but when they think that they mock [1179B] God, they cast themselves headlong into everlasting death. But heretics, worshipping the images of their own errors, become the cause of their own perdition, whose doctrine also is false, their life unjust, their joy insane, their death unspeakable: because, when they swear unjustly by an idol, and do not hope in their own God, therefore they shall receive the vengeance of their own deserts. Whence there follows: *For the power is not of them that swear.* [var: Vulg. Sap. 14:31 *Non enim juratorum virtus*, "for it is not the power of the things sworn by"]

## CHAPTER XV.

VERS. 1.-- *But thou,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] For those condemned by a just judgment, repenting too late, acknowledge what before they were unwilling to believe; whence: *The Lord shall be known when he executeth judgments, the sinner hath been caught in the works of his own hands [n: (Psal. IX)]*; whence John: *He that hath hope in him sanctifieth, even as he also is holy: [1179C] and every one that abideth in him sinneth not [n: (I Joan. III)]* [var: Vulg. 1 Joan. 3:3 *sanctificat se*, "sanctifieth himself"].

VERS. 3.-- *For to know thee,* etc. It is the receiving of incorruption, and in the world to come of contemplation; whence: *For this is life everlasting, that they may know thee the true God [n: (Joan. XVII)]* [var: Vulg. Joan. 17:3 *ut cognoscant te, solum Deum verum*, "that they may know thee, the only true God"], etc.

VERS. 4.-- *For not into error.* He speaks in the person of the faithful, who, fortified by the grace of God, did not mingle themselves with the iniquity or the idolatry of the Gentiles: because that labour is without the fruit of justice, and deserves everlasting death.

VERS. 6.-- *Lovers of evil things,* etc. *Let them that make them become like unto them, and all such as trust in them [n: (Psal. CXXXIV)]*. The inventors also of false doctrines, and their worshippers, are worthy of death. For God shall destroy the man that shall have done these things, that is, the master and [1179D] his disciple. Above he reproved idols of wood, of stone, or of brass, now he condemns also those of clay. For it was justly requited to them; that they who were made of earth, because they were unwilling to follow the better part of themselves, that is, the soul, created to the image of God for the marking of the living God; should, by imitating the baser part of themselves, that is, the earthly body, adore a god of mud, and, without the fruit of good work, should be rendered senseless and useless to the insensible earth out of which they were taken. But mystically, heretics and schismatics, who detain the truth of God in injustice, and worship a lie for the truth in the images of their own teaching, although they cloak it with eloquence or with a feigned virtue, yet the things they feign are frail and of clay.

[1180A]VERS. 10.-- *Their heart is ashes,* [var: Vulg. Sap. 15:10 *Cinis est enim cor ejus*, "for his heart is ashes," in the singular] and their thought is foul, and their life viler than mire; because they know not their maker, and become vain in their own thoughts. But they despise the understanding of the holy fathers, and feign new errors, like vain games, for human favour and earthly gain; erring, that is, and sending others into error, that they may be inexcusable: when God shall judge the hidden things of hearts, and shall render to every one according to his works.

VERS. 13.-- *For he knoweth,* etc. Heretics have no excuse; because they sin knowingly, while they will not follow the sound faith and right doctrine: following rather the earthly and frail understanding than the spiritual.

VERS. 17.-- *He is better.* Because man is better [1180B] than idols by the reckoning of creation; because he lives and understands, but they never do. But because he follows the vanity of error rather than the knowledge of truth, *when he is in honour he understandeth not: and is compared to senseless beasts [n: (Psal. XLVIII)]* [var: Vulg. Ps. 48:21 *cum in honore esset, non intellexit. Comparatus est jumentis insipientibus*, in the past tense].

VERS. 18.-- *Senseless.* As if: neither had they discernment. For in truth living things are better than dead, things that feel than things that feel not, rational than irrational. But it was fitting that they who were ignorant of the Creator should not know the distinction among creatures. For he who neglects to have the praise and blessing of God in himself shows that he himself errs in the discernment of animals.

## CHAPTER XVI.

[1180C]VERS. 2.-- *Instead of which,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] The people of Israel in the desert lusted after flesh, etc., *as far as* therefore they were justly delivered over to them to be tormented.

VERS. 6.-- *But not for ever.* [n: (RAB.)] For not the brazen serpent, etc., *as far as* because, dead through his humanity, he is as it were brazen through his Divinity.

VERS. 9.-- *For them,* etc. The elect are proved through affliction, and are warned to beware of sins and to do good things. The reprobate are scattered, because they are not corrected. Therefore little creatures kill idolaters. But serpents cannot destroy the Israelites, the worshippers of God; because the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation: but to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be tormented.

VERS. 12.-- *But thy word, O Lord.* That is, [1180D] the Son, through whom are all things, whose power is everywhere, who has done all things whatsoever he willed; he heals bodies, he saves souls from spiritual beasts.

VERS. 14.-- *But man killeth.* [n: (CHRYS.)] Man through malice, etc., *as far as* he is free from every crime.

VERS. 16.-- *For denying to know,* etc. [var: Vulg. Sap. 16:16 *Negantes enim te nosse impii*, "for the wicked, denying to know thee"] [n: (RAB.)] The Egyptians were afflicted with divers plagues, etc., *as far as* because all things consent to the will of the Creator.

VERS. 18.-- *For at one time.* [n: (RAB.)] As is read in Genesis: The Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha fire and brimstone, that he might destroy the impious: and in Exodus, hail together with fire. In the book of Numbers: He sent fiery serpents against [1181A] the murmurers, that the impious might know that every creature is ready to avenge the injury of the Creator.

VERS. 20.-- *Instead of which,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] In the desert manna was given to the children of Israel, etc., *as far as Many are the scourges of the sinner, but mercy shall encompass him that hopeth in the Lord [n: (Psal. XXXI)]*.

VERS. 24.-- *For the creature,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Let sinners be confounded here: who, whereas the other creatures serve their maker, themselves fight against him. Whence they are scourged by the concord of all creatures: and if they shall not have repented, they shall be tormented perpetually; but for the good, true good things are prepared.

VERS. 25.-- *For this cause,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] God rained manna from heaven, etc., *as far as* as a transgressor of the law he shall perish for ever.

[1181B]VERS. 28.-- *That it might be known to all,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] That food fed them historically, etc., *as far as* but at the rising of the sun, that is, of Christ, let us say: *The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.*

## CHAPTER XVII.

VERS. 1.-- *For great.* [n: (RAB.)] Mystically. All the persecutors of the Church of Christ suffer the darkness of their own crimes, nor can they ever be secure, whom the rulers of these darknesses harass, even unto the exterior darkness, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth; whence: *Every one that doth evil hateth the light [n: (Joan. III)]*, etc. Hence Paul: *You were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord [n: (Ephes. V)]*, etc.

VERS. 4.-- *For neither.* For horror always [1181C] accompanies darkness: and the less a man discerns the things that are about him, the more he fears, trembling at adversities on every side. So the Egyptians for three days suffered the greatest darkness, which neither sun nor stars were able to lighten, and wherever they lay they trembled with excessive terror; but as to what he says. That *sad apparitions* terrified them, it could be that demons obtruded certain phantasms, who would terrify them for the increase of their punishments. The persecutors also of the faith and of the truth the darkness of sins encompasses, because they know not the sun of justice, nor do preachers enlighten them with the brightness of doctrine. These also *a sound coming down,* that is, a heavenly threatening, disturbs, and *sad apparitions,* that is, demons, who shall one day torture them, terrify; nor yet do they perform penance fruitfully: but despairing they treasure up [1181D] to themselves wrath in the day of judgment.

VERS. 6.-- *Full of fear.* Because on every side they dreaded punishments. For the heavier the pains are, the greater the horrors that are feared.

*And of the magic art,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] When the magicians in Egypt, etc., *as far as* and the old serpent with his angels, a savage enemy, patiently.

VERS. 9.-- *And the air,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] He marks the excess of fear which they suffer when punishments are imminent and conscience accuses them, but since wickedness is always fearful, it gives a token of its own dread, and is condemned to punishment.

VERS. 11.-- *A betraying,* etc. Fear, that is, betrays the weakness of the proud man, who with a vain hope of helps [1182A] exalts himself in his thinking, when he hopes that he can do what he cannot, or could not, accomplish: and while his strength is the less, the force of the things which he suffers from without makes him think the power to be greater, this happens frequently in the persecutors of the faithful, who reckon themselves powerful when they torment the saints, overcome by their power, saddened by the straitness of their mind, they acknowledge that they cannot do what they desired, and that the fortitude of God is greater, who thus conquers in his own soldiers.

VERS. 13.-- *But they,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] The Egyptians, that is, encompassed with the horror of the darkness, etc., *as far as* they dreaded it as dangerous.

VERS. 19.-- *For the whole world.* As if: the impious were in darkness, but wherever the children of Israel dwelt, there was light.

[1182B]VERS. 20.-- *An image of darkness.* Spiritual darkness is heavier than bodily: because it leads men to the exterior darkness, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, which the Egyptian darkness prefigures. For as bodies there are useful for no good work: so here also souls together with bodies are condemned to an everlasting prison; where there is neither reason, nor place, nor time for working.

## CHAPTER XVIII.

VERS. 1.-- *But to thy holy ones.* [n: (RAB.)] The Israelites in Egypt, etc., *as far as* he protects them in prosperity and in adversity.

VERS. 4.-- *Worthy indeed,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] Deservedly did the Egyptians suffer the punishment of darkness, etc., *as far as* the reason of which mystery was prefigured in the ancient fathers, and [1182C] was fulfilled in the coming of Christ.

VERS. 9.-- *For they sacrificed secretly.* [n: (RAB.)] The people of Israel in Egypt celebrated the Pasch at the command of the Lord, etc., *as far as* but in the hiding of the heart they always sacrifice to the Lord, whence: *A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit [n: (Psal. L)]*. And elsewhere: *In me, O God, are thy vows [n: (Psal. LV)]*, etc. [n: (ID.)] He records that God smote the firstborn of Egypt, where the Egyptians did not dissemble as before, but openly compelled the people of God to go out, saying: *We shall all die [n: (Exod. XI)]*.

VERS. 15.-- *Thy almighty word.* The Son, of whom it is said: *In the beginning was the Word [n: (Joan. I)]*, etc., he is here named the arm and the right hand: because of the effective power of the divine strength, he then through an angel's [1182D] ministry executed his judgments upon the firstborn of the Egyptians; and he afterwards sanctified to himself the firstborn of the Hebrews. Now also through the water of baptism he saves the multitude of believers, and slays the multitude of spiritual enemies.

VERS. 19.-- *Visions.* [n: (RAB.)] This belongs to the divine goodness, which chastises sinners that they may abstain and do penance. But if they abuse the patience of God, they shall be punished for ever without excuse.

VERS. 20.-- *But then it touched the just also.* [n: (RAB.)] He records, etc., *as far as* through whom we may be able to escape destruction.

VERS. 24.-- *For in the robe reaching to the feet.* [n: (RAB.)] The Hebrews assign fine linen to the earth, etc., *as far as* in the pontifical figure, [1183A] it foreknew Christ who was to come, but because it had seen him clothed with flesh, it believed him to be not God but mere man; whence: *If they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory [n: (I Cor. II)]*.

## CHAPTER XIX.

*But upon the wicked,* etc. Upon the enemies of the people of God: vengeance came even unto the end, because they corrected neither their life nor their manners, for with feigned arguments they counterfeited penance, and therefore did not deserve indulgence. Whence Pharao, when, afflicted with plagues, he promised that he would let the people of God go, taking breath a little, returned to his domestic cruelty, until he was drowned in the waves of the Red Sea. For the persecutors of the Christian name, if they shall have persisted in their malice, [1183B] shall feel in punishment how much the justice of God avails.

VERS. 8.-- *Seeing thy wonderful works.* So it behoves us, rejoicing, to give thanks to our deliverer, saying: *Bless the Lord, O my soul [n: (Psal. CIII)]*. Whence the Apostle: *Pray without ceasing, in all things give thanks [n: (I Thess. V)]*.

VERS. 10.-- *The earth brought forth.* [var: Vulg. Sap. 19:10 *eduxit terra muscas*, "the earth brought out flies"] Note that for the enemies of God the earth brought forth flies, and the river frogs; but for the worshippers of God the earth gave fruit, and the sea [1184A] the nourishment of flesh. For it is fitting that the divine providence should provide nourishment for its faithful through its own works. But that it should inflict a fully deserved torment upon its enemies through the creature that is subject to it.

*For they suffered justly.* [n: (RAB.)] They who the ancient servants of God, etc., *as far as* he does not acknowledge the way of truth, and does not find the door which is Christ.

VERS. 17.-- *In themselves the elements.* As in an organ different sounds agree by tempering to the concord of a melody, so the discordant elements, the law of nature being preserved, are bent to the will of the Creator: for he founded a creature not contrary to himself, but agreeable in all things to his own will. *Whence it may be reckoned,* etc. [n: (RAB.)] For men and beasts, etc., *as far as* that it might appear that the elements of the world served not only their own condition, [1184B] but the will of the Creator.

VERS. 20.-- *For in all things thou hast magnified.* The Lord is merciful and compassionate, and is always present to his faithful, whom he always protects and rules: whom sometimes he purges in martyrdom. Whence: *The furnace trieth the potter's vessels, and the trial of tribulation just men [n: (Eccl. XXVII)]*. For many are the tribulations of the just, and out of them all the Lord hath delivered them.