Deceitful Speech and the Deliverance of the Poor

It is a threat of burning, but the divine thing that awakens is rather the fire as a starting point. Along with these, the Spirit indicates a turning of some kind of storm of temptation. And as to what kind of temptation the storm indicates, it is clearly to be learned from that which is written in Isaiah: 'As a storm passing through the desert, coming near, its appearance is fearful and its hardness was announced to me.' Let us therefore flee from impiety, so that this cup may be far from us, and let us live in piety, so that we may drink the intoxicating cup as strongest; for perhaps even that is said: 'The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup.'

For the Lord is just and loved justice, and straightness is his face. For this reason, he watches his eyes over the poor for his salvation, but also upon the sinners he sends snares. For it does not happen by chance, if it becomes of the providence and the judgment of God; for the Lord is just in essence, not merely in participation of justice. Moreover, even if he does not have it by nature, he does not love the justices that are in the many righteous, accepting the intention of each. It is also possible to say another way that he loves justices; since there is justice in the judgment of each, and the judgments of God are many, about which it is written: 'The judgments of the Lord are true and justified'; on the same basis, it is necessary that many justices also exist. And as he is just, so also seeing straightness; and straightness you say is the opinion being regulated toward the right reason; he sees this rejoicing in those who have it. It may also be said regarding straightness in harmony with the second thought concerning the justiceses existing in his unsearchable judgments, which he sees because of the utterly accepting of his face; for God appears present in the works of providence and in the results of the judgments.

As the fullness of the deceit and wickedness of humanity, as if there were no mercy and truth and knowledge of God on the earth, there has become a need for the arrival of the Savior toward us, for the destruction of the existing harm (Ps 11:1). To this end that which is in Jeremiah shall take place: 'Each will play with his neighbor, they will not speak truth; their tongue has learned to speak lies' (Ps 11:2). Why is it not 'the truth' but 'the truths'? The one reason is because of the...

The various impieties in transactions, and the wrong opinions in dogmas. For it is not necessary to consider the members of the body being destroyed, but their deceitful use and their boastful speech; for even in Proverbs it is said: 'Remove from yourself a crooked mouth and long deceitful lips from you' (Prov 20:14). Our lips are with us; who is our master? From this audacity the impious man, prospering in finding what he desires, utters a voice like that in Job (Job 10:2): 'Depart from me, I do not wish to know your ways; what is sufficient, what shall we serve him?' For indeed they do not think the prosperity coming to them is due to anything, saying to the Lord: 'Depart; do not make your ways manifest to me; for I do not wish to know them; for what more is of us sufficient, that we may serve you?'

Regarding the impious ones thinking much of themselves as having a boastful tongue and deceitful lips, the poor suffer and the needy groan, not bearing their tyranny (Ps 11:6). Therefore the Lord says: 'I will arise now, having placed my counsel in salvation; I will speak boldly in it against those swelling up proudly of the lowly; and I will release the poor and the needy from suffering and groaning.' You say 'the poor' and in this also 'the needy' to exhort themselves through the weakness coming to them or through the wickedness leading to such a state. Indeed, they have not become superior to suffering and groaning, because the Lord, at the time of the visitation, has arisen and has come to us so that the salvation of those who have suffered and groaned might be made manifest. It is indeed appropriate to hear the following: 'I am a wretched man; who will rescue me from this body of death?' (Rom 7:24). Upon which, speaking boldly thereafter, he says: 'I thank God through Jesus Christ.' For it is shown through these things how Jesus Christ, who rescued the wretched one from the body of death, is the one who said: 'I will arise now,' says the Lord. It is possible to say that the poor are those fallen from wealth, and the needy are those whose living is made through toil; and according to this understanding, the poor and needy are...