The horn cast down; rulers and the people under discipline

For sorrow, when it persists, induces a weakness akin to old age. For he did not allow me to escape the terrors that surround me on every side, besieging me. One might perhaps also say that the wall cast upon the city is a long, laborious burden. Yet he left me the same voice that David once uttered, saying: “He has made me sit in darkness as those who are dead of the age.” This is due both to the siege works raised against me from all sides and simultaneously to the afflictions that come from God; for the trials of the soul are darkness. Specifically, “Jeremiah was cast by Pashhur into the cistern,” a place dark and lightless, just as the cave in which David hid from Saul was dark. These two laments could also be understood as referring to Christ, of whom Jeremiah was a type, having suffered so much at the hands of the Jews and ultimately being handed over to the grave. He has clothed me in bitter things, placing upon my neck a people that is cruel and provoking, a burden heavier than what is due to me. Though I often prayed for relief, my cries were not heard; for even the prayers of the saints are sometimes hindered by circumstances. One might also liken this to the yoke and the iron chains, which God substituted for the wooden ones he had commanded, and they were placed upon me; for it is reported, and even written, that he weighed down the bronze of my neck. Indeed, he blocked my prayer and said to me: “Do not pray concerning them; for I will not hear you.” Moreover, having often been stirred to action, I was not permitted to withdraw from the burden. For he declared: “I will not name the name of the Lord,” and he was driven on as though by fire. He also obstructs the ways of the sinners, not allowing them to sin twelve times.

But such is not the prophet, who indeed says: "I did not sit in the council of those who revel." He declares that every arrow of his has been spent against me, piercing my desire and refusing to let me act as I wish. For in the Scripture, the kidneys represent the faculty of desire, and the arrows are the missiles. Moreover, they have driven me onward as a liar, having made me sing a song. And having come upon me, he said: "I sat alone, because I was filled with bitterness," and what follows: the one indeed prayed for them, while the others plotted against them; yet nevertheless, the ministry was not to be declined. Thus, he prevailed and suffered all things at their hands, and he sympathized with them in their suffering, while he himself grew arrogant beneath them, acting impiously. He says, either by vote or by number, that for each tooth of the one gnashing against the cheek, there is either a hard stone. And concerning David, he says: "I ate my bread with ashes," meaning that he did not take bread with pleasure, but under affliction. Therefore, the soul could not be in peace, being troubled within and still seeing disturbances from without, and within, battles. Hence, hoping for nothing good, I have dismissed the voices of Job: "Mercy has departed from me, and my hope is from the Lord." For it was not possible to overcome the dreadful things that surround. For being good toward all, he demands our endurance. For the soul that seeks him, it is good to seek, which waits without being disturbed, until mercy answers it, and does not waver, until the saving appearance of the Lord is revealed, so that one may hope in another. Perhaps, too, he will be silent, saying that he does not meddle excessively in the providence of judgments.

It is therefore necessary, even if we are ignorant, not to neglect the Lord. For "His yoke is easy and His burden is light." Even if no one agrees with Him on this matter, we must not follow the crowd, but even if we are left alone in this stance, we must persevere and be firmly rooted in what has been decided. For the Lord says, as David declares, "He makes the solitary dwell in a house," and "I am alone until I pass over," clearly referring to those who attain the trials of philanthropy. For He humbles Himself by saying, "I am dust and ashes," if indeed He is truly a man, and the hope that does not shame is filled within Him, just as it is written, "My soul clings to the dust." This also applies to those in captivity who speak the words of the seventy-third Psalm: "Why, O God, have You cast us off forever? Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?" Yet in agreement with this, it is said, "The Lord will not cast off forever, nor will He be angry to the end." And He will say to the one who has turned to worthiness: "Let your voice cease from weeping, and your eyes from tears." Through these things we learn that the Lord did not say, nor is He the cause of the humiliation of the earth's prisoners under sin, nor does He incline human judgments against God; for the Lord loves justice and uprightness, and He does not even condemn the worthy man. For He says, it is impossible for opposites to proceed from the mouth of the Lord—both good and evil. For neither does a good tree produce bad fruit, nor does a bad tree...