LIBER ECCLESIASTICUS

• 1183C

VERS. 1.-- All wisdom, etc. (RAB. in Eccli., tom. III.) He begins from the eternal wisdom of God, which is Christ, who is always with the Father before the ages, according to that word: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God (Joan. I). Is from the Lord God. Because Christ, the fountain of life, the true light, is born of the Father, and all things were made by him, and without him was made nothing (Ibid.). Whoever lacks this wisdom walks in darkness, and knows not where he goes. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God; and the prudence of the flesh is death (Sap. XI).

VERS. 2.-- The sand of the sea, and the drops of rain. (RAB. ubi supra ). He compares bodily things with spiritual, so that from the most difficult a thing altogether impossible may be estimated. 1183DFor if these things, which were established in a fixed number and measure and weight, no one can count, how much less shall he be able to search out the wisdom of God, which is without beginning and without end, unutterable, inestimable?

VERS. 4.-- She was created before all things. Created according to his humanity in the counsel of God the Father, that is, he was predestined to be incarnate for the salvation of the human race. And it is to be noted that, on account of the unity of the person, Christ is sometimes said to be begotten, sometimes created.

VERS. 5.-- The fountain of wisdom. The origin of all wisdom proceeds from the Word of God, which, God from God, abides always with the Father in the heavens; but having entered the world through the dispensation of his humanity, it gave the commandments of salvation, whence: Thou hast the words of eternal life (Joan. VI).

VERS. 6.-- The root of wisdom. He shows that no one is able 1184Cto penetrate the depth of God, or the magnituditudinem of his goodness and mercy. Wherefore, for the liberation and enlightenment of the human race, he deigned to become man; whence: Who shall declare his generation (Isa. LIII) ?

VERS. 9.-- He himself created her. That is, he dispensed the coming of the Only-begotten through the Word coeternal with himself together with the Holy Spirit: how through the Virgin's childbearing he should come for the salvation of the world, and should repair his creatures, and should call man back to the knowledge and love of himself, giving him the gift of the Holy Spirit, that by his gift he should be loosed for ever.

VERS. 11.-- The fear of the Lord is glory, etc. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord: he desireth exceedingly in his commandments. Glory and riches are in his house (Psal. III), etc. [Vulg. volet nimis, "he shall delight exceedingly," for cupit nimis] The fear 1184Dof the Lord. There are two kinds of fear. Of the one it is said, Fear [is not in charity] of the soul in charity, (Joan. IV), etc. They who have this fear cease from sinning for dread of hell, and amend their life: this fear brings charity in, but it is also cast out. For he who fears in this way does not yet love nor desire good things, but guards against evil ones; yet nevertheless he corrects himself, and begins to desire good things. Of the other it is written, The fear of the Lord is holy, it endureth for ever and ever (Psal. XVIII). [Vulg. permanens, "enduring"] For every man fears lest he lose the good things, and the presence of God, which he desires to enjoy for ever; of which it is said:

VERS. 12.-- The fear of the Lord shall delight the heart. This bestows inward sweetness, and in the time to come eternal life.

VERS. 14.-- Love, (RAB.) The true love of God 1185Ais wisdom, etc., as far as it shall itself be the reward in the time to come; whence: Thou shalt fill me with joy with thy countenance, delights at thy right hand (Psal. XV), etc.

VERS. 17.-- The fear of the Lord. Without the fear of God, and the keeping of his commandments, there is no religion; whence: If any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man's religion is vain (Jac. I).

VERS. 19.-- To him that feareth the Lord. That is, to him who by the fear of God keeps the rule of justice in faith and in teaching and in work.

VERS. 23.-- And he saw. (RAB.) All things are in his sight; for each one he keeps a worthy recompense.

VERS. 25.-- The branches. Through wisdom man has 1185Bthe divine knowledge of avoiding evil, and the understanding of doing good; for it works both in the hearer unto the end; whence: He that hearkeneth to me shall not be confounded, and they that work by me shall not sin. They that explain me shall have life everlasting (Eccli. XXIV). The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. A good understanding to all that do it (Psal. CX).

VERS. 26.-- In the treasures. In the meditation of the law both are declared: namely, how evils are to be avoided, and how spiritual wisdom is to be learned and good works to be practised, in which things is true religion. The understanding of wisdom. Which forbids sins and carnal desires; whence: A pestilent man loveth not him that correcteth himself, nor doth he go to the wise (Prov. XV). [Vulg. corripit, "him that rebuketh him"]

VERS. 27.-- Fear, etc. Because through penance 1185Cit cleanses from past sins, or forbids those that are to be committed. For he who does not correct himself through the fear of God falls into the abyss of sin.

VERS. 30.-- Good sense. Whence in the Proverbs, The lips of the wise preserve them (Prov. XIV). And elsewhere: The crafty man doeth all things with counsel: but he that is a fool hath laid open his folly (Ibid. XXXI). [Vulg. aperiet, "shall lay open"] It belongs, therefore, to a wise man to hold his words, and to carry out all things with moderation. They shall declare his sense. With an even mind, rendering not evil for evil, but good for good.

VERS. 33.-- Son, coveting wisdom. How thou mayest come to wisdom, wisdom herself shows, because without the keeping of justice no one comes to the summit of wisdom; whence James: Who is a wise man, saith he, and endued with knowledge among you? let him show 1185Dgood conversation in the meekness of wisdom (Jac. III). [Vulg. ostendat ex bona conversatione operationem suam, "let him show, by a good conversation, his work"]

VERS. 34.-- For wisdom and discipline. (RAB). As has often been said, The fear of the Lord is the keeping of wisdom and discipline (Prov. XIII), to which belong right faith and temperance of manners, because without faith it is impossible to please God, and the life of good men is always tranquil; whence in Matthew: Learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls (Matth. XI). For he who truly fears God cannot be without faith and good works, which fill a man with virtues and make him acceptable to God. Whence: To the man that is good in his sight God hath given wisdom and knowledge and joy. But to the sinner 1186Ahe hath given affliction and superfluous care (Eccle. II).

VERS. 36.-- With a double heart. A man double of mind is inconstant in all his ways: he, namely, who wishes to rejoice with the world and to reign with Christ.

VERS. 37.-- A hypocrite.. Bearing one thing in his heart, and showing another in his work. Whence: Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep (Matth. VII).

VERS. 38.-- Attend unto them, etc. It is manifest that he who follows heretics purchases damnation for his own soul, because in the judgment the hidden things of hearts shall be revealed, and it shall be rendered to every man according to his works; for God will destroy all that speak a lie (Psal. LXI). Who abhorreth the bloody 1186Band deceitful man; whence: Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. And elsewhere: The lord of that servant shall come, and shall divide him, and shall appoint his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matth. XXIV).

VERS. 1.-- Son, coming, etc. He has shown what is to be avoided; now he shows what is to be done, saying: Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear. For he who wishes to withdraw himself from the enticements of the world and to live godly in Christ suffers persecution. For while he makes ready to be girded for the divine service, he stirs up the war of the devil against himself; and while he subdues some vices, he struggles against others, and by the divine dispensation it is so ordered that he both overcomes and is overcome, lest he be lifted up. But 1186Cbecause humility and patience are necessary to him, there follows, Humble thy heart, and endure, etc.

VERS. 4.-- Have patience. As if to say: In your patience you shall possess your souls (Luc. XXI), because, namely, patience is the root and the keeper of all the virtues. And it is to be known that patience is exercised in three ways. For by God we are scourged, but care must be taken that we do not murmur; from our neighbour we bear persecutions and losses and insults, and care must be taken that we do not render evil for evil; by the adversary we are tempted, but we must look ahead lest we be bent to the delight of sin or to consent to it, or seek present things in return for these, but rather await things to come.

VERS. 6.-- Believe God, and he will recover thee. (RAB.) 1186DThe afflicted man must believe, and direct the steps of his works in the sight of God, and hope in him; whence: Reveal thy way to the Lord, and hope in him, and he will do it. (Psal. XXXVI). Hence Jeremiah says: Blessed is he that trusteth in the Lord, and God shall be his confidence (Jer. XVII), etc. [Vulg. Benedictus vir qui confidit in Domino, et erit Dominus fiducia ejus]

VERS. 7.-- Ye that fear the Lord, etc. The Lord is well pleased with them that fear him, and in them that hope upon his mercy (Psal. CXLVI). For he who truly fears patiently awaits his mercy: But they that forsake God shall be confounded, and shall be written in the earth (Jer. XVII). [Vulg. omnes qui te derelinquunt confundentur; recedentes a te in terra scribentur]

VERS. 8.-- Ye that fear the Lord, believe him. He exhorts them that fear the Lord to believe him, that they may come to a certain reward; whence: For the just man liveth 1187Aby faith (Rom. I); whence: Be of good heart, son, thy sins are forgiven thee (Matth. IX). And elsewhere: Thy faith hath made thee whole (Ibid., X).

VERS. 9.-- Ye that fear the Lord, hope in him. He commends three things to them that fear God: to believe, to hope, to love; because by faith, hope and charity God is truly worshipped, and one comes to contemplation, which is eternal blessedness.

VERS. 11.-- Look ye, etc. (RAB.) Here too he says three things, etc., as far as because a sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit (Psal. L), etc. And, God is nigh unto all that call upon him in truth (Psal. CXLIV). [Vulg. Prope est Dominus omnibus invocantibus eum … in veritate]

VERS. 14.-- Woe to them that are of a double heart, etc. He warned that no one should come to God with a double heart; but now he says, Woe to them that are of a double heart and of wicked lips. For he who 1187Bthinks and speaks crooked things, and persists in crooked works, unless he repent, shall perish for ever. Going into the land by two ways is he who does evil and hopes for good; or, he who follows the works of the flesh and judges that he is bringing to perfection the sanctification of the spirit in fear; or, he who displays in work what is God's, and seeks in thought what is the world's. Such men indeed are inconstant in all their ways, because they are easily terrified in adversity and entangled in prosperity.

VERS. 15.-- To them that are of a dissolute heart, etc. (RAB.) He still teaches that error is to be avoided, etc., as far as to these, who do not acquiesce in the truth but believe iniquity, wrath and indignation, etc.

VERS. 17.-- To look upon, etc. Although God looks upon all things at every time, yet he is then said to look upon 1187Cwhen he is discerned to approve or to disapprove something.

VERS. 18.-- They that fear the Lord will not be incredulous, etc. He treats alternately of the love and the affection of God, because the fear of the Lord is holy, enduring for ever and ever (Psal. XVIII), and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God (I Joan. IV). But he who fears God, and loves, and believes the Scriptures, keeps the precepts of God by working them, and always by meditating seeks the things that are well pleasing to him: he shall therefore be filled with the wisdom and the charity of God. For the end of the commandment is charity, and he that loveth his neighbour hath fulfilled the law.

VERS. 20.-- They that fear the Lord will prepare, etc. Happy the soul which daily cleanses its heart that it may receive God as its indweller; the possessor of him lacks no good thing, because he has within himself the author of all good things. 1187DAnd because for this the keeping of the commandments is necessary, and the patience of good work, by which one comes to the knowledge of the truth, there follows: They that fear the Lord keep his commandments, etc. The just man is first of all his own accuser. For as a reward remains for humility, so a punishment remains for pride; whence John: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves (II Joan. I). He who is truly wise is a true keeper of justice, because wisdom dictates the rule of justice.

VERS. 2.-- The judgment of the father. Of God, of whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth. Because from him are all things. He loves the things which he has made, and loves that they should abide in him in whom they were made; and whoever hears his judgment, and does his precepts, 1188Ashall be saved: whose commandment it is that reverence be shown also to a temporal father and mother; whence: Honour thy father (Deut. V), etc.; whence there follows: He that honoureth his father. He for whom he appointed God as his honour ought not to be dishonoured by his sons: because God will by his judgment search out how his precept is kept.

VERS. 4.-- He that loveth. He, namely, who keeps the commandments and abstains from sins, and yet does not cease to pray for transgressors, because he knows that a merciful judge hears prayers at every time.

VERS. 6.-- In the children. (RAB.) In offspring or in disciples, etc., as far as to honour parents is the first commandment with a promise.

1188BVERS. 9.-- In work and word, not in the womb, namely, whence it is shown that the spiritual father also is most worthy of honour; whence Paul: Through the Gospel I have begotten you (I Cor. IV). And elsewhere: Let the priests that rule well be esteemed worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in doctrine and word (I Tim. V). [Vulg. in verbo et doctrina, in the reverse order]

VERS. 11.-- The blessing of the father, etc. (RAB.) The patriarchs blessed their sons, etc., as far as they most savagely tore the mockers.

VERS. 15.-- Alms. Namely, that which blots out sin. For the victim which is offered for sin is called sin. And he who has mercy on his parents, or on the rest of the poor, shall receive the reward of justice, absolved from his sins. Blessed are the merciful, for (Matth. V), etc. And elsewhere: He lendeth to the Lord that hath mercy on the poor. 1188C(Prov. XIX). Hence Daniel to Nabuchodonosor: Let my counsel, O king, be pleasing to thee: redeem thou thy sins with alms, and thy iniquities with works of mercy to the poor (Dan. IV), if perhaps God may forgive thy offences. Hence the Lord says: Give alms, and all things are clean unto you (Luc. XI).

VERS. 19.-- Son, in meekness. Meekness and humility bring forth grace; pride and rage bring forth ruin; whence: Learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart (Matth. XI), etc. And elsewhere: He that exalteth himself shall be humbled (Luc. XIV), etc.

VERS. 21.-- The greater thou art, etc. (RAB.) Above he taught meekness, etc., as far as it is enough for a man to think devoutly upon, and to fulfil in work, those things which God has commanded.

1188DVERS. 24.-- In superfluous things, etc. (RAB.) That is, that thou search not superfluously, etc., as far as disputing they fall into errors, and depart from the truth.

VERS. 27.-- A hard heart. Because according to thy hardness thou treasurest up to thyself wrath in the day of judgment (Rom. II). [Vulg. in die irae, "in the day of wrath"]

VERS. 28.-- A heart going in. Which takes no care, nor is at pains to avoid, and because it loves those things which lead to destruction, such as heresies and profane novelties; whence there follows: A heart that goeth two ways shall not have success, etc.

VERS. 1.-- Son, the alms of the poor, etc. (RAB.) How much alms avails, etc., as far as he who from the heart rebukes in words or in deeds.

1189AVERS. 3.-- The heart of the needy, etc. Alms is not to be put off, when the means of giving is at hand; whence: Say not to thy friend: Go, and come again, when thou canst give at once (Prov. III). [Vulg. cras dabo tibi: cum statim possis dare] And elsewhere: He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth: he that hath mercy on the poor shall be blessed (Ibid. XIV). And alms is to be done not out of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver (I Cor. IX). And elsewhere: The poor widow cast more than all into the treasury, because God does not weigh the quantity of the gift, but the devotion of the heart.

VERS. 5.-- Turn not away from the needy, etc. The poor man is not to be exasperated by anger, but to be appeased by gentle speech, for the anger of man worketh not the justice of God (Jac. I). And, He that stoppeth his ear at the cry of the poor shall cry, and the Lord shall not hear him (Prov. XXI). [Vulg. aurem suam … et ipse clamabit, et non exaudietur] 1189BFor he who is able to give ought to give: because a hidden gift quenches anger, and a present in the bosom quenches the greatest indignation. But he who is not able, a good word is better for him than the best gift. But he that hath the substance of the world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him, how doth the charity of God abide in him? (I Joan. III.) [Vulg. substantiam hujus mundi … necessitatem habere] For faith, if it have not works, is dead. Let us not therefore love in tongue and in word, but in deed and in truth.

VERS. 7.-- To the congregation of the poor. In these things meekness and humility are commended, because meekness despises no one, humility subjects itself to all. And it becomes a Christian to be affable and gentle toward his equals and inferiors, and humble toward his elders; whence: Lord, my heart is not exalted, neither 1189Care my eyes lofty (Psal. CXXX).

VERS. 9.-- Deliver, etc. (RAB.) As he said that bounty toward the poor is alms, so he shows that the deliverance of one unjustly oppressed is mercy; whence, Deliver them that are led to death.

VERS. 10.-- In judging. (RAB.) No kind of alms, etc., as far as so also the solace of a husband to a widow.

VERS. 13.-- And they that watch, etc. Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth before my doors daily, and waiteth at the posts of my door (Prov. VIII). And by the doors thou canst, he understands the Scriptures and their teachers.

VERS. 15.-- They that serve, etc. He who loves him that 1189Dbegot will love him that is born of God, and whom the Father loves, the Son loves; whence: He that loveth me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him. But because the proof of love is the showing of the work, there follows: He that heareth her shall judge the nations. Whence: When the Son of man shall sit on the seat of his majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matth. XIX).

VERS. 19.-- Fear and dread, etc. Wisdom dwelling within directs works; in various temptations it prepares a man, by exercising and proving him, for the joys of the life to come; which is confirmed by this sentence: Fear and dread and proving, etc. Because tribulation works patience, and patience trial, and trial hope, 1190Awhich confoundeth not, because the charity of God is poured forth in the saints through the Holy Spirit.

VERS. 23.-- Son, keep the time, etc. Above he commended the gift of wisdom; now he shows the deed of wisdom herself. For whoever keeps the precepts of wisdom is wary in the change of times, and does not forsake the way of justice in the time of persecution and of distress. Therefore wisdom exhorts her sons to keep the time, because there is a time for everything under heaven: and there is a time of war, and a time of peace.

VERS. 28.-- Hide not thy wisdom, etc. (RAB.) Wisdom is not to be hidden from those who are willing to hear. For he that hideth up corn shall be cursed among the people, but a blessing is upon the head of them that sell; whence: Do business, till I come (Luc. XIX). [Vulg. Negotiamini, "trade ye"]

1190BVERS. 30.-- Contradict not. Obedience is due to superiors, if they agree with truth and justice, and not otherwise; but for right faith and true religion, in which is the soul's salvation, one must contend; whence: If thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee (Matth. V). And, If any man will come after me, let him deny (Luc. IX), etc.

VERS. 34.-- Be not hasty in thy tongue. (RAB.) Death and life, etc., as far as it is written: The kingdom of God is not in speech, but in power (I Cor. IV).

VERS. 35.-- Be not as a lion. In the Church there are heretics like lions, who by the glibness of the tongue lead astray the hearts of the innocent, and by the insolence of their manners trouble the meekness of the simple.

1190CVERS. 11.-- Winnow not thyself, etc. (RAB.) He reproves levity, etc., as far as he shows that the doubleness of their teaching, in which they now put forward true things and now false, proves them to be sinners.

VERS. 13.-- Be meek. It is good to hear meekly, and to receive the word of truth, and to utter it modestly and prudently; whence: Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger. (Jac. I). And a little after: With meekness receive the ingrafted word, which is able to save your souls (Ibid.) In the Proverbs also it is said: Hast thou seen a man swift to speak loquendeum? folly is rather to be looked for than his correction (Prov. XXIX). [Vulg. illius correptio, "his reproof"]

1190DVERS. 1.-- Be ye not made, etc. (RAB.) He shows the force of true charity, etc., as far as his own strength shall be dashed to pieces.

VERS. 4.-- Wicked. Upon a good will there follows the fruit of good work, and upon a malicious mind no prosperity at all. For if charity be lacking, in vain dost thou spend labour upon virtue; whence: He that offendeth in one point is become guilty of all (Jac. II). And, from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away from him (Luc. XIX).

VERS. 6.-- Let many be at peace with thee, etc. Peace is to be kept with all, so far as our frailty allows, but not counsel with many, because it is written: They are called merciful men, but who shall find a faithful man? (Prov. XX.)

1191AVERS. 7.-- If thou wouldst get a friend, etc. (RAB.) Setting forth false friends under various kinds, he comes at last to the true friend: because many profess themselves friends in prosperity, and appear enemies in adversity. Whence: If he shall humble himself against thee, etc.

VERS. 13.-- Take heed. (RAB.) That is, have discernment, etc., as far as: Now I beseech you, brethren, that you mark them who make dissensions and offences (Rom. XVI).

VERS. 14.-- A strong friend. [Vulg. Amicus fidelis protectio fortis, "a faithful friend is a strong defence"] A friend is a sharer of love, to whom thou shouldst so join thy mind that out of two there be made one; to whom thou shouldst entrust thyself as to thyself; from whom thou shouldst fear nothing, and of whom thou shouldst ask nothing dishonourable. For friendship is not a thing of tribute, but full of comeliness; whence: You are my friends, if you do the things that I command 1191Byou (Joan. XV), etc. The Lord has given us a pattern of friendship for us to follow: that we do the friend's will, that we open our secrets to him, and he to us; whence: But I have called you friends, because all things whatsoever I have heard of my Father, I have made known to you (Ibid.).

VERS. 16.-- A faithful friend. According to God, namely. He treats with his friend of the things necessary for the medicine of eternal life and of immortality: whence Cicero says that friendship cannot be except among good men, and that friendship ought to be free, and inclined toward every happiness.

VERS. 17.-- He that feareth the Lord. [Vulg. Qui timet Deum] (RAB.) The full and perfect grace of friendship, etc., as far as that thou mayest believe thyself about to depart from this world every day.

VERS. 27.-- With all thy mind. (RAB.) With the heart, not 1191Cwith the body, must one approach wisdom, etc., as far as the perception of the truth; whence: Now this is eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true God (Joan. XVII.), etc. [Vulg. solum Deum verum, "the only God, true"]

VERS. 33.-- Son, if thou wilt attend. Wisdom admonishes us to meditate assiduously upon the divine law. First she exhorts us to learn; afterward, to apply the soul to this; then, to incline; and lastly, to bring diligence to the hearing. For thus does wisdom promise that a man shall be wise. For it is necessary that he who desires the knowledge of true wisdom, which is Christ, should first humbly subject himself to catholic teachers, and all the affections of his soul to their discipline. Thereafter, turning the intention of his heart away from every crooked desire, let him diligently bring it to the hearing of the word of God, and let him beware 1191Dthat he spend his meditation of the law not for the wages of earthly things, nor of human praise, but for the love of that good itself, so that he may receive the fruit of true wisdom.

VERS. 35.-- In the multitude. As if to say: Be not wise in thine own eyes. Trust not thine own wit; the arrogance of pride has above all supplanted heretics.

VERS. 38.-- Have thy thought upon the precepts. (RAB.) Deservedly is it given to him, etc., as far as and he assiduously meditates the law and fulfils it in work.

Thou shalt not reap them sevenfold. (RAB.) Perfect vengeance, etc., as far as He taketh seven other spirits more wicked than himself (Luc. XI).

1192AVERS. 4.-- Nor of the king a chair of honour. He cannot exercise the work of just governance who has neglected the sentence of true godliness; whence: The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; but you not so: but he that is the greater among you, let him become as the lesser (Luc. XXII).

VERS. 5.-- For he is the searcher. No presumption is more destructive than to be proud of one's own justice or knowledge; whence: There is not a man upon earth that doeth good, and sinneth not (Eccl. VII). [Vulg. Non est enim homo justus in terra] And elsewhere: Hast thou seen a man to seem wise to himself, and the fool hath more hope than he (Prov. XXVI). [Vulg. magis illo spem habebit insipiens]

VERS. 6.-- Seek not to be made a judge, unless thou be strong enough. Every man ought to weigh his own powers, and to take up the care of others in proportion to the measure of his strength: lest, while he delights in a place of glory, he become to his subjects the author of ruin; and 1192Blest he who is weighed down by the burden of his own faults wish to be made a judge of other men's.

VERS. 7.-- Sin not against the multitude. He who is strong in reason, and prevails by the power of free choice, let him not sin through the insolence of his subjects, but let him steadfastly resist another's wickedness: nor let him think that he sins with impunity if he acquiesces in the will of the many; whence: And not only they that do them, but they that consent to him that doeth them (Rom. I.), etc.

VERS. 13.-- Love not a lie. [Vulg. arare, "to plough a lie"] Every lie is evil; and to bring scandal upon our neighbours is destructive. Much more, therefore, to contrive fraud against a friend, and to lay a charge upon him: since a lying witness shall perish; whence in the Proverbs: As he is guilty that shooteth arrows unto death, so is he that hurteth his friend deceitfully 1192C(Prov. XX).

VERS. 15.-- Be not full of words. As if to say: Do not teach thine own opinion; hear the wisdom of the elders. For it is safer to hear than to speak; whence: Let every man be swift to hear, but slow to speak, and slow to anger (Jac. I).

Hate not laborious works. To sinning man knowledge was given, that by the labour of his hands he should seek his food; whence: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread (Gen. III), etc.

VERS. 19.-- For the vengeance of the flesh, etc. Because the flesh of sinners, which flows away in luxury, shall be tormented with the fire of hell and with worms, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched: by the worm the rottenness of hell is signified, by the fire the burning. Or the worm is the late 1192Drepentance for crimes, which in the torments does not cease to gnaw the conscience of sinners, so that the fire is the punishment raging without, and the worm the grief accusing within.

VERS. 20.-- Do not transgress against thy friend for money. (RAB.) Many have perished for avarice, etc., as far as: he that hateth bribes shall live (Prov. I).

VERS. 21.-- For the grace of her modesty. The eye hath not seen, nor the ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him. By this woman may be understood wisdom, which elsewhere is called the precious pearl, which the spiritual merchant, when he has found it, sells all and buys it. Whence: Live thy life with the woman whom thou hast loved; as if to say, follow wisdom 1193Aand the knowledge of the Scriptures, and join her to thyself as a wife.

VERS. 22.-- Hurt not the servant. It is openly shown in what manner servants are to be nourished: with the affection, namely, of sons, by the right of nature; and to be disciplined, because of the instability of the mind; whence in what follows, Fodder and a rod and a burden for an ass; bread and correction and work for a servant.

VERS. 23.-- Neither forsake him in his need. Oppressed by the violence of servitude. For whether servants or free, we are all one in Christ (I Cor. XII).

VERS. 26.-- Daughters, etc. As he teaches that good servants are to be held with the affection of sons, so also that handmaids are to be held as daughters, but with discipline: whence, Give thy son his way, and he shall make thee afraid: play with him, and he shall grieve thee. Smile not upon him, lest thou be sorry, and at the last 1193Bthy teeth be set on edge (Eccli. XXX).

VERS. 28.-- A wife. He commends conjugal chastity, removing every detestable union. But mystically he admonishes that we, holding firmly the catholic faith in true religion, which we obtained first after the receiving of baptism, cast off the perfidy of heretics.

VERS. 32.-- Love, etc. (RAB.) The fear of God and love, etc., as far as because charity covereth a multitude of sins.

VERS. 35.-- The gift of the arms. Above, for those things which are offered to the ministers of God, he promised the purging of sins: but now, for alms, pardon and the grace of blessing, because as water quenches fire, so alms quenches sins.

1193CVERS 37.-- And to the dead. To alms belongs the burial of the dead; much more, therefore, the consolation of the living: whence Paul teaches to rejoice with them that rejoice, to weep with them that weep. The proof of love is the showing of the work: whence, He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him, how doth the charity of God abide in him? (I Joan. III.)

VERS. 1.-- Strive not with a powerful man. (RAB.) With a proud man. Whence, Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou be made like him (Prov. XXVI): because among the proud there are always quarrels, but the servant of the Lord must not quarrel.

1193DVERS. 2.-- With a rich man. Who pants with the heats of avarice. For thence arise envyings, contentions, and the like, for the desire of money is the root of all evils (I Tim. VI).

VERS. 13.-- Kindle not the coals. (ID.) Whence the Apostle: If a man be overtaken in any fault, you who are spiritual, instruct such a one in the spirit of meekness (Gal. VI).

VERS. 15.-- Lend not. (RAB.) Whence: Drink water out of thy own cistern, and have the streams of thy own well to thyself alone.

VERS. 17.-- Judge not against a judge. As if to say, be subject to those set over thee and to judges, who judge according to God.

• 1194A

Be not jealous over the wife, etc. (RAB.) He teaches chastity, etc., as far as she does not consent to heretical depravity.

VERS. 3.-- A woman that hath many desires. The Synagogue of the heretics, which flits about through various errors.

VERS. 4.-- Be not continual with a dancing woman. The throng of heretics, which leaps apart through various errors, so that whomever it has seen to be a lover of its eloquence it may draw to itself like a harlot; whence: She entangled him with many words, and drew him with the blandishments of her lips (Prov. VII), etc. [Vulg. protraxit illum, "drew him away"]

VERS. 5.-- Gaze not upon a maiden. Turn away thine eyes, that they may not see vanity: let it not please thee to see what it is not lawful to covet. But mystically we ought not to love the beauty of heretical eloquence, nor to attend to feigned 1194Bvirtues.

VERS. 7.-- In the streets of the city, etc. The same thing under another figure. For the streets of the city are the conventicles of the heretics: which separate themselves from that city of which it is said: Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God (Psal. LXXXVI).

VERS. 14.-- Forsake not a friend. Greater is the confidence on the side of a thing known than of one unknown. We ought also not to turn aside from the doctrine of the holy Fathers and hear new teachers.

VERS. 15.-- New wine, etc. A new teacher ought to be earnest that he may firmly grasp sound doctrine and sound practice, and afterward be of profit to himself and to others.

VERS. 25.-- Full of tongue. The heretic, who is always contentious, and therefore hateful to God and to men.

• 1194C

VERS. 1.-- A wise judge, etc. (RAB.) The government is made upon his shoulder. Whence: Woe to the land whose king is a child (Isa. IX), that is, the devil, who always loves novelties, and whose princes eat in the morning, that is, before the day of death, saying: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die (Isa. XXII).

VERS. 5.-- Upon the face of the scribe. (ID.) My tongue is the pen of a scribe that writeth swiftly, because he sends in his own stead to preach.

VERS. 8.-- A kingdom from one nation. (RAB.) This nearly all, etc., as far as: the kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation yielding the fruit thereof (Matth. XXI).

1194DVERS. 9.-- For the covetous man. After the change of the kingdom he treats of avarice, for the sake of which the force of governance is chiefly neglected: for the desire of money is the root of all evils (I Tim. VI). And pride accompanies avarice; whence, Charge the rich not to be high-minded (Ibid.). [Vulg. non sublime sapere]

VERS. 12.-- And a king is today. Power and riches cannot prolong life. A limit is set which cannot be passed over. The pleasantness of the flesh shall be turned into rottenness and stenches, and at last into worms. But mystically, the man who lives in sins and does not come to his senses shall die an eternal death; and he shall not escape the devil, the old serpent, and his beasts, that is, the demons.

VERS. 14.-- The beginning of pride. For there is no greater 1195Aapostasy than for a creature to withdraw from the Creator, which is deservedly ascribed to pride. For it is pride if a creature wishes to be made equal to the Creator. This was to the devil and to man the beginning of perdition: whence, For pride is the beginning of all sin. Although elsewhere it is said: The desire of money is the root of all evils (I Tim. VI). There is no covetousness without pride, for no man is proud unless he is covetous, and conversely. Of pride are born heresies, schisms, detractions, envy, wordiness, boasting, contentions and the like, which proceed from covetousness. But covetousness makes men gluttonous, intemperate, drunken, fornicators and the like, who cannot be without pride. Let us therefore beware of covetousness and pride, not two evils, but one from which all draw their beginning.

1195BVERS. 19.-- The lands. (RAB.) When Jerusalem by the Romans, etc., as far as their posterity was blotted out, and the glory of the martyrs was exalted; whence: The Lord keepeth all them that love him, but all the wicked he will destroy (Psal. CXLIV).

VERS. 22.-- It was not created. (ID.) Vices were not created, etc., as far as wrath arises, which the constancy of virtue overcomes.

VERS. 23.-- The seed of men shall be honoured. The holy teachers are held in honour among good men, especially those who fear the Lord: whence, Let the priests that rule well be esteemed worthy of double honour (I Tim. V), etc.

VERS. 25.-- The glory of the rich, etc. Truly it is glory to fear God. He who fears him keeps justice in all things: whence, Do not with respect of persons hold the faith 1195Cof Jesus (Jacob. II).

VERS. 27.-- Great is the judge. Although earthly power be great, it cannot excel him that feareth the Lord: for to them that fear God nothing is wanting, but the rich have wanted and have suffered hunger (Psal. XXXIII), etc.

VERS. 28.-- To a wise servant. This often comes to pass according to the letter, that one ignoble by birth is preferred to the noble by the knowledge and the faith of nobility: whence, A wise servant shall rule over foolish sons (Prov. XVII). But mystically the servant of the Church, who devoutly keeps the Christian religion, is set before the Synagogue; whence, The elder shall serve the younger. And, Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated (Gen. XXV).

VERS. 30.-- Better is he. As if he should say: It is better that thou be earnest to labour always in good work, whereby 1195Dthe reward of justice may be rendered thee, than that thou consume thy days in vanity, and be in want of that bread which came down from heaven. He who in the fear of God and in the observance of religion shall establish his glory: whence, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord (II Cor. X).

VERS. 1, 2.-- The wisdom of the humble shall exalt his head. There follows: Praise not a man, etc. As if to say: Judge not the quality of the mind according to the appearance of the body: whence, Look not on his countenance nor on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him, nor do I judge according to the look of man (I Reg. XVI). For man seeth the things that are open. But the Lord beholdeth the heart. [Vulg. parent, "the things that appear"] In worldly honours 1196Aone must not be proud, because the world passeth away, and the concupiscence thereof.

VERS. 5.-- Many tyrants. (RAB.) It comes about by divine dispensation, etc., as far as he inherited the blessing of the patriarchs.

VERS. 8.-- Before thou hear. He who answers before he hears, that is, who desires to be a teacher before he learns; or to judge the causes of others before he discerns them: shows himself to be a fool.

VERS. 10.-- Son, meddle not with many matters, etc. As if he should say: Be not curious about superfluous things, and consent not to the depravity of sinners. For not only they who do evil, but they who consent to them that do it, are worthy of death. Son, meddle not with many matters, etc. Many are the acts of the heretics, who do not keep the unity of the faith and the path of the truth, 1196Band spend their whole labour in composing books. They are copious in the art of rhetoric and dialectic: nor are they free from the beloved, because their meditation is in guile. Whence Ecclesiasticus: Son, make not many books, of which there is no end. But all the books of divine Scripture (because they agree) are one book: whence, In the head of the book it is written of me (Psal. XXXVI), etc. Son, meddle not with many earthly gains, or with any businesses whatsoever, because a mind intent upon many things has less sense for each. When the care of governance has been undertaken, every man is found unequal to the several matters, while he is divided among many: nor does he consider his own losses, while he handles those of others.

VERS. 11.-- There is a man that laboureth. He designates Christian works, in which the poor in spirit abound in all 1196Cgood things, and they are in want who labour in acquiring riches: whence, The rich have wanted, and have suffered hunger, etc.

VERS. 18.-- There is one that is enriched, etc. (RAB.) He layeth up treasure, and knoweth not, etc., as far as but they leave to others who discern truth and falsehood.

VERS. 30.-- Before death, etc. (ID.) It is foolish to praise, etc., as far as who come in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly are ravening wolves.

VERS. 32.-- For as they belch forth, etc. (RAB.) A likeness of the more sagacious animals, etc., as far as they may cast them headlong into the cage of error and the snare of deception.

VERS. 3.-- For there is not, etc. It is a most grievous sin to be unwilling to repent, nor to redeem sins by alms 1196D, but to add sins to sins: whence, Upon three crimes of Damascus, and upon four I will not convert it (Amos, I). A doubtful and deceitful teaching, which they expend in the exposition of Holy Scripture.

VERS. 5.-- Give to the good, etc. The like is read in Tobias: Set thy bread and thy wine upon the burial of a just man, and eat and drink not thereof with sinners (Tob. IV). That is, for the reason that they are sinners, do not share with them; as they who nourish players while the poor of Christ hunger. But he who gives to a needy sinner, not because he is a sinner but because he is a man, nourishes not a sinner but a just man: because he loves not the fault, but the nature. If he understands a sinner and an ungodly heretic 1197Awhile they are in error, there is to be no communicating with them: whence, Give not that which is holy to dogs (Matth. VII).

VERS. 8.-- A friend shall not be known in good things. A friend and an enemy are more easily proved in adversity, because there are many friends of the table who do not remain in the day of necessity. He therefore was a true friend who said: Who is weak, and I am not weak? (II Cor. XI.)

VERS. 10.-- Trust not an enemy. Historically he treats of false friends, from whom we ought to beware. But mystically he marks the heretics, who are not truly friends, whose teaching is full of the rust of error and of wickedness: whose speech creeps like a cancer, although they feign themselves faithful and catholic. Let us not therefore obsentiamus to them, nor grant them the power which 1197Bthe right hand signifies: lest they cast us down from our place, that is, from the state of right faith. For they strive maliciously to overturn our chair, that is, our teaching.

Who shall heal. The heretic who bears the office of a teacher, and says that he is a physician of souls: For if the salt shall have become insipid, it is good for nothing more, but to be cast out (Matth. V). [Vulg. Quod si sal evanuerit, in quo salietur? "if the salt lose its savour, wherewith shall it be salted?"]

VERS. 15.-- In his lips. By these sentences he marks those who speak in the heart and lie in wait to slay the innocent: who, when they have deceived anyone, move the head, clap the hand, and rejoice when they have done evil.

VERS. 1.-- He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled. (RAB.) 1197CBy a similitude he shows, etc., as far as lest they should wish to imitate the evils which they frequently look upon.

VERS. 2.-- He shall take a burden upon himself. (ID.) These things instruct us morally, that we should follow humble things and flee proud ones: Because God resisteth the proud, but to the humble he giveth grace (Jacob. IV). But mystically he teaches, etc., as far as because they will show themselves worthy of eternal confusion, when they shall be tormented for ever.

VERS. 11.-- Be not, etc. He does not abhor the virtue of humility: but teaches that a firm authority is to be held against the assailants of the truth, whom we must resist strongly.

VERS. 12.-- Summoned. We must act modestly with the powerful of this world, who frequently deride the simplicity of the innocent: to whom nevertheless we ought to render the due 1197Dhonor, but not against God, or against his commandments. Whence, Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king (I Petr. II).

VERS. 16.-- Beware of thyself, and take heed. As if: nothing is safe among the lovers of the world, who follow changeable things and are changed along with them. Whence: The fool is changed as the moon (Eccle. XXVII). In these, heretics and false Christians can be understood, who are not to be believed, because they are inconstant in all their ways.

VERS. 18.-- All thy life. (RAB.) The rest being refuted, etc., as far as because the Lord is nigh to all that call upon him in truth.

VERS. 19.-- Every beast. He looks back to the things above, 1198Athat thou shouldst, namely, decline the society of the rich and of the powerful, and shouldst join thyself to him who is thy consort in zeal and in religion. For this is a firm friendship, which a likeness of virtues joins together.

If he shall have fellowship. The rapacity of the wolf agrees not with the innocence of the lamb, nor the rage of the greedy man with the modesty of the simple. For there is no communion of cleanness with uncleanness: For as the dog returneth to the vomit, so he that repeateth his folly (Prov. VI). There is therefore no parity of the proud rich man with the humility of the poor of Christ.

VERS. 25.-- The rich man moved. What he rebukes concerning the rich man and the poor man, he pursues: because there are many who extol the deeds and the sayings of the rich man: few who understand the teaching and the virtue of the humble. The arrogant find 1198Bpreachers, but the humble find despisers. Whence: Riches add many friends, but from the poor man even they whom he had are separated (Prov. XIX).

VERS. 31.-- The heart of a man changeth. In the judgment of the countenance the change of the mind is detected: whence, A glad heart maketh a cheerful countenance; in the sorrow of the mind the spirit is cast down.

VERS. 32.-- The trace of a good heart. Because many are feigned and counterfeit: therefore it is with difficulty found in whom the heart and the face, that is, thought and work and teaching, agree in good: but when thou shalt find this, give glory to God, because this is his gift.

VERS. 1.-- Blessed is the man, etc. (RAB.) By sinning. Hence 1198CJames saith: He that offendeth not in word, is perfect (Jacob. III). In that word, namely, the offense of which human frailty can avoid.

VERS. 3.-- To a covetous and niggardly man. He describes the plague of avarice, which torments the covetous man lest he obtain the fruit of his own labor, Who layeth up treasure, and knoweth not for whom he shall gather these things (Psal. XXXVIII).

VERS. 5.-- He that is evil to himself. These things describe according to the letter the mind of the covetous and of the envious, who rejoice not in their own goods. But allegorically they signify the philosophers and heretics who without the faith of Christ gather riches of depraved dogma, which profit them nothing, nay rather confer eternal punishment.

VERS. 7.-- And if he do well. (ID.) He had said that nothing is 1198Dmore wicked, etc., as far as but now he repeats the same.

VERS. 9.-- The insatiable eye. Because without the fruit of good things he consumes his life, and delivers his barren soul to the fires of Gehenna to be tormented.

VERS. 10.-- An evil eye toward evil things. The eye of the heretics is always bent upon evils, and it merits not the heavenly bread, that is, the understanding of divine wisdom, and at the table of Scripture it withers with want.

VERS. 11.-- Son, if thou have. He exhorts that, the luxury of the world being despised, we should offer to God the oblations of good works: because the space of life in which we can work is short: for after death, which hastens on, there is no time for working, but for receiving the wage: Whence, Work ye while it is day: for the night cometh, when it is no longer lawful to work. [Vulg. Joan. 9:4 Me oportet operari opera ejus qui misit me, donec dies est: venit nox, quando nemo potest operari, "I must work the works of him that sent me, whilst it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work"]

1199AVERS. 18.-- All flesh. As hay in the earth or a leaf on a tree is born, grows, becomes green, dries up and is cast down, so our flesh is born of the offspring of parents, grows in infancy and in boyhood, flowers in adolescence, ripens in youth, withers in old age, is cast down in death.

VERS. 22.-- Blessed is the man, etc. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are they that search his testimonies. (Psal. CXVIII.)

VERS. 25.-- He shall set up his little dwelling. That is, performing the office of a teacher, he shall join to sound teaching the works of justice, that he may instruct his hearers by word and by example.

VERS. 3.-- The water of wisdom. (RAB.) The grace of the Holy Spirit: whence, He that shall drink the water that I will give you, 1199Bit shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into life everlasting (Joan. XIV), that is, he shall not yield to persecution, or to heretical depravity. [Vulg. qui autem biberit ex aqua quam ego dabo ei, non sitiet in aeternum: sed aqua quam ego dabo ei, fiet in eo fons aquae salientis in vitam aeternam]

VERS. 5.-- And in the midst of the Church. He signifies the apostles, the preachers of the Gospel, whom the wisdom of God, that is, Christ, set over the Church.

VERS. 7.-- Foolish men, etc. The pagans, and the idolaters and the Jews, who crucify the Son of God, following the shadow of the law and spurning the truth of the Gospel: or the heretics, who pervert the Scriptures.

VERS. 8.-- And truthful men. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.

VERS. 9.-- In the mouth of a sinner. Of the heretics, who despise the teaching of the Fathers and deceive the simple. God envies the gift of his bounty to no one, who 1199Cwilleth all men to be saved.

VERS. 12.-- Say not. (ID.) Our evils are not to be imputed to God, to whom they are not necessary: God is no tempter of evils (Jacob. I).

VERS. 14.-- He made man to his own image and likeness, and gave him free will.

VERS. 16.-- If thou wilt. That is, if thou wilt fulfil the works and the commandments of God, thou shalt have consolation: if thou shalt despise them, the burning of Gehenna.

VERS. 19.-- For the wisdom of God is great. (ID.) No one can [comprehend] the foreknowledge of God, etc., as far as let a man do nothing but what is worthy of the divine sight.

VERS. 21.-- He hath commanded no man. God is not the author of sinning, nor does he grant a space in which a man 1199Dmight sin unpunished; he always enjoins good things, and forbids evil ones. That alone pleases him which is good, but unfaithfulness and unprofitableness displease him, for God is just, and hath loved justice. (Psal. X.) [Vulg. justus Dominus, "the Lord is just"]

VERS. 5.-- By one man of sense a country shall be inhabited. (RAB.) He who according to the sound rule of Scripture continues in the path of justice by faith and by work.

By three ungodly men it shall be deserted descretur. Namely, they who by thought, by speech, by work sequester themselves from the fellowship of the good. [Vulg. tribus impiorum deseretur, "the tribe of the ungodly shall be made desolate"]

VERS. 6.-- Many such things hath the eye seen. The more ardently one learns the law of God, so much the more is he enlightened by the light of knowledge: whence, He that hath my commandments and 1200Akeepeth them, he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father: and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him (Joan. XIV).

VERS. 8.-- They prayed not for their sins. (RAB.) The ancient giants, entangled in earthly desires and weighed down by the burden of sins; or the heretics, who trust in their own strength, and glory in the riches of dialectic and of rhetoric.

VERS. 12.-- For mercy and wrath are with him. (RAB.) The divine censure keeps an equality, etc., as far as: He that followeth justice and mercy shall find life and justice and glory (Prov. XXI)

VERS. 16.-- Say not: I shall be hidden from God. He reproves those who believe that God has no care for mortal things: whence Eliphaz, For what doth God know? And he judgeth as it were through 1200Ba mist. The clouds are his covert, and he doth not consider our things (Job. XXII). Hence Paul saith, The word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two-edged sword, and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebr. IV).

VERS. 18.-- Behold the heaven, and the heavens of heavens. As if: If he dispenses and comprehends the greater things according to his will, the lesser cannot lie hidden from him, at whose beck all things quake and tremble; and there is none who can resist his will.

VERS. 22.-- And the works of justice. No one can declare the height of his justice, nor bear the strictness of his justice. From certain men; and the questioning interrogatia of men, etc. From the idolaters, the heretics, or the false catholics: whence, 1200CFor not the hearers of the law are justified, but the doers (Rom. II). [Vulg. interrogatio omnium, "the questioning of all"]

VERS. 25.-- And I will speak in equity. (RAB.) He who with intent heart desires, etc., as far as but openly manifests the state of the holy Church.

VERS. 26.-- He distinguished their parts. He separated the origin of the several nations through the diverse parts of the world, that each nation, named by the word of its own parent, might possess its proper seats. But mystically the divine wisdom, in founding the Church, spread it abroad through the parts of the whole globe, and placed it among the several nations: so that in diverse places it might claim diverse names for itself, whence John in the Apocalypse: To the angel of the Church of Smyrna write (Apoc. II), and of Pergamus and of Thyatira and the rest.

VERS. 29.-- Be not incredulous to his word. He had said 1200Dabove how from the beginning God ordered his works in knowledge and in judgment: now, a sentence being interposed, he exhorts the hearer, lest, being incredulous to his word, he be bent away from the state of rectitude; and he returns to the narration, showing how the clemency of God repaired the human race, thus: After these things God looked upon the earth, etc.

VERS. 31.-- He hath declared, the secrets of thought: whence, Thou hast understood my thoughts afar off (Psal. CXXXVIII). And, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men (Psal. XCIII).

VERS. 1.-- God created. (RAB.) That he may so live, be wise, etc., as far as so let a man have charity, that he may be good and just; etc.

1201AVERS. 2.-- And he clothed him according to himself, etc. Whence: Put ye on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth (Ephes. IX).

VERS. 3.-- And he gave him power. Because in this also man was made to the image of God, in that he excels the irrational creatures by reason, and rules them and has dominion over them, and acknowledges the creator of all. But because he understood not his own honor, he is compared to senseless beasts (Psal. XLVIII).

VERS. 5.-- He created out of him. As from the side of the sleeping Adam Eve was formed, so from the side of Christ dying on the cross there went out blood and water, out of which the Church is formed.

VERS. 9.-- And the law of life. The natural law, which he gave to every man, that he should be subject to his creator, and should keep in himself the honorableness of good 1201Bworks. Or, the law of the letter, which he willed to be written for the correction of morals and for the repairing of the natural law; for this is what the natural and the literal law intimates, that we should love God with the whole heart, the whole soul, the whole strength: and should keep his commandments in the love of God and of our neighbor.

VERS. 13-- Before him. (RAB.) Whence: The Lord knoweth the way of the just, and the way of the ungodly shall perish (Psal. I).

VERS. 14.-- A ruler. The angels, to whom God committed the keeping of the several nations! Whence, He appointed the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God. (Deut. XXXII.) [Vulg. constituit terminos populorum juxta numerum filiorum Israel, "he appointed the bounds of peoples according to the number of the children of Israel"] Or, the teachers whom he sent to preach.

VERS. 21.-- Be converted. The condition of man being shown, namely how he was created to the image of God, 1201Cand set before the rest of the creatures: he exhorts that after the fall of sin he return to his maker, leaving the error by which he deceived himself; and that he entreat God for his offenses, and with his whole mind flee back to the divine mercy, spurning idolatry and the deceit of diabolical servitude. Let him learn also the rule of God's commandments, that he may remain in the lot of holiness to which he was chosen, and may persevere in the praises of the Most High.

VERS. 27.-- Thou shalt confess while living. (RAB.) In the present life, after which there is no time for working, but for receiving the reward: Whence, Run while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you (Joan. XII). [Vulg. Ambulate dum lucem habetis, ut non vos tenebrae comprehendant, "Walk whilst you have the light, that the darkness overtake you not"]

VERS. 30.-- What is brighter than the sun? (ID.) He shows that the fabric of the world is transitory: nor does the bodily light remain the same perpetually; how much less the vain 1201Dthought of human frailty.

VERS. 1.-- He that liveth for ever. (RAB.) The substance of things was created all at once, etc., as far as to know or to declare the greatness of his power: whence, No one knoweth the Son but the Father, neither doth any one know the Father but the Son, and he to whom it shall please the Son to reveal him (Matth. XI).

VERS. 5.-- There is no diminishing. (ID.) Nothing is to be diminished from the holy Scriptures, nothing to be added: whence, If any man shall add to these things, God shall add unto him the plagues written in this book (Apoc. XXII), etc.

VERS. 8.-- A hundred years. (ID.) He compares the fewness of our days to a drop of the sea, and to a pebble 1202Aof the sand: because in comparison with eternal happiness the brevity is exceeding great, and the misery greatest: whence, Man born of a woman, living for a short time, is filled with many miseries (Job. XIV).

VERS. 12.-- The mercy of man. Few there are who have mercy on their neighbor: whereas the mercy of God overflows through the whole world, who maketh his sun to rise upon the good and the bad.

VERS. 14.-- He that receiveth teaching. He exhorts those who receive the teaching of the Gospel, that they show mercy to their neighbors: and that they hasten to forestall the day of judgment by works of mercy; whence: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy (Matth. V).

VERS. 15.-- Of an evil word. A gracious tongue 1202Bmaketh a man well-favored; whence: He that moderateth his words is learned and prudent (Prov. XVII).

VERS. 16.-- Shall not the heat. The dew defends the standing corn from the heat of the sun: and a good word defends the giver from the wickedness of him that is angry; whence: A hard word stirreth up strifes, a gentle one mitigateth them when stirred up (Prov. XV). [Vulg. sermo durus suscitat furorem (Prov. 15:1) and qui patiens est mitigat suscitatas (Prov. 15:18)]

VERS. 18.-- The fool shall upbraid bitterly. (RAB.) In the mouth of the fool are quarrels, etc., as far as they defile with a lying word.

VERS. 19.-- Prepare justice. That thou mayest see what in thee pleases or displeases God, and mayest correct thy faults.

VERS. 20.-- Before judgment. (RAB.) These things admonish us to be always ready, nor to flatter ourselves with a foolish security: but to labor in the service of God even to the end of life.

1202CVERS. 23.-- Before prayer orationm. When thou shalt stand to pray, forgive if thou have anything against anyone.

VERS. 24.-- Remember. Whence: The Lord is just, and hath loved justice: his countenance hath beheld equity (Psal. X.).

VERS. 25.-- Of poverty. Of that which is to come after this life, that thou mayest make friends who may receive thee into everlasting dwellings.

VERS. 26.-- All these things. Spring, summer, autumn, winter, day and night, all of them never rest; and yet all things compared to eternity pass swiftly away: and all things are shut up before the eyes of the Lord with a fixed end. But he himself is always the same, and his years shall not fail.

VERS. 27.-- A wise man. Blessed is the man who is always fearful, that he may beware of his own sins and may fulfil the precepts 1202Dof the Lord: Because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding to all that do it (Psal. CX.).

VERS. 28.-- To him that findeth. That is, when he shall have found her, and shall have received the knowledge of her, she herself shall give the confession of right preaching, and the zeal of good working.

VERS. 29.-- Men of sense. As it were: the crafty acknowledge wisdom, and men of sense show forth prudence in words by their work.

VERS. 33.-- Be not mediocre. He provokes us to the works of mercy. For if we shall be slothful, not only shall temporal solaces be wanting to us, but rather the future goods of our soul: whereas a temporal alms shall be repaid with an eternal wage.

• 1203A

VERS. 1.-- A drunken workman. (RAB.) He looks back to the things above where he says, Be not delighted in crowds, by whom, namely, the vice of drunkenness is thought to be a light thing, though it is the loss of good things and the multiplication of crimes. Little things. An idle word, laughter, revellings, drinkings, and the like.

VERS. 2.-- And women. (RAB.) Fornication, by which, the truth of the faith being forsaken, they are joined to demons.

VERS. 3.-- He joineth to harlots. He shows them to be blameworthy; because, true wisdom being left behind, they are made fools, and join themselves to harlots.

He that believeth, etc. The levity of the mind is described, which is infirm and changeable: whence, The fool is changed as the moon. He that believeth. Of charity the Apostle says, She believeth all things, 1203Bhopeth all things, endureth all things (I Cor. XII). But there it is the perfection of a good will, which is always ready for every good work. Here, however, the levity of the mind is described, which has not the state of firmness.

VERS. 7.-- Repeat not a hard and wicked word. (RAB.) That is, after weeping, etc., as far as repeat not the deed to a most wicked man. [Vulg. verbum nequam et durum, "a wicked and hard word"]

VERS. 8.-- To friend and to enemy. He exhorts that we have caution and discretion: lest to friend and to enemy, that is, to catholic and to heretic, we lay open our secrets: because the enemy, although he flatter, attempts to deceive.

VERS. 10.-- Hast thou heard, etc. A foolish word does not move the fool and the wise man equally. For the fool disturbs the sense, so that he may express a groan of grief through an abominable act: but whatever shall have happened disturbs not the blow. 1203CBut he must beware who trusts in the firmness of his heart, lest he retain the memory of a hard word.

VERS. 15.-- Rebuke a friend. We ought to rebuke offending friends with all patience, because they sin sometimes through ignorance, sometimes through negligence, sometimes through disobedience and contempt, if perchance, being rebuked with discretion, they may do penance, and may have diligence and caution in the future: whence, Instruct such a one in the spirit of meekness (Gal. VI).

VERS. 16.-- There is that slippeth with his own tongue. There is a great difference between him who sins through simplicity or ignorance, and him who sins through malice. For it can happen that a man offend in a word which nevertheless 1203Dhe does not think to be evil; but he sins more who is full of guile and of wickedness.

VERS. 20.-- He is lessened in wisdom. In the understanding of the mysteries, yet not in the keeping of God's commandments. Whence there follows:

VERS. 21.-- Better is, etc. He, namely, who in the fear of God fulfils what he knows: whence, For he that knoweth the will of his lord and doth it not, shall be beaten with few stripes (Luc. XII) [Vulg. vapulabit multis, "shall be beaten with many stripes"]: for mercy is granted in small measure.

VERS. 22.-- There is a sure skilfulness, etc. He begins to give the difference between the saints and the hypocrites. (RAB.) So the heretics and the hypocrites show the appearance of virtues, but have not the truth of it: and when they shall have found a place for sinning, they show what they had in the heart.

1204AVERS. 26.-- By the look. (ID.) By outward tokens the affection of the mind is known, whence: A good tree is not that which bringeth forth evil fruits (Luc. VI), etc. And out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh (Matth. XII).

VERS. 1.-- How good it is. (RAB.) He has forbidden anger in judgment, etc., as far as and all teaching is discerned through patience.

VERS. 2.-- Lust. He proves by an example that it is good not to be angry: because, as the lust of a eunuch defiles a virgin, and begets no offspring: so the violence of the unjust man counterfeits judgment, but keeps not the measure of equity.

VERS. 5, 6.-- There is one that keepeth silence. Here the modest man is praised, and 1204Bthe rash man is blamed. But there is one that keepeth silence, etc. He sets forth what kind of silence he praises. For some are silent because they know not how to speak: but others because they know that there is a time of keeping silence, and a time of speaking.

VERS. 7.-- A wise man, etc. The prudent moderate their words, and observe the time: but the fool utters his whole spirit.

VERS. 12.-- There is that redeemeth many things, etc. (RAB.) He, namely, who by the confession of humility is loosed from all guilt. And restoring, etc. When in the place of vices he substitutes a manifold number of virtues: That where sin abounded, grace may more abound (Rom. V).

VERS. 14.-- For his eyes, etc. That is, the intention, namely, stained with divers wickednesses, always ready to do harm. For the septenary signifies universality.

1204CVERS. 16.-- To-day one lendeth, etc. He shows the instability of the heretics: because they violently wrest the meaning of their own error from their hearers, and therefore they are hateful to God and to men. Or, he who from an alms seeks a repayment in the present, makes himself hateful: whence, Call the poor and the weak, the blind, the lame, and thou shalt be blessed: because they have not wherewith to make thee recompense. But recompense shall be made thee at the resurrection of the just (Luc. XIV). [Vulg. voca pauperes, debiles, claudos, et caecos: et beatus eris, "call the poor, the weak, the lame, and the blind: and thou shalt be blessed"]

VERS. 17.-- The senseless man shall have no friend, etc. Because he seeks the reward of his labor in this life, or the heretic who covets human glory.

VERS. 18.-- How often and how many, etc. Detestable is the assembly of the heretics, because they interpret the Scripture of God in a depraved sense, and preach their own exposition wickedly 1204D.

VERS. 20.-- The slip of a false tongue, etc. As on the levelness of a pavement, where there are no stumbling-blocks, one falls without cause: so the understanding of the heretics, blinded by its own wickedness, finds a fall in the path of truth, which lies open.

VERS. 21.-- A man acharis, etc. Without the grace of the Holy Spirit; or bitter, because he instils into his hearers a bitter and harmful sense.

VERS. 22.-- The parable of the senseless man shall be rejected, etc. (RAB.) The Jews, who still think, etc., as far as the heretics, who by sophistical arguments strive to overturn the truth of the Gospel.

VERS. 23.-- There is that is hindered. The falsity 1205Aof the heretics being reproved, he blames the intention of a depraved will. For there are those who, when they cannot sin in act, are unwilling to rest in the will.

VERS. 24.-- There is that shall lose his own soul. Because, fearing the power of this world, he dares not profess the truth of the Gospel: whence, He that shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed (Luc. IX).

VERS. 25.-- There is that for shame, etc. There are those who promise many things, and render few, and make enemies for themselves of those to whom they promise by lying.

VERS. 27.-- A thief is better. He does not excuse the thief, but by the comparison of him he aggravates the assiduity of lying. But mystically the thieves are the Jews, to whom it is said, Thou that preachest that men should not steal, stealest (Rom. II). But the lying heretics are worse, because after they received 1205Bthe grace of baptism they have returned to the vomit, and have done despite to the Spirit of grace.

VERS. 29.-- A wise man in words, etc. Because he shows the wisdom of the mind in things well said: whence, A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good (Matth. XII). [Vulg. de bono thesauro profert bona, "out of the good treasure bringeth forth good things"]

VERS. 32.-- Wisdom that is hid. There is no profit of a treasure which is hidden and is not known, nor of wisdom hidden without discretion.

VERS. 1.-- Son, hast thou sinned, etc. (RAB.) He gives counsel, when we sin: For there is no man that doth good, and sinneth not (Eccle. VII), that we sin not again; but that we do penance for the things past, entreating that they may be forgiven us.

1205CVERS. 2.-- Of a serpent. (ID.) Of the devil, who always haunts the shadows of sin, and reigns in the children of darkness.

VERS. 3.-- The teeth of a lion, etc. Our adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour (I Petr. V). [Vulg. adversarius vester, "your adversary"]

VERS. 5.-- Chiding and injuries, etc. (ID.) By concord the smallest things increase, etc., as far as because he abominates the truth of the faith and the unity of peace.

VERS. 6.-- The prayer of the poor, etc. Because God will judge the ungodly, who afflict the saints.

VERS. 7.-- Reproof. That is, the judgment of his own sin, because he has hardened his mind, that it should not obey the truth.

VERS. 8.-- Known afar off. Heretical presumption is made manifest in a rash tongue, which speaketh iniquity against 1205DGod.

VERS. 9.-- He that buildeth a house, etc. He signifies the heretic, who gathers testimonies of Scripture, estranged by a depraved understanding, for the confirmation of his own error. But by the vengeance of just retribution the hardness of that abominable action shall be dissolved; or tropologically: the greedy plunderer, who from the goods of others increases his riches, and, empty of all good things, shall be punished in the day of judgment for his iniquity.

VERS. 11.-- The way of them that sin. Therefore is the destruction of the wicked swift, because the way, that is, their life, is full of sorrows: and of the hard works of sins.

VERS. 14.-- He shall not be taught, etc. (RAB.) By these sentences he confounds, etc., as far as and he himself has mingled himself with endless questions.

1206AVERS. 18.-- It displeaseth him, etc. Whence: The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light (Luc. XVI).

VERS. 22.-- Fetters on the feet, etc. (ID.) Because to their steps, wherewith they walk, the ruin of iniquity is contrary, it reproves their actions by condemning them.

VERS. 23.-- The senseless man in laughter, etc. The assembly of the heretics, teaching with plausible workmanship through the art of rhetoric, seeks the favor of its hearers. But the holy teachers so mingle pleasantness of speech with preaching, that they depart not from the track of truth.

VERS. 25.-- The foot of the senseless man, etc. Because the heretics study to imitate the sect of their own authors, lurking in the dwelling-place of their writings.

VERS. 26.-- The fool from the window. (ID.) He marks the craftiness of the heretics, 1206Band the simplicity of the catholics.

VERS. 30.-- While he curseth. Not because he calls the devil accursed, but because he ceases not to imitate him whom he knows to be accursed. For while he had rather imitate the devil than Christ, he is justly condemned.

VERS. 1.-- With a stone, etc. (RAB.) When the foulness of sinners, by the hard sentences of the Scriptures, etc., as far as is upbraided by the preachers.

VERS. 6.-- Music. He marks those who in the Church seek the applause and the favor of the people, and do not rather stir up the compunction of tears.

VERS. 7.-- He that teacheth a senseless man. A potsherd fashioned with much labor escapes not its own frailty. The senseless man too, however carefully he be instructed, is scarcely brought 1206Cto perfection.

VERS. 10.-- Over the dead. (ID.) One is the death of the body, etc., as far as for the death of the body is the end of worldly toil

VERS. 14.-- With a fool. (ID.) He teaches that speech is not to be drawn out with fools, etc., as far as: For he that saith to him, God speed you, communicateth with his wicked works (II Joan. I).

VERS. 17.-- Above lead. Hence Solomon saith: A stone is heavy and sand weighty, but the anger of a fool is heavier than both (Prov. XXVII). The heretic sins worse than the catholic, in the multitude of many evils; or the philosopher who leans upon human wisdom; or the gentile, who has not come to the faith, and sins in ignorance: whence, The servant indeed who knoweth the will 1206Dof his lord, and doth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes (Luc. XII). But he that knoweth not, with few.

VERS. 19.-- A binding. The timbers signify the just, who give fruit in their season, whose leaves fall not: and all things whatsoever they do shall prosper; but the foundation of the building signifies the apostles or the prophets, whose preaching upholds the Church. A wooden binding therefore, bound to the foundation of the building, is not dissolved: because the faith of Christ's passion, joined in the hearts of men to the teaching of the apostles, makes the building of the Church indissoluble.

VERS. 21.-- As chaff, etc. Whence: He that heareth my words, and doth them not, is like to a foolish man, who buildeth his house upon the sand. [Vulg. Sicut pali in excelsis, et caementa sine impensa posita, "As stakes on high places, and mortar laid without cost"]

1207AVERS. 23.-- As the heart. (RAB.) As a clear wall, etc., as far as so the heart of the senseless man despises the remembrance of its crimes, nor fears the eternal punishments.

VERS. 25.-- He that casteth a stone. He shows what preserves a good friend, or rather estranges him. He that casteth a stone. As by the stroke of a stone the flight of birds is brought down, so by a word of reviling the force of friendship is dissolved.

VERS. 26.-- Despair not. Concerning his friendship, because, the profit of correction being acknowledged, he returns to the right of the former friendship.

VERS. 27.-- A friend shall flee away. Not to return, nor after reconciliation; whence: To a friend reconciliatione, once reconciled, trust thou not for ever.

VERS. 29.-- In the time of tribulation. In adversity a friend is the more proved. For there are many friends of the table, 1207Band they remain not in the day of necessity.

VERS. 30.-- Before the fire, etc. As smoke goes before the burning of the fire, so hard words before murder; whence, A hard word stirreth up strifes (Prov. XV). And elsewhere: He that is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment (Matth. V).

VERS. 31.-- To salute a friend. Many good things there are in true friendship: for a true friend rejoices with thee in thy good things, and is saddened in thy evils.

VERS. 32.-- Every one that shall hear. That is, he who knows how great good things are in true friendship, will beware lest he hurt his friend by injury or by reviling.

VERS. 1.-- O Lord, father. (RAB.) As if: By thy gift 1207Cmay I be defended from the gulf of vices.

VERS. 2.-- Who will set. He desires in his thought the scourges of discipline, and in his heart the teaching of wisdom: lest perchance through ignorance he should not acknowledge the perils of his offenses, and his crimes be multiplied upon him, for which he may fall into the hands of his adversaries.

VERS. 8.-- In his vanity. (ID.) Because he sets it before the love of God and the desire of eternal blessedness.

VERS. 9, 10.-- To swearing, etc. He forbids an oath, lest perjury be committed; whence: Swear not, neither by heaven nor by earth (Jacob. V).

VERS. 13.-- Doubly. (ID.) Because by dissimulation he conceals the truth, and sends others into error by falsehood.

VERS. 15.-- There is another manner of speech. Blasphemy, which 1207Dis worse than the things said above: whence it behoves that it be not found in the inheritance of Jacob, that is, in the people of the Church, which supplants vices, and in virtues serves God.

VERS. 17.-- Undisciplined. As if: Forsake not discipline, and utter not thy words with an undisciplined mouth.

VERS. 22.-- A crafty soul. (ID.) The heretics and the schismatics have a burning soul, etc., as far as but forsaking their former husband, they have committed fornication with idols. [Vulg. Anima calida quasi ignis ardens, "A hot soul is as a burning fire"]

VERS. 26.-- Darkness compasseth about. (ID.) He that loses the virtue of chastity, etc., as far as whereas the countenance of the Lord is upon them that do evil.

VERS. 28.-- The eyes of the Lord. Because to him nothing is past, 1208Aand nothing is to come: all things are present.

VERS. 30.-- This man in the streets. The lustful adulterer, of whom it was said above, who like a horse and a mule runs to and fro in wantonness through the broad and spacious way, which leadeth to death.

VERS. 32.-- So also the woman. Equally in the man and in the woman is adultery condemned, and the seed of this coupling is abominable to God. But mystically the Synagogue of the heretics, or the heretical soul deceived by depravity, is abominable to God, because it forsakes its former husband, who joined it to himself in baptism, and adorned it with the ornament of virtues.

VERS. 34.-- This woman in the Church. Because her perversity is declared in the assembly of the faithful through the diligence of the teachers. [Vulg. Haec in ecclesiam adducetur, "She shall be brought into the church"]

1208BVERS. 35.-- And the branches. Because her sect has not the foundation of truth, it cannot beget the fruit of good works.

VERS. 38.-- Length, etc. Because in eternal blessedness they shall remain for ever who follow God.

VERS. 2, 3.-- And in the midst of the people, etc. (RAB.) Because in the showing forth of miracles he stirred up the people to the praise of God. Of his power, etc. Of the angels, of the religious.

VERS. 5.-- I from the mouth. Because the Word is consubstantial, coeternal. Because I am not a creature. Yet he is called the firstborn of every creature, not, that is, in time, but in honour (Exod. IV).

1208CVERS. 6.-- I made in the heavens. (RAB.) In the heavens light arises, by a cloud flesh is covered, because as by its own brightness it surpasses the darkness of a cloud, so the spiritual creature surpasses the bodily in dignity.

VERS. 7.-- My throne. (ID.) The human body weighed down by no weight of sin, but raised on high by the power of God, in which the might of the Godhead exercised its judgments.

VERS. 12.-- He created me, etc. According to the humanity conceived by a singular purity of the Holy Spirit, brought forth of the Virgin.

VERS. 13.-- In Jacob. By the incarnation of the Saviour it was granted to the Jews in a special manner to have the use of him, and he came especially to the Jews. Whence by Jacob the Jews are figured; 1208Dbut by Israel, the Gentiles.

VERS. 14.-- From the beginning. The mystery of the incarnation, foreknown and predestined before the ages, remains unto the age of the age. And he disposed the dwellings of the Church, that is, the rite of the true religion.

VERS. 15.-- And so in Sion. (RAB.) Sion is the Church, which is also Jerusalem, which is built from the first just man unto the last, and in which wisdom daily bears fruit.

VERS. 17.-- In Lebanon. (RAB.) Lebanon is a mountain of Phoenicia, etc., as far as expressing the constancy and the action of those who adorn the Church with the loftier virtues.

VERS. 18.-- As a palm tree. A tree long-lasting in its leaves, and with sweet fruits; it is called palma because it is the adornment of a victorious 1209Ahand: or because it spreads out its branch after the manner of a human palm. This the Greeks call φοινίκον, because the phoenix, a bird, lives a long time. To this the Church is likened, which, despising to be bowed down to earthly things, raises itself up to, heavenly things: that when the contest is finished it may receive the heavenly palm, and, like long-lasting leaves, keeps perpetually the words of right confession.

VERS. 19.-- As an olive tree. In Greek ἐλαἴον, that is, the fruit: for the tree is called ἐλαία, the juice oil. And it is a tree notable for peace: by it the Church is signified, which lights up the fields of the whole world with comeliness, and sanctifies them by a special grace through the anointing of chrism. As a plane tree. The plane tree (platanus) is so called from its height, or because it is spreading and ample. For the Greeks call what is ample πλατός. He expressed, therefore, the name and the form of the tree 1209Bin saying: I am spread abroad as a plane tree in the streets. [Vulg. quasi platanus exaltata sum juxta aquam in plateis, "exalted... beside the water"] And it is most tender, and soft in its leaves, and like to vines, and it signifies Christ, who through his own members is spread abroad in the world, mild and meek.

VERS. 20.-- As cinnamon. Cinnamon and balsam are aromatic trees. Cinnamon is so called because its bark is round and slender after the manner of a reed (canna). It is produced in India and Ethiopia, in a short shrub of only two cubits, of a blackish or ashen colour, of the very slenderest twigs. For what is thick is despised; but the slenderer is the dearer: and when it is broken, it sends out a visible breath after the manner of a cloud or of dust.

VERS. 21.-- Balsam. (RAB.) Pliny says aspaltum; it is born in the same course of heaven, etc., 1209Cas far as mindful of the Lord's passion they are ready to suffer for the Lord. As myrrh. Myrrh is in Arabia a tree five cubits high, like to a thorn, which the Greeks call ἄκανθον, whose drop is green and bitter, whence also it received its name: all which things agree with the mortification of the flesh, which is felt bitter for a time, but is willingly undertaken in hope of the ever-green fatherland. And it is likened to a thorn, because to save the mind it afflicts the body. The drop flowing of its own accord is more precious; that drawn out by a wound of the bark is baser, because it is of greater power to mortify a sound body (upon which an abundance of things smiles) than a sick one, or one afflicted with poverty.

As storax. (ID.) Storax, galbanum, etc., as far as it is called storax, because it is a drop of the tree flowing forth and congealed, for the Greeks call a drop στακτήμ. 1209DAnd galbanum. Galbanum (ID.) etc., as far as after the likeness of ammoniac, and least of all woody. Ungula. Ungula is that which in Exodus is called onycha. For in Greek it is ὀνύξ, in Latin ungula, because it is likened to a human nail. A drop. (ID.) The drop which is also called ammoniac, etc., as far as by how much virtue is joined to virtue, by so much the more sincerely is the incense presented. Libanus. Libanus, as they say, is a tree (ID.) etc., as far as when the trees are cut a tear flows, because the hearts of the humble, pricked with compunction, send forth pure prayer to God. Libanus in Hebrew signifies whiteness: in Greek, θοῦς. Whence in the Canticles, where we read unto the hill of frankincense (Cant. IV.), certain codices have unto the hill of Libanus. Balsam unmingled. (ID.) The balsam tree is in Judaea, etc., 1210Aas far as and it poured forth the sacraments of salvation. Whence, And my odour as unmingled balsam.

VERS. 22.-- The turpentine tree, etc. (ID.) It is a tree, etc., as far as and they are without spot before the throne of God.

VERS. 29.-- They that eat me, etc. (ID.) We eat wisdom, etc., as far as: Taste and see, for the Lord is sweet (Psal. XXXIII), etc.

VERS. 34.-- He set David. (ID.) The four rivers of paradise, etc., as far as who sendeth forth discipline as light, because his precepts bestow eternal life, whence: Teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; teaching to keep all things whatsoever I have commanded you (Matth. XXVII).

VERS. 35.-- As Phison. (ID.) Phison, which is also 1210Bthe Ganges, etc., as far as and it is said to overflow, like the Nile, upon the lands of the East. As the Tigris, etc. (ID.) The Tigris, a river of Mesopotamia, etc., as far as because it is borne swiftly as the tiger, a beast.

VERS. 36.-- As the Euphrates. (ID.) The Euphrates, a river of Mesopotamia, etc., as far as and the land which is encompassed by them is called Mesopotamia. As the Jordan. The Jordan, a river of Judaea, is named from two springs: Jor, namely, and Dan, from which, joined together, it is gathered. It rises under Mount Lebanon, and divides Judaea and Arabia, and near Jericho flows into the Dead Sea.

VERS. 37.-- As Geon. Geon here encircles Ethiopia, so called because it waters the land of Egypt. For Ge in Greek signifies earth: which among the Egyptians is called Nile, on account of the mud which it draws, which makes fruitfulness, 1210Cwhence also it is called Nile.

VERS. 38.-- He shall not search out. (RAB.) Christ is the author of wisdom, etc., as far as: No one knoweth the Son but the Father, nor doth any know the Father, but the Son (Matth. XI), etc.

VERS. 39.-- For from the sea. The sea signifies that the depth of wisdom is inestimable and incomprehensible: since no one can penetrate it save one and only God, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, who truly knows himself, and his own counsel, and gives to his creature to know so much as is expedient.

VERS. 41.-- As a path. (ID.) Because God of God, light of light. Figuratively the Father is called the origin of the Godhead: because of the Father the Son is begotten and the Holy Spirit proceeds, 1210Dwho is signified by water: whence, Rivers of living water shall flow out of his belly (Job. VII). The water of saving wisdom hath given him to drink (Eccli. XV). I as the river Dorix. [Vulg. ego quasi fluvii dioryx, "as a channel of a river"] Wisdom is likened to a most rapid river, etc., as far as whence the third tongue of the Greeks is called Doric.

VERS. 46.-- Yet doctrine. (RAB.) The writer of this work signifies that the book is mystical, and useful for reading. For historically it teaches morality, and allegorically the mystery of faith.

VERS. 47.-- See ye, etc. The ecclesiastical teacher profits not himself alone, but others also, by writing and by teaching: whence, They that are learned shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that instruct many erudiunmultos unto justice, 1211Aas stars unto perpetual eternities (Dan. XII).

VERS. 2.-- Man and woman. (RAB.) Whence Paul, Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also the Church (Eph. V). We can take the spirit in the man, the soul in the woman, and if these consent together in the fear and love of God, whatsoever they shall ask shall be done for them, whence: If two of you shall consent, it shall be done to them (Matth. XVIII).

VERS. 3.-- Three kinds. (ID.) These things can be transferred to the devil, etc., as far as because he would not be subject to his Maker.

VERS. 5.-- What in youth. He who in youth does not learn wisdom, in old age has not the fruit of it. Whence, The slack hand hath wrought poverty, 1211Bbut the hand of the strong prepareth riches (Prov. X). And he that meditateth in the law of the Lord shall give fruit in his season (Psal. I).

VERS. 6.-- How comely. (ID.) The hoary head is comely, etc., as far as it is not lawful for them to be ignorant of the knowledge and the wisdom of the law.

VERS. 9.-- Nine things unsuspected, etc. With the heart we believe unto justice, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Rom. X). Nine, therefore, are the things unsuspected, that is, foreign to all suspicion of falsehood, which right faith brings forth for a man.

VERS. 13.-- Wisdom. Which is to beware of evil. Whence, And behold the fear of the Lord, that itself is wisdom, and to depart from evil, understanding (Job. XXVIII). [Vulg. ipsa est sapientia … intelligentia; Migne prints masc. ipse and acc. intelligentiam] Hence it is that one is added over and above to the kinds of the virtues.

1211CVERS. 16.-- The fear of God. (RAB.) Because as the number nine is imperfect, etc., as far as but lest the presence of God forsake thee, which thou dost embrace, and desirest to enjoy for ever.

VERS. 17.-- Every wound. There is no greater grace than the true gladness of the mind, nor a greater wound than the sadness of a deceitful heart in idolatry or in heresy, because in its wickedness is all malice.

VERS. 18.-- And every wound. He sees the wound of the heart who understands the injury of his own depravity, but he does not see it who does not correct it by penance.

VERS. 22.-- There is no head, etc. (RAB.) The wickedness of heretics compared, etc., as far as therefore its dwelling together is hurtful to all.

VERS. 26.-- Every malice is short. Small is every 1211Dmalice in comparison with idolatry and with heretical depravity, because they sin not through the frailty of the flesh, but through the pride of the mind.

VERS. 30.-- If a woman have the pre-eminence. Historically he shows how hurtful is the pre-eminence of a woman, etc., as far as she will be contrary to the man, that is, to the catholic teacher, by thinking perversely and by teaching depraved things.

VERS. 1.-- Of a good woman. (RAB.) As before he blamed the wicked woman, etc., as far as and in the time to come she shall rejoice in the receiving of rewards.

VERS. 4.-- But of the rich man. Rich or poor, coming with a devout mind to the grace of Christ, shall enjoy perpetually the delight 1212Aof the vision of God, because God is no respecter of persons.

VERS. 5.-- Three things. By these likenesses he calls those who are separated from the unity of the true religion, that is, Jews, pagans, heretics, and false Christians.

VERS. 6.-- The accusation of a city. The folly of the foolish. For as brute animals do not know how to discern between a friend and an enemy, and between good and evil; so the foolish are ignorant of the distance between catholic doctrine and heretical, but obey true and false teachers alike. Against whom it is said elsewhere, Immediately she followeth him as an ox to the victim, and as a wanton lamb, and knoweth not that he is dragged to the victim (Prov. VII). [Vulg. quasi bos ductus ad victimam … et ignorans quod ad vincula stultus trahatur, "as an ox led to the victim … not knowing that the fool is drawn to the bonds"] But the craftiness of heretics deceives the unwary not with open face, but by guile.

1212BVERS. 11.-- A drunken woman. He describes the habit of a harlot, who by the movement of her body and the movement of her eyes displays her lust. But mystically it signifies the heretic, who in pride of understanding and in eloquence of words boasts of his fornication, that he may the more easily draw to himself the lovers of novelties, itching in their ears, who turn away their hearing from the truth and are turned unto fables.

VERS. 12.-- The fornication of a woman. (RAB.) By these three things he shows the curiosity of the human mind, etc., as far as through the pride of life, when he added, You shall be as gods (Gen. III).

VERS. 16.-- She shall fatten his bones. With charity, namely, whence: He that keepeth my commandments, he it is that loveth me, and he shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him (Joan. XIV).

1212CVERS. 18.-- A woman, etc. Because the wisdom of God fills the souls of the elect, and grants them a guard of the mouth and an efficacy of work, nor does it permit them to turn aside from itself, because everyone who is born of God sinneth not, by violating, that is, faith or charity: Because the seed of God, that is the word by which he was born again, he hath in himself.

VERS. 23.-- Golden pillars. Teachers shining with wisdom are set upon silver bases, when in Holy Scripture they are made notable by their preaching.

VERS. 25.-- In two things. (RAB.) Wisdom marks, etc., as far as or, having forsaken the path of truth, he follows the by-ways of error.

VERS. 28.-- He is hardly stripped. (RAB.) The worst act, not an honest thing, is condemned. That trader is to be abominated who through immoderate ambition loads his wares 1212Dmore with perjury than with price.

VERS. 1.-- Because of poverty, etc., (RAB.) As in the midst. Here by comparison, etc., as far as and in the time to come eternal punishment remains.

VERS. 5.-- As in the shaking of a sieve. (ID.) As a sieve, etc., as far as: Satan hath desired you, that he might sift you as wheat.

VERS. 7.-- As the dressing of a tree. (ID.) Every single tree, etc., as far as the tilling of a tree therefore makes manifest in the fruit the quality of it.

VERS. 8.-- Before speech. Because speech indicates the thought. As if he should say: Let no one praise him whom 1213Ahe has not known by manifest tokens to be worthy of praise. But speech can be taken for a good work, so that we praise no one before the proving of good works. Whence: Praise not any man before death. [Vulg. Eccli. 11:30 Ante mortem ne laudes hominem quemquam]

VERS. 13.-- In the midst. (RAB.) He teaches temperance and caution in speaking, etc., as far as: But he that shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven (Matth. V).

VERS. 15.-- Speech, etc. Because as their action is contrary to the good: so also their speech is prone to the saying of evil things, burdensome to the hearing.

VERS. 17.-- He that discloseth. He shows wherein friendship is most of all wounded, namely in the evil of betrayal, which loses faith, namely, nor keeps the equity of friendship, and therefore breaks up charity.

1213BVERS. 22.-- As a roe. The caprea, a wild goat, is so called as it were capiens ardua, taking the steep places. And roes are called ibices or avices, for this reason, that after the fashion of birds they keep to the high and lofty places: and they dwell in the heights, so that from their loftiness they are scarcely open to human sight. These, if at any time they have perceived beforehand the hostility of wild beasts or of men, casting themselves down from the high peaks, catch themselves unhurt by their own horns in the branches of the trees.

VERS. 24.-- But to disclose, etc. (RAB.) He shows the inconstancy of the betrayer's manners, etc., as far as: A man that is an apostate, an unprofitable man, walketh with a perverse mouth, he winketh with the eyes, he presseth with the foot, etc. (Prov. VI).

VERS. 30.-- To him that deviseth the worst counsel. Because he does not foresee that his day will come. For the 1213Cheretic or schismatic reckons that his own sect is better than the catholic truth: whence he mocks himself.

VERS. 8.-- Remember. (RAB.) He who fears God restrains wrath or fury, and does not forget the testament of God, who says: Forgive, and it shall be forgiven you (Luc. IX).

VERS. 13.-- Contention. An indiscreet action: whence, Be not over-much just, neither be more wise than is necessary, lest thou be stupefied. Immoderate discipline therefore stirs up the heat of fury, and forward speech the shedding of blood.

VERS. 19.-- The third tongue. Heretical doctrine, which agrees neither with the Old nor with the New Testament, and 1213Dtroubles the hearts of the hearers, and passing from nation to nation, stirs up sedition.

VERS. 21.-- But the wound. Worse is the destruction of the soul, which heretics slay, than any torment whatever of the body.

Blessed is he that is covered. Blessed is he who does not consent to heretics, and whose heart their eloquence does not overturn, because as he is a stranger to their malice, so he is separated from their punishment.

VERS. 28.-- Hedge in thy ears. After he had rooted out the evil of the tongue, he turns himself to the instruction of the hearer.

VERS. 5.-- Until they receive. (RAB.) A sickness of this kind the fear of God better cures. For he who 1214Adreads God as though always present intends to defraud no one.

VERS. 10.-- To many, etc. (ID.) He marks those who wish to injure no one, but through fear of things that will perish are unwilling to do good. Against whom it is said: Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth (Matth. VI).

VERS. 12.-- For the commandment's sake. Mercy is to be shown to all who are in need, nor is the charity of one's neighbour to be lost for covetousness.

VERS. 13.-- And hide not. For he who shall have seen his brother to be in need, and shall have shut up his bowels from him, how doth the charity of God abide in him?

VERS. 16, 17, 18.-- Above the shield of the mighty, etc. Alms avail more against the darts of the enemy than 1214Bearthly arms: because these bring forth a doubtful, those a most certain victory, that death may be swallowed up in victory.

VERS. 23.-- He that shall lose, etc. That is, he who does not keep the unity of faith and the sincerity of the law, but is entangled in divers errors.

VERS. 20.-- The grace of the surety, etc. The teacher, namely, who promises eternal life for faith and good works. This sentence rebukes Pelagius, who sets free will before grace, whereas the elect are set free by grace alone.

VERS. 27.-- Recover thy neighbour. He counsels that according to thy strength thou shouldst afford comfort to thy neighbour, and so provide for thyself, lest thou fall into a snare.

VERS. 28.-- The beginning of life, etc. (RAB.) He teaches frailty, and hospitality, and honesty, etc., 1214Cas far as and the Lord made coats of skins for our first parents after sin.

VERS. 29.-- Better is the fare of the poor man, etc. To the letter. It is better to take a slender fare beneath a mean hut in safety, than to seek splendid banquets with weariness in uncertain places. (ID.) Allegorically. Better is the fare, etc., as far as where there is labour and superfluous care.

VERS. 30.-- The least thing. (ID.) Let what thou hast suffice thee, etc., as far as a good name is better than many delights.

VERS. 33.-- Pass over. As if: Thou who takest delight in another's lodging, return to thine own, and of thine own labour feed thyself and others. Seek not for thyself superfluous food from another's house. The receiving of thy neighbours sufficeth thee.

1214DVERS. 35.-- A reproach. (RAB.) But mystically the ecclesiastical man is admonished, etc., as far as but that in the judgment to come he may bear the everlasting reproach of confusion.

VERS. 1.-- He that loveth his son. (RAB.) He admonishes fathers, both carnal and spiritual, to instruct their sons diligently, that they may live honourably, and not run about through the teachings of others by wantonness.

VERS. 8.-- An untamed horse. An untamed horse goes headlong; an undisciplined son rushes into sin. He teaches therefore spiritual fathers to instruct and correct their sons; lest they slacken the reins to them immoderately, 1215Alest they fall into the foulness of vices, and themselves bear everlasting disgrace.

VERS. 14.-- Better is a poor man. Sweet is the sleep of him that works, whether he eat much or little. For the fullness of the rich man does not suffer him to sleep.

VERS. 15.-- The health of the soul. The true health of the soul is justice, to which gold and silver cannot be compared, because riches shall not profit in the day of vengeance. But justice shall deliver the soul from death.

VERS. 18.-- Good things hidden. (RAB.) He speaks against those who hide the talent of the word; whose knowledge is unprofitable for virtues, like banquets and treasure for the dead.

VERS. 21.-- As an eunuch. He does not serve for the embrace of a virgin, so is the adoration of an idol, unfitting 1215Band unprofitable to those who adore.

VERS. 23.-- The joyfulness of the heart. Because no virtue stands without it. But the greater of these is charity (I Cor. XIII).

VERS. 26.-- They shorten the days, etc. Bloody men shall not live out half their days (Psal. LIV). (ID.) That is, the prosperity which they promise to themselves they cannot have for ever.

VERS. 1.-- The wood of stumbling. (RAB.) As Adam in the forbidden wood, etc., as far as which shines with the splendour of eloquence, and seduces the curious.

VERS. 12.-- At a table. (ID.) To the letter, continence, etc., as far as but let us hold the way of the holy 1215Cteachers.

VERS. 13.-- Say not, etc. (ID.) As if he should say: Do nothing out of presumption, nor put thy hand to writing before thou hast learned.

VERS. 19.-- Use, etc. As if: Love sobriety, act temperately, and nothing to excess, lest thou fall into the scandal of confusion. It befits the Christian therefore before all things to love humility, to be wary in the reading of Scripture, to hold right faith, to keep measure in knowledge, and the rule of charity, that he may be approved before God and men.

VERS. 22.-- How sufficient. A slender fare is profitable both to the soul and to the body, but a superfluous one on the contrary. A little wine. Spiritual wine also, 1215Dtaken moderately, is profitable both to the body and to the soul: for immoderately it makes a man rave, and disjoins him from God, whence anxious care, and the greatest disturbance, and perpetual torment.

VERS. 24.-- Sound sleep. Sleep is finer on a small fare. But mystically he who is sober in the spiritual wine rests in the contemplation of truth until the morning of the resurrection.

VERS. 25.-- And vomit, etc. Physicians say that vomiting purges the stomach: it lessens the bile. But mystically he who goes beyond measure and is weighed down with carnal sins, let him vomit out by the confession of sin the foulness of it, and by the chastisement of the body return to health.

VERS. 27.-- In all thy works. He admonishes that we lose not 1216Atime, that we work well, that keeping the commandments of God we may find rest for our souls.

VERS. 28.-- Bountiful. To the letter: he invites to almsgiving: because he that soweth in blessings shall also reap of blessings (II Cor. IX). But mystically he who faithfully dispenses the bread of the word, and does not hide the testimony of truth, shall be blessed both in the present and in the time to come.

VERS. 30.-- For many, etc. (RAB.) That is, drunkenness has overthrown many, which lessens the understanding, stirs up wrath, inflames lust, reveals the secrets of the mind.

VERS. 31.-- Fire. That is, as fire softens the hardness of iron and makes it glow; so wine, inflaming the hearts of the proud, drives them to crime.

VERS. 32.-- Wine is an equal life. Wine soberly drunk 1216Bdoes not take away the life of equity; but brings in sobriety and the other ornaments of the virtues. Wine. It is plain that provocation, wrath, and many ruins are born of drunkenness, and that bitterness of soul and the wounds of crimes are multiplied.

VERS. 1.-- A ruler. (RAB.) He who is set over others in dignity ought not to be proud: He that is the greater among you, let him become as the lesser, etc. (Matth. X).

VERS. 7.-- A little gem of a carbuncle. (RAB.) It holds the chief place among burning gems, etc., as far as and he venerates the mysteries of the Lord's passion with a worthy sacrament.

VERS. 14.-- Before the hail. (ID.) The flash of the lightning shall go before the weight of the hail; so the brightness of grace 1216Cbefore modesty.

VERS. 15.-- For him that riseth, the hour. (ID.) He admonishes that we be not sad, etc., as far as who by grace made us, and filled us with all good [works].

VERS. 22.-- A man of counsel. By how much anyone is the more prudent, by so much the more he uses the counsel of his neighbours, that he may add to himself understanding.

VERS. 24.-- Son, without counsel. These things can be taken of the catholic and of the heretic. For the catholic, fearing God, does all things by the counsel of the teachers and by the witness of the Scriptures. But the heretic, trusting in his own wisdom, presses on also with his own inventions: but when his folly shall have appeared, he shall be convicted by divine sentences through the holy preachers

• 1216D

VERS. 5.-- The inward parts of a fool. (RAB.) As the wheel of a cart and its axle, etc., as far as: The heart of fools shall be unlike (Prov. XV).

VERS. 6.-- A horse, etc. (ID.) As a beast of burden has no reason, etc., as far as but through the offices of the mouth he lays open his secrets to both alike.

VERS. 7.-- Why doth the day. (ID.) Because above he blamed the fool, etc., as far as that they may be for signs and for seasons, and for days, and years.

VERS. 8.-- The sun being made. (ID.) God commanded in the law, etc., as far as and that most of all is pleasing which is done in order and by reason.

VERS. 10.-- Of them he exalted. (ID.) That is, by his own 1217Adiscretion he distinguished those whom he rewarded for their good deeds, and those to whom he repaid a worthy wage for their evil deeds. And all men. After the disposition of the stars, etc., as far as but the ungodly he condemned with eternal cursing.

VERS. 13.-- As clay, etc. (RAB.) The Maker has in his own hand the mass of the human race, etc., as far as and whom he ought to harden according to justice.

VERS. 15.-- Against evil. He that searches out the works of God finds in them a certain contrariety, but wonderfully ordered by God. God therefore is not the maker of evil, who made all things very good; nor did he make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the dead, but he is the wonderful orderer of the whole. Natures therefore are good, and are from God: but vices are not from God.

1217BVERS. 18.-- Look ye. He admonishes all in common not to let go the reckoning of their own right, because not otherwise can he have peace and quiet. For he who loses the authority of his own pre-eminence casts himself into contempt and straitness: but he who wisely keeps his own place directs himself and his own to the increase of virtue.

VERS. 19.-- Hear ye. To the letter he teaches fathers to rule their sons, and to nourish them with discipline, until they come to the perfect age, that they may be able to be worthy heirs of their fathers. But spiritually he instructs the rulers of the Church to hold their dignity unto the end, and to leave their disciples, well nourished, as the heirs of their labour. Rulers ought to hold outwardly that which they undertake for the profit of others.

VERS. 25.-- Fodder and a rod, etc. (RAB.) It is needful 1217Cthat wicked servants, etc., as far as that they may have, namely, food and clothing, not leisure for wandering.

VERS. 31.-- If thou hast a faithful one, etc. [Vulg. Si est tibi servus fidelis, "a faithful servant"] (ID.) He delivered the law of a good servant, etc., as far as for the man is not to be persecuted, but the vices.

VERS. 2.-- As he that catcheth at. (RAB.) He signifies deceitful dreams, etc., as far as that they may know what they receive from the good spirit, or what they suffer from illusion.

VERS. 8.-- Without lying. Dreams being cast away, he exhorts that credit be given to the doctrine of wisdom, which, planted in the mouth of a faithful man, accomplishes the word without lying.

1217DVERS. 9.-- He shall declare understanding. For the instructing of others: whence, Blessed be God, who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them who are in all distress (II Cor. XII).

VERS. 10, 11.-- But he that in many things, etc. Changeable, namely, in mind, he is unstable in action. Or, he who, having lost the unity of faith, follows the manifold sects of heretics, serves many impieties.

VERS. 12.-- Very many of words (RAB.) He signifies Scripture; he who intently meditates upon Scripture, and humbly beseeches the Lord, gains the knowledge both of things and of words.

VERS. 23.-- The offerings of the wicked. Exceedingly detestable is the sacrifice which is compared to the grief of a bereaved father. 1218ASome weigh how much they bestow, and not how much they seize. And they gather up wages, and put them into a bag with holes. In a bag with holes it is seen when the money is put in, but not when it is lost. They therefore who look at how much they give away, but not at how much they seize, put their wages into a little bag with holes, because, looking upon them in the hope of their own confidence, they heap them up, but, not looking upon themselves, they lose them.

VERS. 26.-- He that taketh away. (RAB.) In the sweat of his own face the poor man gets his bread. He who violently takes this away is as one who kills his neighbour.

VERS. 28.-- One building up. This is what he said above, that a sacrifice out of rapine is not acceptable. He who offers out of rapine seems to himself to prepare a building of virtues; he does not attend to the crime of covetousness and of rapine.

1218BVERS. 30.-- He that is baptized. (ID.) Be washed, etc., as far as and again they commit things to be wept for.

VERS. 1.-- He that keepeth. (RAB.) He prays well, etc., as far as because by working well he keeps justice.

VERS. 3.-- Of propitiations. Between litare and sacrificare there is this difference. For he sacrifices who makes a sacrifice. He does litare who makes a sacrifice, and obtains what he sought by the sacrifice.

VERS. 4.-- He shall repay, etc. Both, namely, are pleasing to God: that which is offered upon the altar in commemoration of Jesus Christ, and that which is bestowed upon a neighbour through charity.

VERS. 10.-- With a good mind. (ID.) Whatever is not given with a good 1218Cmind does not merit grace with God. For man sees in the face, but God in the heart. And diminish not, etc. Mystically. The first-fruits of the crops, etc., as far as from whom is granted both the beginning and the perfection of a good work.

VERS. 13.-- Sevenfold as much. A perfect reward, namely. For the number seven, etc., as far as but it affords also the working of the four principal virtues.

VERS. 14.-- Offer not gifts, etc. With God there is no quantity of the gift; nor is the person of the powerful regarded: but the love and the humility of the heart. Therefore a sacrifice ought not to be offered out of iniquity, but out of just labour.

VERS. 21.-- And until it come nigh, etc. He looks back to the things above, 1218Daffirming that the Lord mercifully hears the prayer of the humble, who do not cease until they receive consolation.

VERS. 1.-- Have mercy upon us. (RAB.) In the person of the faithful he directs a prayer to God, that he may defend them and put down their enemies, that, being worthily corrected, they may again acknowledge God, and forsake idols.

VERS. 7.-- Glorify thy hand, etc. (ID.) He desires that the divine majesty may, through the hand and the right arm, that is, through Christ, by whom the ancient miracles were wrought, make them new in the time of grace, that the God of the old law and of the new may be understood to be the same.

1219AVERS. 15.-- Exalt the adversary, etc. [Vulg. Eccli. 36:9 Tolle adversarium, "take away the adversary"] (RAB.) He signifies through the coming of Christ, etc., as far as for the state of the Church and the salvation of the faithful.

VERS. 16.-- Sion, etc. The knowledge of Scripture, in which is preached the unspeakable power of God.

VERS. 17.-- And raise up, etc., All the prophets give testimony to the incarnation of Christ, that God, being made man, should espouse the Church to himself.

VERS. 19.-- According to the blessing, etc. (ID.) The order, namely, and the rite of the priesthood, etc., as far as that what Aaron figured in temporal sacrifices, this he may fulfil in the spiritual things of the Gospel.

VERS. 20.-- All food. (ID.) After he had foretold the calling of the Gentiles, etc., as far as so may we discern true doctrine, and false.

1219BVERS. 24.-- The beauty of a woman. The grace of Christ, which through preaching heals souls, and mitigates the concupiscence of the flesh. This abounds in the Church, the desire of which is above every concupiscence of man, because in her is the comeliness of the virtues and the beauty of doctrine. Above every. No concupiscence of man can be compared to this desire: because, Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain; the woman that feareth God, she shall be praised (Prov. XXXI). [Vulg. mulier timens Dominum, "that feareth the Lord"]

VERS. 25.-- There is no man. Christ, who exceeds human nature. Whence, Beautiful in form above the sons of men (Psal. XLIV). For he did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.

VERS. 26.-- A help. The help of the Church is according to the dispensation of Christ. Whence, My just help 1219Cis from the Lord (Psal. VII), etc. He himself is the pillar of her endlessness, and the rest of her labour.

VERS. 28.-- He that hath no nest. That is, the Church, where the souls of the elect nourish the sons of good works. Whence, The sparrow hath found herself a house, and the turtle a nest, where she may lay up her young. (Psal. LXXXIII).

VERS. 1.-- Every friend. (RAB.) Above he set forth more diligently the true friend and the false, saying: And he will not remain in the day of tribulation.

VERS. 2.-- But a companion. A true friend loves with his whole soul, and goes forward in deed. Whence, Let us not love in word nor in tongue, but in deed and in truth (I Joan. III).

VERS. 3.-- O presumption. He detests hypocrisy, 1219Dwhen an evil man feigns himself to be good, covering over the dry malice, in which, namely, there is no fatness of charity or of mercy.

VERS. 5.-- For the belly's sake. For gluttony, not for friendship. Heretics can be understood among false friends, who do all things rightly, as though they were counsellors of souls, when they are betrayers. Whence, Beware of false prophets who (Matth. VII), etc. With a father-in-law. A father-in-law, who is a kinsman on the woman's side, shows a womanish and changeable mind; and likewise jealousy, which belongs chiefly to souls.

VERS. 8.-- Every counsellor. He still teaches that all caution is to be had in taking to oneself friends and counsellors. For many feign themselves friends and counsellors, 1220Aand stretch out snares. Whence Jeremiah, Let every man keep himself from his neighbour (Jer. IX).

VERS. 14.-- Attend ye not. [Vulg. Non attendas, "attend thou not," singular] (RAB.) He has enumerated the divers kinds of those who give counsel, among whom he has noted many persons who are at variance with the truth. Whence he has enjoined that counsel is not to be taken with such, whose counsel is fraught with peril. Therefore the counsellor's prudence, faith, will, and religion must be looked to beforehand.

VERS. 18.-- The soul of a holy man. The diversity of counsellors having been shown, he adds how far the knowledge of the saints, poured in by the Holy Spirit, excels human wisdom.

VERS. 22.-- A skilful man. Because he had spoken before concerning the tongue, he continues concerning good and evil teachers.

VERS. 28.-- The life of a man. (ID.) The present life of men 1220Bis not in uncertainty with him. Whence, The days of man are short, the number of the months is with thee (Job. XIV).

VERS. 32.-- Be not greedy. According to the history, he praises frugality, he blames surfeiting, which brings the devourer into infirmity. But mystically he admonishes that we be temperate in temporal things. Whence, Thou hast found honey, eat what is sufficient for thee (Prov. XXV), etc. And elsewhere: Not to be more wise than it behoveth (Rom. XII).

VERS. 1.-- Honour the physician. (RAB.) He would have us be discerning, etc., as far as both, therefore, are to be honoured, but the spiritual are to be preferred.

VERS. 5.-- Was it not from the wood. He touches an ancient history, 1220Cbecause in the desert of Sur the children of Israel found bitter water, but God showed Moses a wood, which, being cast in, made the water sweet; where, according to the history, it is shown that waters are made sweet by the medicine of the wood But mystically the bitter water signifies the law, to which, if the confession of the cross and the sacrament be joined, it is made fit for drinking.

VERS. 7.-- Curing in these. (ID.) Against divers infirmities physicians set divers things, namely meats and drinks, plasters, and ointments: that the medicines may be suited to the diseases. In like manner do the spiritual physicians.

VERS. 10.-- Turn away. Like to this is that: Decline from evil, and do good. And from every, etc., and not the body only, but that thou mayest be innocent in hands and clean of heart.

1220DVERS. 11.-- Give sweetness. The sacrifice of bread and wine, offered in memory of the Lord's passion, chiefly heals the wounds of souls, and is exceedingly necessary not to the living only, but to the dead also.

VERS. 15.-- He shall fall into the hands of the physician. (ID.) Of sickness and of trouble, etc., as far as and they instantly beseech the Lord that he would direct their works, and grant refreshment to the sick.

VERS. 16.-- Son, etc. Because he has discoursed of infirmities and of the cures of physicians, he adds concerning the funerals of the dead.

VERS. 21.-- Remember the last things. (ID.) An admonition of good fathers, that their sons may prepare for themselves the viaticum of good works.

1221AVERS. 22.-- For neither is there any returning. As though he should say: Therefore be thou cautious in all things, lest perchance at the death of a neighbour thou grieve more than is meet.

VERS. 24.-- In rest. As though: Keep continually the memory of him that is to die, and trust, and take comfort in hope, lest in the last moment it fail.

VERS. 26.-- He that holdeth the plough. He signifies the holy preachers, who at all times, by teaching and by exhorting, instruct their hearers, that they may draw forth the virtue of the inner man, and reform the human soul to the image of God. Whence, As a wise architect I have laid the foundation (I Cor. III). And elsewhere: My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you (Gal. IV). As many as are the kinds of virtues, so many workings and lessons do they imprint by their teaching 1221Bupon the minds of the elect.

VERS. 28.-- So every craftsman, etc. The order of preachers, who through divers offices perform their ministry, temper their doctrine according to their hearers: who form the frail and the weak by word and by example, that they may make vessels unto honour.

He shall give his heart. When by the traces of good works he shows to those subject to him that the rolling conversation of the present life is unchangeable.

VERS. 33.-- In his arm. (RAB.) Because by many examples, etc., as far as that in the furnace of the heart he may make firm the working of the disciples by the fire of charity.

VERS. 15.-- If he shall continue. (RAB.) Of Christ, whose 1221Cmembers they are: from their own they have all things: who is the virtue and the wisdom of the Father.

VERS. 17.-- Hearken unto me. (ID.) Understand my doctrine, ye minds of the elect begotten through baptism, and bring forth the fruit of martyrdom in the course of this mortal life.

VERS. 20.-- And with harps. (ID.) Whence: Give praise to the Lord on the harp (Psal. XXXII). The harp is the hollowness in the lowest part of the wooden belly, etc., as far as which, after the form of the psaltery, come down to us from above.

VERS. 22.-- In his word. (ID.) When he gathered the waters together, etc., as far as or the water of persecution is restrained by the dispensation of God.

VERS. 24.-- The works of all flesh. The presence of God goes before all things, and whatsoever is done in time is present to him without 1221Dtime. Therefore there is nothing new, nor anything changeable in his sight (Act. I).

VERS. 26.-- It is not to say, etc. He forbids us to be curious, and to search out the things which it is not fitting to know. For all things shall be made manifest in their own time, when the Lord shall enlighten the hidden things of darkness, and shall make manifest the counsels of hearts.

VERS. 27.-- A blessing, etc. As, after the outpouring of the flood, the waters returned, that the dry land might appear and bring forth; so, after the extinction of the ungodly, the power of bearing fruit is given to the elect.

VERS. 31.-- The beginning of that which is necessary. Before the flood men were nourished with the natural food of the fruit of the earth, much less were flesh-meats granted them.

1222AVERS. 35.-- Fire, hail. (RAB.) All things obeyed man before sin; but after sin the world of lands fights against him. Thence famine and death, and a thousand perils of death, the beasts also rage against him, and the sword of heavenly vengeance.

VERS. 37.-- In the commandments. Because, according to the sentence from above, in the fitting time a worthy vengeance shall lay waste sinners.

VERS. 38.-- Therefore from the beginning, I was confirmed. He looks back to the things above, where he says: It is not to say, etc. For he sees the incomprehensible judgments of God, and his unsearchable ways, and dares not thence to speak or to write anything rashly: but disputing temperately of these things, he left not the cause, but the manner, manifest to the divine counsel.

VERS. 40.-- It is not to say. He gives profitable counsel, 1222Bthat we discuss not his works incautiously, but praise and bless the Creator in all things.

VERS. 41.-- And now in all his own time. [Vulg. Et nunc in omni corde et ore collaudate, "and now with all the heart and mouth praise ye"] As though he should say: Say not that former times were better than they now are. Virtues make the days good, vices evil.

VERS. 2.-- Thoughts. (RAB.) He enumerates the evils which man endures for his sins.

VERS. 6.-- A little. Because the flesh, dead and without feeling, seems to rest for a time, the soul already feels pain, and after the resurrection it shall live with its own body in eternal punishments.

VERS. 7.-- He is troubled. (ID.) Therefore shall the wicked be tormented in punishment, etc., as far as of the noble, namely, 1222Cand of the ignoble.

VERS. 10.-- And for them was the flood made. To sinning man a manifold punishment has been appointed, that, being corrected, he may repent, and thereafter beware; but because he neglects it, and goes forward in his punishments, God brings the flood upon the world, that he might destroy the man whom he created. But in comparison with the punishment to come, that which man suffers in the present is nothing.

VERS. 11.-- And all the waters. (ID.) The works, namely, of sinners do not obtain the fruit of the heavenly reward, but the destruction of punishments.

VERS. 13.-- The substances of the unjust. They begin to sprout, but they waver in temptation, and suddenly wither at the first heat of persecution.

VERS. 15.-- The grandchildren of the ungodly are not many. Often 1222Dwe see the offspring of the ungodly quickly fail, chiefly when the sons imitate the iniquity of the fathers.

VERS. 18.-- The life of him that is sufficient for himself. Sweet is the sleep of him that labours, whether he eat little or much. Thou shalt find a treasure. For he truly proves himself to be a Christian who believes and does the commandments of Christ.

VERS. 20.-- Wine and music rejoice the heart. These naturally soothe and gladden the soul, but the love of wisdom and a tongue that teaches sweetly strengthens the understanding much more.

VERS. 22.-- The eye shall desire grace and beauty. The adornment, namely, of the temple and the diversity of its worship, which the former people had under the law, the preaching of the Gospel, sown throughout the world, surpasses by the greenness of good works

1223AVERS. 26.-- Riches and powers. (RAB.) Riches given in the Lord, etc., as far as both these and all the resources of the world.

VERS. 30.-- A man that looketh. For it is foolish to be idle, and to seek a reward from another's labour. For every one shall receive according to his own works.

VERS. 32.-- In the mouth of the imprudent want shall be trodden down, [Vulg. condulcabitur, "shall be sweetened"] etc. He whom it pleases to lie idle in torpor, and not to profit his neighbours by teaching, shall at length burn with the pains of hell and with too late repentance.

VERS. 1.-- O death, etc. (RAB.) To him who loves the prosperity of the world and riches, bodily death is bitter, because he neglects the joys of the life to come.

1223BVERS. 5.-- This judgment. (ID.) It is common to all flesh, nor can any man escape it, even though he live a hundred or a thousand years or more; whence: What man is he that shall live, and shall not see death? (Psal. LXXXVIII).

VERS. 8.-- The children of abominations. Abominable are the children of sinners, who, namely, have imitated their ungodly fathers.

VERS. 10.-- Of an ungodly father. He who nourishes his sons ill, or ruins them by his example, is guilty of their destruction. Or, he who begets evil works out of a depraved will, shall be damned for them

VERS. 13.-- Unto destruction. He answers to the things above, in which he discoursed of temporal death: because, as man, created out of the earth, returns for original sin into 1223Cthe earth, though he is to rise again in incorruption; so the ungodly, accursed for their sins, shall go with body and soul into everlasting destruction.

VERS. 15.-- Have a care of a good name, etc. That thou live well and religiously. For thus is a good name gotten.

VERS. 18.-- Better is the man that hideth his folly, etc. He that shall hide up corn shall be cursed among the peoples, but a blessing upon the head of them that sell.

VERS. 19.-- Nevertheless return ye in those things which proceed. [Vulg. reveremini, "revere ye"] Because he foretold that a good name and a good and profitable life are [good], and reproved those who hide knowledge, he persuades that they return to the study of teaching, because it is not good to be irreverent and disobedient 1223Dto one's own teacher.

VERS. 20.-- It is not good to observe every irreverence. [Vulg. reverentiam, "reverence"] According to the letter, he instructs us that we beware of vices, and give our labour to virtues, and that we choose not the worse, despising the better, whereupon follows everlasting confusion.

VERS. 26.-- Turn not away thy face from thy neighbour, etc. (RAB.) When the angels shall gather out of the Church all scandals, etc., as far as and has mingled itself with the fornications of the heretics.

VERS. 27.-- Look not upon another man's wife, etc. Carnal concupiscence, which ought to lie under the spirit: this we ought not to search into, nor to be made subject to its suggestions.

• 1224A

VERS. 1.-- Repeat not the word, etc. (RAB.) He forbids to utter good and evil together out of the secret of the heart; whence: Doth a fountain send forth out of the same hole sweet and bitter water?

VERS. 4.-- Of the equality of the balance, etc. (ID.) Everywhere equity is to be followed, etc., as far as let us also govern those subject to us with the discretion of discipline.

Of the equality of the balance. How greatly hypocrisy and guile displease the Lord is shown by these words: A deceitful balance is an abomination before God. He who weighs the cause of the poor man otherwise than that of the powerful; or who thinks his own errors lighter than those of others; or they who lay upon men's shoulders burdens not to be borne; or he who does good things in public and evil in secret, is abominable 1224Bto the Lord.

VERS. 5.-- And of a very wicked servant. He signifies that the servant who is not corrected by words is to be restrained by stripes. The servant of vices also is to be corrected by severe discipline.

VERS. 7.-- Where there are many hands, etc. He admonishes that where there are divers wills gaping after spiritual gain, dispensing must be done with caution. For some seek the word with a will to tempt, others with a will to learn, but not all things are fitting for all.

VERS. 8.-- Of discipline. He who reproves each one with fitting discipline shows himself learned and an approved teacher in the sight of the saints. Nor is youthful age to be despised in a teacher whom life and discretion commend.

1224CVERS. 9.-- The daughter of the father. (RAB.) Mystically the daughter of the father, etc., as far as or she may transgress the law of God, being made barren in all good things.

The daughter of the father. He teaches, to the letter, that parents bear the care of their offspring, and nourish them with discipline, and that they loose not the reins to wantonness and pleasure.

VERS. 11.-- Over a wanton daughter, etc. Who requires a diligent keeping. For if she is left to her own will, she confounds her teacher and makes him blush in the multitude of the people. Whence, she ministers to thee perilously whose countenance thou often regardest. For unchaste eyes know not how to consider the beauty of the soul, but that of bodies.

VERS. 14.-- For better is the iniquity of a man, etc. (ID.) The woman signifies either the sex, etc., as far as 1224Dbecause she does things worthy of confusion.

VERS. 15.-- I will remember therefore the works, etc. (ID.) Thus far he has discoursed of divers matters, etc., as far as and afterward he describes the strong deeds of the fathers.

VERS. 19.-- For the Lord hath known, etc. Because all the ages of the world are present to him, with whom nothing is past, nothing to come; he alone reveals mysteries, who knows the hearts of each, who beholds all thoughts and words.

VERS. 21.-- The great works of wisdom. When, namely, he revealed to the prophets and to the apostles the sacrament of his counsel, hidden from ages and generations, to the faithful. For he himself is before all and after all, to whom nothing is added, nothing diminished.

1225AVERS. 23.-- And as a spark. We consider the works of God as it were a spark, because we perceive but a small knowledge thereof.

VERS. 25.-- All things are double, etc. (RAB.) God has so ordered all things, that the things which seem contrary to one another may agree, as the elements or the four seasons.

VERS. 1.-- Of the height, etc. (ID.) the beauty of the firmament, etc., as far as none can bear with bodily eyes the splendour of the Godhead.

VERS. 3.-- Keeping the furnace. Because the eternal flame torments the proud for their evil thought, speech, and working.

VERS. 5.-- And in his words, etc. (ID.) 1225BWith mystic words he mocks the understanding of the proud. He hath hastened, etc. When in the preaching of the Gospel the way of salvation and the entrance of the heavenly kingdom was made ready.

VERS. 6.-- And the moon, etc. (ID.) After he had discoursed of the sun, etc., as far as but it is more rightly assigned to April, because in it it either begins, or ends, or is wholly contained.

VERS. 7.-- The lamp which is diminished, etc. The moon has not her own inborn splendour, but receives it from the sun: so also the Church from Christ, which in persecution seems to be diminished, but in part grows bright; for it increases wondrously at the consummation.

VERS. 9.-- The vessel of the camps, etc. Because in her consists the multitude of the faithful, which in the firmament of truth and of divine preaching shines gloriously 1225Cthroughout the whole world.

VERS. 10.-- The beauty of heaven, etc. The adornment of the Church, the fulness of the saints, whom the most high God ordained, that they might give light by the preaching of the Gospel. These, abiding in holy words and in the doctrine of the true faith, look for the judgment of God.

VERS. 11.-- In words. Because in their patience they possess their souls, having their loins girded; and holding lamps in their hands, they await their Lord, when he shall return from the wedding.

VERS. 12.-- See the rainbow, etc. The writing of the Old or of the New Testament. Here a sweet yoke is shown to the faithful, terrible arms to the stubborn.

VERS. 13.-- He hath encompassed the heaven, etc. When through the power and the wisdom of God, that is, through Christ, the Old and 1225Dthe New Testament was founded.

VERS. 16.-- And the stones of hail were broken. The teachers, who water the earth of the human heart, and bear within themselves the tempest of rebuke, and pour it forth in due time, and break the stones of hail; that is, by rebuking they stone the hardness of a depraved heart, the living grass.

VERS. 17.-- The south wind shall blow. (RAB.) Which is also Auster, etc., as far as mighty for the persecution of the Christian name, and sometimes for repentance.

VERS. 18.-- A tempest. God lays upon us divers trials by the malignant spirits, that they may make the fervour of faith and love grow cold.

VERS. 21.-- Frost as salt, etc. That is, barrenness; 1226Afor where salt is scattered, barrenness follows: but the devil, through the cold of unbelief, makes earthly hearts barren of good works.

VERS. 24.-- A medicine, etc. All eloquence fails in comparison with him, nor does it suffice to declare his power.

VERS. 26.-- They that sail the sea, etc. Many, to the letter, are the perils of the sea, and there are the wonderful works of God in divers beasts, as the writers of natural things have handed down. In the sea also of this world there are many monsters of demons, and many snares of theirs.

VERS. 34.-- Labour not, etc. (RAB.) To comprehend that which is incomprehensible. Whence seek not riches to which thou canst not attain.

• 1226B

VERS. 1.-- Let us praise men, etc. Disputing morally, and touching in very many places allegory and anagogy, he has published the mysteries of the divine sacrament; and now he begins to tell of the holy fathers. Our parents. The patriarchs, who enjoyed divine speech and vision; and the prophets, who, filled with the Holy Spirit, foresang many mysteries of Christ and of the Church.

VERS. 12.-- In the testaments he stood, etc. (RAB.) These things, according to the history, concerning the patriarchs, etc., as far as when the seed of good works shall be recompensed with a heavenly reward.

VERS. 16.-- Henoch pleased God. Not from Adam, etc., as far as that he may give men counsel of repentance.

VERS. 17.-- Noe was found, etc. When, the world perishing 1226Cby the flood, he was preserved, that he might preach repentance to the nations, and show by his example that they who devoutly serve God are delivered from everlasting destruction. With him God established a covenant, that he would no more destroy all flesh with the waters of a flood (Gen. XVII). And he signifies the rulers, who amid the waves of the world govern the ark, that is, the Church, and preach the baptism of repentance, appeasing God by prayers and by sacrifices for the human race.

VERS. 21.-- In his flesh he maketh the covenant to stand, etc. (RAB.) That it might be signified that our nature is renewed through the baptism of Christ, after the despoiling of the old man.

VERS. 22.-- Therefore by an oath, etc. The promise to Abraham is twofold. In the sand of the sea are expressed the barren 1226DJews; in the likeness of the stars, the faithful Christians, who shall shine with the light of the resurrection as the stars of heaven.

VERS. 26.-- And he gave him an inheritance, etc. Of the Gentile people, which came later to the grace of faith and to the regeneration of baptism, to whom the fulness of the fatherly blessing came.

VERS. 6.-- Commandments. On mount Sinai, namely, he gave him the law and the precepts of life, speaking with him in the cloud.

VERS. 9.-- And he girded him about, etc. He describes the rite of the ancient priesthood and the adornment of the high priest, all which things were a figure of the New Testament, and of the true priest Jesus Christ. And he clothed him. The vestments of the high priest are the works of the virtues: wisdom, doctrine.

VERS. 14.-- A golden crown, etc. In which was the name of almighty God, which signifies the honour of the divine majesty, since we ought to set above all things that in all our acts and words God be honoured through Jesus Christ, who is our head (I Petr. IV).

VERS. 17.-- Sacrifices. (RAB.) How Moses, Aaron, etc., as far as for the priesthood of Christ and the rite of the sacrifices shall abide for ever.

VERS. 28.-- Phinees the son of Eleazar. (ID.) Phinees, as it is written in the book of Numbers (Cap. XXV), etc., as far as he came happily to the mountain of strength, that is, to Christ. 1227B

VERS. 31.-- And the testament of David. (ID.) He signifies that David, in the distribution of the ministries of God, etc., as far as and in the tabernacle he ordained the courses of the ministers.

VERS. 1.-- Valiant in war was Jesus the son of Nave. (RAB.) Jesus both in deed and in word signifies Christ, etc., as far as triumphing over principalities and powers in himself.

VERS. 4.-- Who before him, etc. (ID). How at the onset of Joshua the sun was hindered, etc., as far as they shall be shortened in the time of perdition.

VERS. 9.-- From sins. Of despair, when, the rumours of the spies being heard, they despaired of entering 1227Cthe land.

VERS. 13.-- And the judges every one, etc. (RAB.) After Joshua there succeeded judges who defended the people of God from their enemies; and after the passion of Christ, the apostles, rulers of the Church of God.

VERS. 14.-- That their memory may be, etc. Because they persevered in the right faith, that their memory might be established with perpetual blessing. The bones. The strength of good works is given for a reward, that the memory of their name may be handed on to posterity with glory.

VERS. 16.-- Beloved of the Lord, etc. (RAB.) The history relates that the Lord, to the child Samuel, etc., as far as he pronounces to evil rulers a punishment to come and everlasting death.

• 1227D

VERS. 1.-- After this rose up Nathan. To the letter, he commemorates the deeds of David, of which the book of Kings and of Paralipomenon most fully relate.

VERS. 2.-- As the fat. He signifies him to be filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, separated in life and in manners from the fellowship of carnal men.

VERS. 3.-- He played with lions. (RAB.) David signifies Christ, etc., as far as and he gave him a name which is above every name.

VERS. 14.-- After him rose up a wise son. (ID.) Mystically, Solomon, etc., as far as as in one threshing-floor the grains signify the good, but the chaff the evil.

VERS. 23.-- That thou mightest make an empire, etc. (ID.) Because 1228Aten tribes followed Jeroboam, and two Roboam; of Ephraim was Jeroboam, who first reigned cruelly over the ten tribes.

VERS. 27.-- And he left behind him, etc. (ID.) Mystically, Roboam, who is interpreted the breadth of the people, etc., as far as he remained in the rule of the catholic faith.

VERS. 28.-- He turned away the people by his counsel. Believing, namely, the counsel of the young men.

VERS. 1.-- And Elias arose. (RAB.) Who burned up with heavenly fire the two captains of fifty sent by king Ozias (IV Reg. I).

VERS. 2.-- Who brought in. (ID.) Mystically, the famine of three years figured the hunger of the word of God and of the faith of the Trinity, etc., as far as that afterward he might come who, neither 1228Btranslated nor carried up, should pierce the ethereal heaven by his own power.

VERS. 13.-- Elias indeed was in a whirlwind, etc. (ID.) Since the disciple is not above his master, etc., as far as for he who touches the death of Christ with firm faith is partaker of his resurrection.

Fulfilled in Eliseus. Who prayed on the day: Let thy spirit be double in me, and obtained it. Whence he was unconquerable in patience and in virtue, who both in life and in death wrought many signs.

VERS. 17.-- There was left a very small people. Because the house of David, and the tribe of Juda, and Benjamin, did not utterly cast off the worship of God, but some of them were idolaters, as Joram and Achaz: others clave to God, as Ezechias and Josias.

1228CVERS. 19.-- Ezechias fortified his city, etc. (RAB.) That Ezechias stopped up the fountain, etc., as far as the city, its enemies destroyed, is fully shown in Paralipomenon to have been delivered.

VERS. 1. The memory of Josias. (RAB.) The memory of king Josias, etc., as far as he himself by the zeal of God cleanses the land of Juda and Jerusalem from all abominations, who says: The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up.

VERS. 5.-- Except David, and Ezechias, and Josias, etc. These three, in comparison with the others, are not said to have sinned. For what they sinned, they blotted out by worthy penance, and by devotion and piety they pleased God.

1228DVERS. 8.-- They burned the chosen city of holiness, etc. (ID.) Certain men understand this place in the person of Christ, etc., as far as but these being destroyed, he built the Church of God.

VERS. 10.-- Ezechiel who saw, etc. (ID.) Mystically, Ezechiel, etc., as far as and to have foretold remedies to the penitent.

VERS. 11.-- In the shower. He signifies that he preached that a rain of vengeance was to come upon sinners, and promised the consolation of mercy to those walking by the way of the commandments of God.

VERS. 13.-- For he also, etc. Because he signifies Christ, who is the image of God: that whosoever shall believe in God, he may be sealed as with a ring.

1229AVERS. 14.-- And Jesus the son of Josedec. Because through the grace of Jesus Christ, who is our king and priest, after the captivity of the devil's oppression, the Church is built again.

VERS. 15.-- Nehemias. (RAB.) God the comforter, or comforted by the Lord, etc., as far as who builds the city of God, that is, the Church, and comforts the mourning.

VERS. 16.-- No man, etc. Enoch, dedication. This signifies Christ, who built and consecrated the Church with his own blood; who came into the world without sin, and is to be received with glory into heaven.

VERS. 17.-- As Joseph. Joseph, like Jacob his father, desired the land of promise, and detested Egypt; instructing us that we should desire the land 1229Bof the living, that we may rest in peace.

VERS. 18.-- And his bones were visited. (RAB.) He signifies that Joseph, etc., as far as and they buried him in Sichem, which is Neapolis, a city of the Samaritans.

VERS. 19.-- Seth and Sem, etc. Seth the son of Adam, and Sem the firstborn of Noe, were preferred, as well in faith as in manners, before the men of their own time; in whom Christ is signified, who is God and man.

VERS. 1.-- Simon the son of Onias. (RAB.) He came to men in his own time, etc., as far as since Jesus describes so expressly the life and the manners of Simon.

VERS. 3.-- The wells of waters. The depths of the Scriptures, which lie hid under figures in the divine books, 1229Cbut overflow from the mouth of the preachers, as it were a sea, to the satisfying of very many.

VERS. 5.-- And he enlarged the entrance of the house of the court. [Vulg. ingressum domus et atrii, "the entrance of the house and of the court"] Because in the rude, whom the court signifies, and in the perfect, who are signified by the house, the merit of the masters increases.

VERS. 11.-- In his receiving the robe, etc. The order of preachers, in receiving the robe of glory, and in clothing itself with the consummation of the virtues, shows the judgment of its own dignity, and the adornment of faith, and the vesture of good working. For these things ought to appear in priests, that they may be able worthily to teach.

VERS. 13.-- And in receiving the portions from the hand of the priest. [Vulg. de manu sacerdotum, "from the hand of the priests," plural] He receives the portions from the hand of the priest, who exacts from his ministers the act of good working.

VERS. 15.-- And performing the consummation at the altar. The consummated oblation is given to the most high King, when the body of Christ is offered to God.

VERS. 17.-- He poured out at the foundation. In commemoration of Christ, who is the foundation of the Church, the odour of this oblation is most sweet to God almighty.

VERS. 18.-- Then the sons of Aaron cried out. The priests of Christ set forth their preaching through a consummated passion. Well are the trumpets called beaten out, because preachers grow the more, the more they are struck with the hammers of tribulations.

VERS. 19.-- Then all the people, etc. When the ecclesiastical office is performed by the ministers of the altar in 1230Amemory of Christ, the people, stirred up to the praise of God, prostrates itself upon its face, that is, shows the humility of its heart. To give prayers to the Almighty. Because whatsoever is done for the love of God is before God a prayer and an odour of sweetness; because the whole Church is busied that it may persevere in prayer until the end of the world, when the body of Christ shall be honoured in incorruption, and the members shall be joined to their own head.

VERS. 21.-- And the people besought, etc. (RAB.) Because whatsoever is offered to God in the unity of faith is received with him; whatsoever is outside it, is reckoned to impiety. A great sound is made in the Church, when to the priests praying and blessing all the people answers: Amen: which sound pertains as well to the cry of the voice as to the devotion of the heart.

1230BVERS. 22.-- Then coming down, etc. The assembly of the saints rejoicing. He lifted up. When it gives thanks for the perfection of the labour in the salvation of the whole people, then it multiplies praises, repeats prayer, because it never ceases from praises.

VERS. 23.-- To show the power of God. To preach, namely, his mercy, who gives us joy of heart, and peace in eternal times, that all the men of Israel, and the lovers of the eternal King, may preach the power and the goodness of God in the deliverance of his people.

VERS. 27.-- Two nations, etc. A twofold ruin, namely, heathenism, which is polluted with idolatry and with vain conversation.

VERS. 29.-- The doctrine of wisdom, etc. He commends his own work, 1230Cshowing how profitable it is to him that reads, that meditates, and that works.

VERS. 1.-- The prayer of Jesus the son of Sirach. It is better referred to the whole Church than to one person, because in it many kinds of tribulations and divers consolations are described.

I will give glory to thee, O Lord the king. (RAB.) Jesus Christ is the helper and protector of his spouse, who delivered himself up for her, that he might free her from the perdition of original sin.

VERS. 5.-- The gates of tribulations. These are the mouths of princes and of tyrants, whence come forth threats and deceits, which compel the servants of God to deny the faith.

1230DVERS. 6.-- From the pressure of the flame. This befell the three children bodily in the furnace of fire; but all the saints are delivered spiritually from the heat of persecution.

VERS. 9.-- And my life was drawing near to hell. Because the life of the flesh, daily failing, tends toward death. For he calls death hell, because the death of the flesh is the vengeance of the first sin, as hell is the perpetual punishment of sinning souls.

VERS. 10.-- They compassed me about on every side, etc. The Church, seeing herself to be compassed about by enemies, and human consolation to be wanting, seeks help from God, from whom is every good, to whom she ascribes it that she is delivered from her enemies.

1231AVERS. 18.-- When I was yet younger. (RAB.) In youth, or in boyhood, etc., as far as how from infancy he sought wisdom.

Before I wandered, etc. He signifies that before the error of boyhood or of youth he desired wisdom, and asked it of the Lord, and persevered even to the last.

VERS. 19.-- As an early grape. He compares the comeliness of wisdom to an early grape, that he may show that delight is with her. For a grape is called early because it ripens quickly.

VERS. 24.-- I purposed, etc. (RAB.) First he says that he entered into counsel that he might do it, etc., as far 1232Aas for being thus confirmed, he shall come to the fruit of wisdom.

VERS. 29.-- My belly. Moved to repentance through the knowledge of wisdom. Therefore. To come to the perfection of wisdom is not of human study, but of a divine gift.

VERS. 30.-- The Lord hath given me, etc. A good reward is a learned tongue, which made [him] instruct and correct the brethren.

VERS. 37.-- Let the soul rejoice. Great is the joy of the heart, if it remembers the mercy of the judge on high.