Verse 7.—So that if thy former state were small, thy latter should be multiplied exceedingly. 62. What they promise to their followers.—But if by 'the habitation of righteousness' he calls the counsel of the mind, the masters of errors promise to the afflicted catholics a peaceful habitation of righteousness, because if they draw them to their own side, they assuredly cease from contention. For those who have been able to be drawn to perverse things are now at rest in temporal peace so much the more tranquilly, as they are separated further from the eternal. They also pledge that the riches of understanding shall increase to those who follow them. Whence too it is subjoined: So that if thy former state were small, thy latter should be multiplied exceedingly.
But because their words are not easily believed, since their life is often shown to be contemptible, they bring forth the sentences of the ancient fathers, and bend the rectitude of these into an argument for their own error. Whence too it is subjoined: