Unit 6 rem close

He says they are by nature saying: "Lord, Lord, who is like you?" The way of evil is wickedness itself; and the foot of the lawless is iniquity itself. And it will perish on the day of judgment: a habit formed by the way, and an energy by the foot, will be perceived. Just as vinegar in a wound that has the beginning of corruption is incongruous, though it is food for sweetness, so the contemplation and conversation of a woman scatter the heart of the one who gives himself over to virtue and has a beginning. For what falls upon the heart is a passion, which is wickedness; and by its absence, some are called apathetic. –Grief is a corrupt privation of corrupt pleasure; but grief is also a praiseworthy privation of virtues and the knowledge of God. He says here that bread is the solid nourishment of the soul’s commandments; and drink, that it signifies divine knowledge; and coals of fire, that they are the gifts of the all-holy Spirit, which inflame and purify the wrinkles of men; for a coal of fire touched the lips of Isaiah’s seraphim at one time; and the one who has been cleansed, learns fieriness, and cries out to all: for by this kindness and beneficence, purifying oneself, the ruling part, you will make the fiery graces of the Holy Spirit compel him, not only to take hold, but also to make him your zealous worker in every good work, as if he had become your familiar friend before God in all things. He said the devil is a shameless person, stirring up the soul toward evil, and raising up, like northern clouds, evil thoughts against the soul; but everywhere Solomon says the tongue is the mind: therefore this person ought to be ashamed in judgment, which is not good.

Here then falls a righteous mind in the presence of Satan, accepting a corrupt line of reasoning, or a false doctrine. And one who turns away from the fountain of wisdom, rejecting its knowledge, and purifies the notions of the mind—these are called falls, and these are called risings, and these are called seats, and these are called standings, and these are called walks, and some of them are called stumbling blocks; and others are called hard and soft, and fragrant and foul, and sweet and bitter, and smooth and straight, and scholia. And again, some of its parts are called thorns and thistles, and others are called light and darkness, and life and death; and still others are called sickness and health, and again they are named falsehood and truth; and many other names does Scripture assign, both to the soul and to its notions. But a few things out of many are to be said: these are mind, soul, heart, man, male, female, slave, servant, father, son, spirit, eye, mouth, lips, tongue, larynx, belly, bosom, arm, finger, nostril, sheep, goat, shepherd, and many other names of the soul, which it is not now possible to set forth in detail. Counsel he spoke of here as the inclination of the heart toward the better: when someone does not call upon the divine help of God within himself, and forms a plan to do something good after reflection, but instead begins arrogantly and boastfully—it will not be completed, but rather what he undertakes will come to misfortune, because he has not surrounded himself with the divine aid of God for counsel.

Here he says the horse refers to the swift man who is receptive to learning, wisdom, and justice; but he is goaded by means of enigmas. The donkey, however, is pricked with a goad; the slow one among these hard sayings is pricked, instilling fear in them. But to the foolish nation, it is said they shall be struck with a rod, for he sets boundaries over the faithless servants or those under authority; the rod, after all, is a symbol of correction. From his own feet, etc. Here he says the feet are the servants; and shame comes upon the master from them, when he sends a message by a foolish messenger, or by counsel, or wisdom, or embassy, or alliance, or sympathetic words. For the foolish are defeated in all things; and indeed the Lord says in the Gospels: Do not give what is holy to dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine. 17.240 Remove the foolish man’s evil way, and make his false knowledge long departed from him. Whoever gives knowledge to the foolish is like one who binds an honorless stone in a sling with gold; or like one who binds a precious stone in a sling and hurls it at stone-throwers. If the ecstasy of the foolish is shattered—by which they were estranged from God—then, having become clean again, they draw near to God; for all flesh shall see the salvation of God. But take heed here: that the souls purged of wickedness, he has called the flesh of the foolish; and so the Lord says: My spirit shall not remain in man forever, because they are flesh. The one who casts off,