Fragments on Proverbs 1

A proverb is such as this: 'Sweet is war to one who has not tried it,' and, 'A drop, falling continually, hollows out a rock.'

For in the beginning, when the roads were still unmarked, the ancients set up along certain places of the way what the Romans now call miles, but which were then called signs; and upon these they would inscribe certain problems for inquiry.

This they did for two reasons: both that the traveller might know the extent of the road, and that, in reading the inscription and occupying himself with its meaning, he might have his weariness lightened.

'To know words of wisdom' pertains properly to virtue, of course—just as the other translators also make plain, having rendered it not as 'words of wisdom' but 'words of understanding.'

Or, by 'words of wisdom' he means those that are sophistical and cunningly devised.

Reproving those who feign righteousness and claim to possess it as they ought, the word says:

'If then you truly speak righteousness, judge rightly, O sons of men.'

I hear of the rendering of Theodotion, which Symmachus also gave, that they rendered it 'a problem.'

What then is 'the dark saying'?

It is that which is confused in word, in thought, and in expression;

such as the passage in the prophet Isaiah:

'Woe to the land of ships, beyond the rivers of Ethiopia!'

'Who sends hostages by the sea, and letters of papyrus upon the water.' For none of these has its wording clear, whether in the form of parables, nor does it present any manifest narration of history.

And of the riddle it is possible to understand the literal wording, but of the dark saying not even the literal wording.

'A dark saying' is a general term;

and 'dark' means not that which is such by privation of light, but that which is hidden, so that the one who is ignorant is darkened.

'Sayings' are the finely-turned apophthegms;

and a 'riddle' is a saying that signifies the truth under concealment;

such as this: 'Open, O Lebanon, your gates, and let fire devour your cedars.' [Zech.]

For true fear is the reverence that accords with veneration;

for to know the good does not suffice for blessedness, unless one also does it;

and piety toward God is the beginning of understanding.

The Father of the righteous is God.

For everyone who does righteousness has been begotten of God.

And our Mother is the Church, whose Bridegroom is our Lord Jesus Christ.

And the ordinances are the apostolic institutions.

Even if the foregoing has an anagogical sense, yet it applies also to natural parents, when, being god-fearing, they rear their children.

Since the teacher is a man, who has begotten through the Gospel those being instructed, the Church is his consort and the mother of those born—or rather, the ecclesiastical mind and way of life.

'If then,' he says, 'you heed me, the composer of proverbs—now as your instructor and father, now in place of a mother of wisdom and virtue—you shall be crowned with a crown of graces, and your neck adorned with a collar fashioned of spiritual gold and ornament.'

For the material of the crown with which the head of the inner man is wreathed—the compass of the virtues—is what happens to be named 'graces.'

In agreement with the crown, which is spiritual, one must also understand the golden collar placed upon the neck of the soul, that is, upon its subordinate faculty.

By 'head' and 'neck' he means the mind;

and by 'golden collar,' knowledge and the spiritual adornment of the soul;

or the golden collar is subjection to God, and the compass of the divine oracles.

Impious men, however, are those who are perfect in wickedness.

They hide in the earth those whom they persuade to be minded toward earthly things;

but a righteous man you will understand to be the one who has a heavenly mind.

These things can also be understood with reference to Christ, and to the people of the Jews.

Scripture indicates 'utterly' by means of 'swallow up,' as in the passage:

'Lest such a one be swallowed up by excessive grief.' They say, then: 'Having cast down and vanquished the one who has a heavenly mind, let us bring him over to ourselves, so as to be minded toward earthly things.'

And he is swallowed up alive who holds a right opinion concerning what ought to be done, and then casts it away.

By 'counsel' he means the deliberate choice according to which we choose to do or not to do the things to be done;

and by 'thought' the one concerning things contemplated, so as to leave them behind and to draw near to God, keeping His commandments as far as one is able.

He who possesses the virtues as a settled habit, not slothfully neglecting them superficially—this one has them written upon the tablet of his own heart, that is, upon the depth of his own soul, or upon his continual longing, so that the adversary may not turn you aside.

By 'body' I mean the assemblage of the powers of the soul;

'bones,' its firm powers;

for 'all our bones shall say';

Its right hand is the knowledge of divine things, from which comes eternal life;

and its left hand is the knowledge of human things.

Here again he names the Cross 'the tree of life.'

For upon those who are sincerely joined in Christ the manifold life from the tree drips down;

and for those who lean upon its foundations, a firm confirmation is fixed unshakably, as also for those who are securely established upon the Lord.

But if the tree of life is the wisdom of God,

then Adam was justly prevented from partaking of it.

For 'into a soul that devises evil wisdom will not enter';

seeing that from the fruits of righteousness there springs up the tree of life.

Not finding to whom he might liken the one who hopes upon the Lord, he turns the discourse back upon himself, speaking as though concerning the Lord:

For he who leans upon it, inasmuch as he hopes in God, is secure.

This applies now also to the Son of God, who is the wisdom and understanding of God.

But the faithful soul is also a land, bearing fruit a hundredfold;

and it becomes wise from the fatness of wisdom, since God and Father founds it upon her.

For He establishes in it the introduction of teaching, making in it a fixture out of wisdom, and showing it ever advancing;

and He fashions it a most pure heaven, a dwelling place of angels and of the intelligible substances.

And having received perception of that which is, and understanding the exactness of things—such as the great depth of the judgments of God—it called these 'clouds,' or it called the prophets 'clouds,' and the teaching 'dew.'

Do not become deprived of the drinkable water of life.

By 'counsel' he means the movement concerning things to be done;

by 'thought,' that concerning things contemplated;

by 'neck' he meant the soul itself, which has borne the yoke of the Lord.

And just as the neck is encircled by breast-bands, so the soul shall receive the rewards of God in the kingdom, as also here in this life it wears His commandments.

Of the impious, even their glorious things are accursed.

But for the righteous, even the humbler things have been blessed.

By 'house' he means the powers of the rational soul.

And by 'farmsteads,' the powers of the spirited and the appetitive parts; for in these the irrational passions have their dwelling.

For in these the irrational passions spend their time.

The honour of wisdom is the keeping of the commandments; and wisdom is Christ, whose bride is the soul that honours him through the virtues, and who shall be embraced by him.

And wisdom is Christ, whose bride is the soul that honours him through the virtues, which soul shall be embraced by him.

Just as to a little infant child, he ever sets prizes before its attentiveness, and rouses it when it has been startled and strayed somewhere outside.

And the springs of life are the virtues, from which flows the living water, which is the knowledge of Christ.

For the one who advances in wisdom, there come to be many springs, and not one only;

but according to the multitude of the virtues.

To those, he says, who keep these exhortations, they become life.

Walk rightly, he says, in your journey through life.

The feet of the soul are its transitional impulses; for virtue is a mean.

For virtue is a mean.

Give no heed to deceitful teaching, which lures by smooth talk—that is, to heresy, to idolatry, and to empty words.

Their beauty reaches only as far as the hearing.

It is wont to hide what is destructive, and to put forward what is pleasant, so as to ensnare;

for otherwise they would at once have leapt away.

but it conceals what is pleasant, and sets forth what is laborious.

And he did not say, 'It flows away,' but, 'It drips,' so that the bitterness should not become cloying—yet afterward it is more bitter than gall;

the bitterness is not in proportion to the pleasure.

By 'way' he here means the mind that journeys toward virtue;

or perhaps he enjoins virtue to separate us from vice.

which, by the wearing away of the flesh, signifies that licentiousness is a kind of corruption.

He introduces the man who has been corrupted reproaching himself for having hated instruction, and he says:

I would perish and be utterly ruined, having worn away my flesh in profligacy, and I all but cast away life itself.

Therefore my punishment became manifest in the midst of the Church and the Synagogue.

For it is the voice of one who has repented, and who has not become that which he came within a little of becoming.

Like it also is the saying, 'My steps had well nigh been poured out.' For having come to himself and perceived, he says, 'Where is the little that remained?' How then is it possible to comfort the madness that springs from nature?

Knowledge is both a well and a spring;

for those who are drawing near to the virtues it is a well;

but for those who have been perfected in them, a spring.

Knowledge is also called mother, and wife, and sister:

mother, because through her we have been begotten by the teacher;

wife, because dwelling with us she bears virtues and right doctrines;

sister, because we have come to be from one God.

And I called wisdom my sister.

See how he indicates its easiness not only by its abundance, but also by having no partner in the enjoyment of it;

and he doubles it and calls it a possession;

for he knows the delight of the thing.

Imitate even the natural industry of the irrational creatures;

for many do good works from observation or from hearsay, and not from understanding.

By 'bees' he means the prophets and apostles, whose labours are useful both to those great in disposition and to the lowly;

by 'wax,' then, he means the things themselves;

and by 'honey,' the contemplation of them.

Just as the bell-wether leads the goats, so does the queen-bee lead the bees.

Order, then, is a fair thing throughout all of life.

The godless man is a fool, having lost the contemplative faculty;

and the lawless man, having lost the practical.

Keep it in common, he says, that it may be yours both to live life eternal and to become one who sees clearly.

For far brighter than the light of the eyes do the keepings of the divine commandments shine forth for us.

The hand is the action taken as a whole;

and the finger, the more particular action.

And if you obey me, you will have a wide heart for the reception of the virtues.

She pretends to dwell with a husband, as though living according to the law;

and she removes all that is fearful and hindering, putting forward as a pretext the sojourn abroad of the one who dwells with her.

For her house is the ways of Hades, leading down to the chambers of death.

For those who obey her, becoming earthy and of the dust through her, shall thus perish.

And the phrase 'upon the plank of Hades,' the others rendered as 'in the depths.'

The word 'beginning,' signifying many things, as we have said, now denotes the eternal, the cause, and the creative principle.

But a beginning is the beginning of certain things, and it signifies a relation, not a substantial being;

as with right and left.

Therefore, being a substance, the Wisdom of God is not the beginning of certain things;

for even before creation it possesses its being as wisdom.

But when it receives a relation toward the things that come to be, then it becomes the beginning of the ways of God that are creative and providential, unto the works which have their existence from the Creator, they contributing nothing to it toward its being wisdom;

but the relation according to which it is called beginning and creator came into being at the very time when the created things also did.

For a beginning does not pre-exist the things of which it is the beginning;

nor are these said to exist after it, if the created things have their substance in time.

For being eternal, Wisdom is not subject to time.

The beginning, then, is a consort to the created things.

Existing before creation, being Wisdom, the Son of God, when He says:

'The Lord created me,' He does not mean that His mind came into substantial being, but rather a relation toward the things created.

For He says He was created 'for works,' inasmuch as He is the beginning of the creative and providential ways of God — that is, the cause of them — though this is said still by way of introduction.

The Son of God became man, taking upon Himself the form of a servant;

and being before the ages and everlasting, in that He is God the Word, He is said to have been created because He received the birth from Mary, having become flesh;

so that those who wish to walk according to God and toward God might use Him as a teacher, since He furnishes to those who follow Him a pattern of the noblest life and a teaching.

That the word 'created' does not by any means indicate a coming into substantial being, David shows when he says:

'Create in me a clean heart, O God.' For he asks not as one who does not have a heart, to receive one, but as one who has soiled it, to receive it back again cleansed.

And Paul too, when he says that the two are 'created into one new man,' indicates not the coming-into-being of men's substance, but a union arising from concord.

just as those who translated it rendered it 'He acquired me.'

That is to say: 'He laid down the cause and foundation of created things,'

according to the saying, 'In Him all things hold together, and He is before all things.' And the Lord Himself says:

'I am the beginning of the creation of God.' For, wishing to be the foundation of the Church, He endured to become man, that upon Him she might be established and not be shaken;

so likewise, wishing to grant being to the creation, He came into being according to it, introducing the aforesaid relation, becoming to the things that would be a beginning and cause;

'but even if in these respects,' He says, 'I was created, yet before all things God begets me,' which is to say, as Son.

By 'throne' He means His own kingdom, and by 'winds' the intelligent spirits;

'who walks upon the wings of the winds' — wishing to set forth the lightness and incorporeality of His essence.

Observe that the works, Wisdom, and God are distinguished.

And 'strong' — in what way? In that they need no support beneath them;

for they are held together by the will of God alone.

Either because, as soon as I appear, I grant life; or because, condescending by some revelation to the weakness of that man, I then come forth;

for being Life, and having gone forth to those who are able to see Him, He gives life;

and by 'will' He means either love, or that He made us self-determining so as to be ready to do what we ought.

'Let him turn aside,' that he may receive understanding;

for the imperfect man is strengthened by the words and mysteries of Wisdom.

The same nourishment is called both flesh and bread and milk and wine.

Yet the foolish are said to partake of it as of their bread and as of mixed wine;

and if this is so, how shall we understand the words:

'Man ate the bread of angels'? By 'bread' understand for me the firm commandments of God, and by 'wine,' the knowledge of Him that comes from the study of the divine Scriptures;

and likewise also His divine body and precious blood.

The one who is naturally discerning hears: 'By day the sun shall not burn you, nor the moon by night.' By 'heat' He calls the cares of this life;

and those who are withered by it He calls 'grass';

and the Saviour, through the parable, indicates the afflictions;

and the assaults against the word and the persecutions He called 'heat.'

The wise man, by a rebuking word, brings the dull-hearted to perception.

Do you see that it is not desiring that is evil, but desiring in a certain manner that is evil? 'But the hopes of the ungodly are evil';

for everything he will hope for is destruction.

The phrase 'in his stead' is not because the godly man is subject to the penalty, but because, since the snare has been set by the wicked against the righteous, the godly is delivered from it by God, while the ungodly, being abandoned by divine providence, falls into it;

or because, since the righteous man is subject to certain sins as a man, when the ungodly comes and does evil to the righteous, he delivers him from his sins and from the punishments to come, and takes the retributions upon himself; and he is handed over not by any other, but by his own wickedness, as having beforehand given himself up to a reprobate mind.

Those who gather corruption are diminished in virtues;

or those who gather up words of teaching and do not impart them.

He who is vexed at each of the failings of his own household shall be without a house;

and the fool shall be servant to the wise.

'The ungodly one,' then, He says, is he who hates God;

and the sinner is he who is wicked in his deeds;

and by 'righteous' here He means the one who is active with reason and knowledge;

for great is the exactness of righteousness.

(2) 'Better' — not comparative, but in the sense of 'good.'

The practical and unlearned man is more honourable than the one who is skilled in speech, refined, yet inactive.

'The roots of the righteous shall not be plucked up' — that is, their good habits.

'Whatever he may say,' He says, 'he confirms it by his works';

and if it is more trustworthy than a deed;

or in the sense of 'evident,' 'well-tested,' 'irrefutable,' 'sufficient to demonstrate it';

and 'a witness of the unjust' is he who undertakes to defend whatever unjust things he does;

and 'deceitful,' as one having nothing upright.

The account of punishments disturbs the one who has only just begun to devote himself to the practical life;

but the account of the promises gladdens him.

For the perfect righteous man will not be afraid of an evil report, having the fear of the Lord which surpasses all things.

The righteous man, knowing human weakness, forgives, even if what comes from his friend be a fault;

or because, recognizing that his friend is according to the image of God, he is in agreement with himself, thinking modestly, and guarding himself, and having nothing of hostile malice, he keeps his thoughts free from all discord.

For the one will attain the end of virtue, but the others will have no ripe fruit;

and he will be in terror of himself, finding no way to stand together with his own sin.

The natural law, from which the source of life gushes forth;

for the law is not laid down for the righteous;

but punishment unto death is for the one ensnared by evils;

the fountain of life is the works of the commandments.

To the Gentiles, now righteous, shall be added the wealth of those who are of the circumcision.

The mind, perceiving sin, causes pain to the soul;

and the 'houses' of the ungodly are their habits and dispositions;

and 'tents' are their choices of will.

There is a way which seems to be right, namely the one that prefers things which merely seem to be over things which truly are.

With steadfast endurance he reckons what must be done.

They shall have a portion, or they shall share it together.

For the bold man would not be a coward.

This, it seems to me, he has set down not in the manner of exhortation, but as a report of what actually came to pass.

Then, by way of correction, comes what follows.

The saying, 'He who dishonours a poor man sins'; for the evils there are plain.

Nor does anyone amend himself, nor would he condemn such things.

And who would praise the rest? He who takes thought for virtue abounds in both action and knowledge.

For indeed he who always considers what ought to be done will have something more.

But the man of pleasure and without feeling for hardship—that is, he who shuns toil—will be in want of the virtues.

The word 'nest' sometimes signifies the place, and sometimes the living creatures that dwell in the nest.

So then, either the place of wisdom—the contemplations in which she dwells—is more to be chosen than the falsely-named knowledge.

For just as gold is better than silver, so also wisdom is better than prudence; for the one consists in knowing, the other in interpreting the things known.

For the one consists in knowing, the other in interpreting the things that are known.

Or the 'nests of wisdom' are the Churches, or the abodes of the saints therein.

For having the unceasing continuity of their works, they possess the length of the life that befits them, turning away from evils, that is, from death.

Here he calls the devil a lawless man, who makes trial of men, wishing to know which of them are like himself and willing to transgress the law.

And leading them away into paths, that is, into deeds that are not good.

And this same one is he who fixes his eyes upon each of men, discerning precisely toward what passion each is inclined.

And having learned it from their movements, he sets his own snares.

And having seized him, he leads him away into all manner of evils.

He said 'to determine with his lips,' because by his wicked suggestions he is eager to bring to completion in deeds, through men, all that is according to his heart's desire.

By his baits he draws them into every kind of vice.

An eye that beholds good things—that is, one that is discerning.

But what the good things are must be inquired into.

And not beholding gold, he is grieved.

Or if it be a splendid body, again he pines away.

But hear what the good things are.

The heaven, the earth, the sea, and the whole creation.

So look upon such things as gladden the soul.

For what profit is there if the eye be delighted, yet nothing further come of it, but the soul be corrupted? Verse.

Having spoken above of the many things belonging to his wickedness, we shall add to what has been said the things that remain.

Along with all his extravagances, he says these things also to those who obey him.

'This matter is of necessity' (having sharpened his power of discernment toward evil), 'one must make use of it.'

'Pleasure is natural; one must make use of it.'

'Riches are from God; one must enjoy them.'

But when he has thoroughly persuaded his subject in all things, then he makes him boast in his mind, as though he were performing great works of righteousness, and as though in old age he lays up these things.

The believer, not being eager about sensible things, is as one having all things.

But he who is eager about these things is as one having nothing.

For he who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver.

Or also: The believer shall behold the words of this world as riches of the mind, spoken figuratively.

But the unbeliever will not so much as touch any chance matter of these words, because of the impurity of his soul.

The dumb man is he who by silence seems to conceal his own ignorance, or the passion he hides within himself or from those near him.

He does not carry out every wickedness (for that is impossible), but he does the things that can coexist together.

And moreover he did not cease from doing evil.

Or by 'good thought' he means Christ.

And everyone who does good things shall find Him.

For he calls prudent the one who performs every good work.

He who does not live rightly hides his hands unjustly within his soul.

Being unwilling to till his own land, how shall he be filled with bread? For the practical virtues hold the place of hands, offering to our mouth the bread that came down from heaven.

This man, therefore, cannot be benefited even in the least, being slothful.

That is, judgment covers over the defence of the ungodly.

For God surpasses in recompense those who do well.

Do not give yourself over to postponing repentance out of shame before someone.

For if you die and have no time to repent, you shall no longer have any rest.

He brings in to himself the envious devil, and eats his own morsel together with him—he who does any of his good works with vainglory or to please men.

For such a one has his reward in full.

For indeed the devil makes these things manifest to men, so that through the praise given to the man-pleaser he may ruin him and deprive him of the eternal good things.

Wicked men will not beget virtues and right doctrines (for these are the offspring of the soul), because they do not fear the Lord.

But those who are in the fear of the Lord shall have offspring the whole day long, and their hope shall not depart.

And these things follow upon what has been said.

For the enemies, he says, being wicked, rejoiced over the falls of others.

But that which you yourself blame, do not envy.

For their supposed splendour and deceitfulness lasts only unto this present life, and is quenched at death.

And often it has been quenched even while they were still living, when they were convicted.

The wise man says these things to Wisdom, or the servant of Christ to the Lord.

Having named two things, he asks for more.

But the first, seeming thing is a preliminary petition toward obtaining the things he asks, the one who says:

'Do not refuse to hear me, but grant the grace.'

Concerning which he first brought forward this petition:

'Remove far from me the vain word, that which is falsely named, lest, being filled, I become a liar.'

For satiety produces arrogance and the notion of being above reproof;

as though one were without sin in word and deed.

For the phrase 'Who sees me?' stands in place of 'Who reproves me?' he says;

that is, lest, being filled with wisdom, I appear incomprehensible to others, or even appear a liar by speaking things beyond them.

being a certain worm-like creature;

and it is exceedingly smooth to the touch, so that for those who gulp down water it steals in unnoticed by reason of its smoothness;

then, having wound itself around one of the inner members, it does not tear itself loose until, by draining the blood, it kills the man;

for it is a blood-drinker, and from this it is nourished and grows.

To this creature he now likened the devil,

who, being unable to master men by force,

for he employs chiefly three assaults against them—delighting, charming, deceiving—and by this means gradually and imperceptibly destroys them;

for first he leads them by the paths of false opinion toward destruction—which indeed he also calls Hades—showing by the end of the sentence the magnitude of sin;

next, enveloping them in the pleasure-loving indulgence of licentiousness, which indeed he also calls the love of women;

in addition to these, by avarice, that is, covetousness, which indeed he called land not filled with water;

for such is the sandy ground, insatiable.

These, then, are the passions which have been devised by the evil one for the destruction of men, which he so loves and cherishes as his own daughters.

And the fourth he calls the practice and habituation of these things;

for it is not he who has once held a false opinion, or committed fornication, or coveted more, who has straightway fallen prey to the passions, but he who thereafter has been overcome even in his very sense-perception by habit;

for such you would find those who are buried in false opinions, never taking their fill, but ever stretching their passions further, so as even to urge others on to these things.

Just as, therefore, both water and fire do not cease at the supply of things suited to them, nor say 'It is enough,' but rather become the more inflamed;

and the water does not abate at the inflowing of more water, but increases;

'These things,' he says, 'do you also, O child, knowing them, keep yourself away from, lest little by little you be unawares despoiled of life by pleasure, as by a most smooth leech.'

The tracks of a flying eagle: the soul of the wise man, which, though wise, is powerless of itself to know the flights of the spiritual eagle;

The eagle is great and long in his span and full of talons, having no track of the presence of the devil, even if he has flown past me from I know not where;

for when the evil one turned aside from me, I did not perceive it, because I had no longing toward him.

Such is the way of an adulteress: the adulterated teaching.

The people from among the nations, being formerly a slave to sin and to the devil;

'I will provoke you to anger by a nation without understanding';

and, 'A fool shall be filled with the foods of life';

and, 'A hated woman,' that is, a harlot;

for the Church from among the nations was a harlot, going after strange gods;

and 'if a maidservant cast out her own mistress': the Church of the nations cast out the Synagogue, which was the mistress;

for the law and the prophets have need of this one.

The literal observance is servant to the intellectual examination—the observance which the Jews indeed preferred as though it were mistress;

but the nations, taking the letter over into the spiritual, cast out that which among those people was as mistress, namely the bodily observance of the law.

The nations, he says, in whom there is no strength, and who lay up for themselves eternal life through good works.

a kind of fish, or rather the hares called gadflies—the formerly weak nations that took refuge with Christ;

for the rock is a refuge for the rock-badgers, which made their dwellings in the rocks.

'And so do you also,' he says, 'even if you be a weak creature, lay hold of the rock of the true faith, and direct your life toward it.'

By works, leaning upon them, one enters into the kingdom.

'Therefore do you also,' he says, 'not, on account of the weakness of your faith, disbelieve in the kingdom of heaven, but believing in the promise concerning it, pursue the commands that make for it.'

for all rational beings are as cattle to him;

'But I am without reason.' It is said that natural energy passes through without hindrance.

He who was offered up for sins, and who walks on high, has the flock following after him.

he bears a countenance, who, sowing the word in souls, is mightily proclaiming the light;

for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near. This was he who from the beginning was awakening the hearts of men, and through many foretold the day of his coming in the flesh;

and expelling the darkness, and manifestly showing forth the eternal light to all.

Walking about among females with good courage—that is, in the Churches—with good courage and nobly, as he says:

'Lo, I am with you all the days, even unto the consummation of the age.' Verse.

Or also, if you let yourself down into the mind of the Scriptures;

or, if you have not a docile ear, but are contentious, will you listen? But if you are quarrelsome, we have no such custom. Verse.

You shall not give your wealth to pleasures or to alien teachings.

Drinking the wine of the true vine—the interpretation of the Scriptures and the contemplation of things that are—approach the examination of the understanding with much discernment.

Those, then, who labor and suffer pain for God's sake, when they have been made drunk with the fatness of the Lord's house, forget their pains.

Hold your purpose to giving heed to my words, which are spoken by God.

The north wind is the devil, rousing up and tempting the saints who are lofty, and unwilling to work;

or stirring up arguments against his own doctrines.

As, then, he applies these things rather to the well-being of the living creatures, so the rod—that is, chastisement—sets in order the lawless nation.

'From such,' he says, 'take away rather their power, and entrust to them neither practical rule nor rational authority.'

If the tree of life springs from the fruits of righteousness, everyone who hides righteousness by injustice—which is called a hand—shall not eat of the tree of life.

Of your disciples, lest you bring the teaching to bear upon their habit.

The contemplation of created things, and the contemplation of the Holy Trinity, he says are the garment of a pure mind, of fine linen and purple.