call upon me in the day of your tribulation, and I will deliver you, and you will honor me. Do you see what an abundant reward is being offered? What then could be equal to such kindness, when He gives us rewards even for virtue itself, and rewards much greater than the labors, and granted at the most opportune time? And why, he says, did He say: Call upon me? Why does He wait to be called upon by us? Wishing to create a closer relationship for us, and to make our friendship with Him warmer, by giving, and by being called upon, and by receiving. For virtue draws us to God, and the recompense effects the same; and prayer, in turn, strengthens this relationship. That is why He says: Give to me, and I give to you. And in the act of giving, you yourself receive; for He is in no need of these things. Thus, even if you become upright, or moderate, or temperate, you have added nothing to God, but you have made yourself brilliant and better; yet, nonetheless, for these things, as if one were benefiting Him, He appoints for you most great rewards and crowns. And before those crowns, you enjoy no small pleasure, being nurtured by a good conscience, and winged by wholesome hopes. By "day of tribulation" He means here, not that of calamities or of circumstances, but that even if sin wages war, or the devil besieges, introducing evil desires, you will enjoy great alliance. And I will deliver you, and you will honor me. Again, He says this, not because He is in need of glory from us (for how would the God of glory be?), but so that through the hymn of thanksgiving the memory of the benefit might remain, and the affection toward Him might be warmer, and that we might first receive the greatest well-being. 6. One will not err from the proper meaning if he says that the day of tribulation spoken of here is the future day; for that tribulation is incessant. In this present life, death coming upon us dissolves calamities, and friends console, and there is an end that is awaited, and often the hoped-for change of affairs, and length of time, soften the soul’s passion, and the misfortune of neighbors. For having fellow-sufferers in painful things, and seeing many such examples, has seemed to many to be a great comfort. But there, there is nothing of the kind; for neither is anyone present to console, but all are in a desert of friends. No length of time softens the pain (for how could it, with the flame pressing on throughout?); there is no hope of departure; for the punishment is eternal; there is no expectation of death; for the retribution is immortal, and the bodies that are being punished are also immortal; but not even this seems to bring comfort to many—to see others in punishment. In the first place, it is not even possible to see those being punished, with the darkness overshadowing the eyes instead of any barrier; then, the excess of the pain does not even allow for a perception of this consolation. The rich man, at least, reaped no word of consolation from that source, nor do those who gnash their teeth. And to the sinner God said: Why do you recount my ordinances? You have seen the perfectly tuned lyre, the harmonious cithara, sounding one harmony in diverse notes? For this meaning can be seen both among the apostles and set forth by other prophets; and Paul says something like this, showing himself also, that there is no benefit in teaching others, when one does not first learn by taking hold of oneself. Since they were proud as if regarding their sacrifices, so also regarding the fact that they possessed the law and were named teachers of others, showing that they reap nothing great when they themselves remain unlearned, and rebuking such people more severely, he says: You therefore who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one must not steal, do you steal? You who abhor idols, do you commit sacrilege? You who boast in the law, through transgression of the law do you dishonor God? For this reason he also said concerning himself: I fear, lest by any means, after having preached to others, I myself should become disqualified; castigating the puffed-up pride of those who were great in their pretensions because of teaching the word, while they themselves were empty of virtue. And he handles this argument differently, turning it toward the Jews, when he says: For when the Gentiles who do not have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves. And again: For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified. And the prophet: They that hold fast to the law knew me not. And again: In vain have they been made a lying bow for the scribes. For what reason? Because the turtledove and the swallow and the field sparrows knew the times of their coming, but my people did not know my judgments. And this man says that he does not only gain nothing from teaching others, while he does not pursue virtue, but also that he is cast out from this chairmanship. For if, in the courts of the world, he who acts wrongly is punished with the dishonor of silence, how, he says, could one who is liable for sin have a voice in the common school of instruction? And this school is greater than that court. There, indeed, those who are punished pay penalties; here, however, everything is done so that the fault committed may be corrected. And in the royal courts no one would be an interpreter of the royal voice who has been convicted of corrupt living, but one would be punished by repentance. For why do you recount ordinances, and teach others, and yet do the opposite, your life contradicting what is said, and turning away some of those who wish to pay heed? For you do not teach as much by words as you drive away by your deeds. For this reason Christ also praises that teacher who displays his teaching perfected both by works and by words. For whoever performs and teaches, He says, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Let your life, therefore, have a brilliant voice, teaching these things; even if you lock your mouth, you will sound more brilliantly than a trumpet, both to those present and to those who are far away. Thus the heaven declares the glory of God, not having a mouth, nor moving a tongue, nor emitting a spirit from below, but by the beauty of its appearance leading the spectator to wonder at the Creator. Therefore, whatever the beauty of the appearance is there in heaven, let virtue be that in your soul. But if you are defiled, and have ten thousand accusers, and before all, your conscience, and you strive to seize the teacher’s throne, when you reproach wickedness, you will be accusing not others so much as yourself. And do you take up my covenant through your mouth? He rightly said: Through your mouth. For the heart is destitute of the fruits thereof.
and the lips are moved in vain, and to the condemnation of him who speaks. But if anyone should examine the mind, he will find a great war. A 17. *But you have hated discipline and cast my words behind you.* By discipline he here means the instruction of the Law, which composes the soul, drives away vice, and implants virtue. How, therefore, do you handle it, and sow [it] in others, while you do not have it in your own deeds? For you have cast, he says, my words behind you. You have not only failed to make progress, but you have even mutilated what you have by nature. For the principles of things that ought to be done and ought not to be done are implanted in us by nature. But you have repelled them and not held them in your memory.
18. *If you saw a thief, you ran with him, and set your portion with adulterers.* Since it is impossible for a man to be entirely liable to no sin—and for this reason someone said, "Who will boast that he has a clean heart? Or who will boldly say he is pure from sin?" (Prov. 20:9); and Paul, when he had said, "I am conscious of nothing in myself," added, "Yet I am not justified in this" (1 Cor. 4:4); and, "A just man is his own accuser at the beginning of his speech" (Prov. 18:17), clearly of his own sins—that therefore no one might be able to say, "If all are sinners, and He has ordered a sinner not to relate [His] righteousness, who then shall relate [them]?"—so that no one might say these things, He enumerates the kinds of sins by species. For there is a sin unto death (1 John 5:16), just as Heli also used to say: "If a man sins by sinning, the priest shall pray for him; but if he sins against the Lord, who shall pray for him?" (1 Reg. 2:25). In the Law, also, some things were indeed incurable, as even to be punished by death, while others had some very ready remedy. Thus also Christ in the New [Testament]: "If your brother sins," He says, "argue with him between you and him alone. But if he will not hear, take with you two more. If he will not hear even them, let him be to you as an ethnic and a publican" (Matt. 18:15). And yet, when Peter asked elsewhere, "How often, if my brother sins against me, shall I forgive him?" he heard, "Until seventy times seven" (ibid. 21). Here, however, after two admonitions, He shows the transgression to be great, and compels [one] not to wait again.
What, therefore? Are these things contrary to those? God forbid. But that "seventy times seven" He says *if* he repents. For how will anyone forgive him who neither confesses that he has sinned nor is led by repentance? For when we seek remedies from a physician, we show [him] the wound. Who, therefore, is the sinner of whom the Scripture here speaks? Let us listen attentively. For He describes him through those things that follow, thus saying: *If you saw a thief, you ran with him, and set your portion with adulterers. 19. Your mouth abounds in malice, and your tongue wove deceits. 20. Sitting, you spoke against your brother, and against the son of your mother you set a stumbling block.* Do you see the wickedness, as if in some image, described in its own colors? And how B the rogue has become a beast through vice, while he has betrayed the nobility of nature? Let us not, therefore, treat this image lightly, but inquire into each detail accurately.
*If you saw a thief, you ran with him.* To praise vice is a sin; one must feel indignation toward those who sin. This is the cause of all evils: this is what most overturns virtue, what retards and represses the zeal of many toward things that are honest—when some not only do not rebuke [it], but even congratulate those who sin. Now this is no less than to sin. Hear Paul saying: "Not only do they do these things, but they also consent to those who do them" (Rom. 1:32). Now this is not a small sin—even if one does not do the evil things—to rejoice together with the wicked, and to congratulate them. For that [first] man can plead necessity, can blame poverty, even if these are not just pretexts; but why do you praise what has been done, when you do not perceive any pleasure from it? And that [man] might perhaps be led to repentance; you, however, close these doors against yourself as well, you take away the medicine, and you overturn such great consolation, blocking for yourself on every side the return to repentance.
When, therefore, he sees you, who ought to rebuke others—not being liable to sin—not only not doing this, but even making excuses for and casting a shadow over [the sin]; and not only casting a shadow, but even bringing help: what will he think about himself, and what about that which has been committed? For many men, in the greatest part, do not form a judgment about things to be done from those things they have conceived in their own mind, but also [are] corrupted by the practice and opinion of others; and if any man who has sinned sees all turning away from him, he will think that he has committed some great and unworthy wickedness; but when he sees [them] not only not indignant, but even bearing it calmly, and indeed even flattering, with the judgment of [his] conscience subsequently corrupted, with the opinion of the many supporting his own depraved mind, what will he not dare? And when will he condemn himself, and cease to sin without scruple?
It is necessary, therefore, even if one does evil, to condemn oneself; for through that one arrives at ceasing from evil, and, if one does not do the things that are good and honest, [at least] to praise them. For the way to working is eagerness. But here, since he applauds the things that are done, He justly pricks and marks him out significantly and vehemently. For if, even when rebuked, vice flourishes so much, and praised virtue hardly provokes its own to sweat: what will it be if this has not been done? One might see this C happening even in a choir of priests; and if this is grave even in disciples, it is much more so in teachers. [When?] it is contemplated [how] so many sins have been committed by one of those who perform the priesthood, the infernal things have been confounded with the supernal; and indeed, the supernal things have been made infernal—and do you not shudder?
But the Prophet, indeed, calls even the insensible elements themselves to mourn and deplore together with the most grievous pain the evils which happen commonly: "The heaven was stupefied, and the earth shuddered exceedingly" (Jer. 2:12). "The vine shall mourn" (Isa. 24:7). And indeed inanimate creatures mourn and groan, and are indignant together with the Lord; you, however, who are a participant in reason, do not feel pain, do not rebuke, are not a vehement avenger of the laws of God?
A For does He need help? Or is it that he might have need of those who bring assistance? But He wishes you to become a minister of this, that you might not fall into the same things, becoming more sober-minded by your indignation against another, that from this source also you might show your love for God. For when another has sinned and you run past it, and do not proceed against it, nor feel pain, you make your own soul more sluggish and prone to fall, and you often prepare it to fall into the same things; and you harm him no small amount by this untimely grace, by making the penalties in the future more severe for him, and by making him more sluggish toward the present state. These things are not spoken only concerning thieves, but concerning every sin; and he sets the ultimate of the offenses last, so that you might know that he who does not have a pardon for such a one, will much less enjoy this consolation for another. Hear, then, also what he says next: *And you were setting your portion with adulterers* (Ps. XLIX, 18); having come to a greater matter. For that is far less than this. And someone, making a comparison of these sins, was saying thus: "It is not wonderful if one is caught stealing; for he steals that he might fill his own soul when it is hungry" (Prov. VI, 30). If, therefore, this is unpardonable, much more is adultery. And here he calls fornication adultery. If, therefore, you see one of those who gather with you committing fornication, and approaching the mysteries, say to him who is serving in the distribution of these: "Such a one is unworthy of the mysteries; restrain the profane hands." If for he is not worthy even to recount the statutes, consider to where the things of punishment will B proceed for him, when he touches also the sacred table, and not for him alone, but also for him who casts a shadow over him. For he did not say, "And you were committing adultery," but, *And you were setting your portion with adulterers*. Great heavens, how great an evil it is from concealing the gangrenes of others, where he says that he is a partner in the punishment for the offense, and no less than the one who committed it. For the one can say that he has the passion, even if the excuse is unpardonable, as the thief his hunger; but you not even this. For what cause, therefore, when you do not enjoy the pleasure, are you a partner and sharer in the punishment? For this reason also the judges from without, not only those who have dared, but even if they see servants who are privy to the matter, they punish; and the masters who surrender them would gladly drink their blood and taste of their flesh, and they reckon the authority of what has occurred to them as no less than that of the woman who has been debauched. For those who did not draw back the curtains, they themselves have given greater authority to those who are hidden; these have insulted both her who was debauched and the man who was wronged and the one himself who committed the adultery. For if they had proclaimed it in advance, if they had made it manifest, they would have scared off the entire prey. And just as those are most responsible for being the ones who cast into the traps—those who cover the traps, and sit around those about to be caught, and everywhere hide all the deceit, and allow neither noise nor anything else to happen which is able to scare away the hunt—so also here, if you sit beside the trap laid by the devil, C and knowing that the adulterer is about to fall, do not stir up a clamor, nor alarm him, then you destroy him most of all. Do not, therefore, say to me that word which is full of much lack of feeling: "And what is it to me? I am looking after my own affairs." For then you will most of all look after your own, when you seek your own in the interest of your neighbor. Wherefore also Paul said: *Let no one seek his own, but that of the other* (1 Cor. X, 24). So that, he says, you might find your own, seek that of the other. *Your mouth abounded in wickedness, and your tongue wove deceits. You sat and were speaking against your brother, and against the son of your mother were setting a scandal.* For so that he might not say, "I do these things out of philanthropy"; most of all, what kind of philanthropy would this be, not to restrain the one about to fall into the abyss, nor to hold him back? To grant indulgence to an unjust pleasure? To overlook him drinking a deadly poison? But, however, not even this will you be able to say. For that this is not of philanthropy, but of sleep and sluggishness and sloth, how is it that, having spared the one acting unjustly, you speak evil of the brother who has done no wrong? How do you plot against him who has done nothing, nor has committed an offense? See wickedness extended to the extreme on both sides. The one who is drunk with desire you do not restrain from being drunk, so that he might become sober; but the one who has done nothing wrong you punish. For *you sat and were speaking against your brother, and against the son of your mother were setting a scandal.*
9. D See how by the explanation he increases the accusation. The one who broke the same pangs of birth with you, he says, the one who partook of the same womb with you, the one who shared in the same house and table and nourishment, the one having sprouted from the same root, the one having the same beginning of birth, the one who grew up with you from the first age—this one you speak evil of, and you do not only speak evil of him, but you also bring the plotting into action? For this is what it is: *You were setting a scandal*. And if one should not speak evil of him who shared the natural pangs of birth, much more should one not do so of him who shared the spiritual ones. Do not, therefore, slander and revile either the one about to sin and fall, nor the one who has done nothing wrong. For the former is of envy, but the latter of lack of feeling; for not to rein in the one about to fall is of lack of feeling; but of envy is to cast down the one who is standing. And see how he does not simply hint at the accuser, but the one who does this work with deceit and zeal. *For sitting*, he says, *you were speaking against your brother.* And Cain, having killed his brother, banished one only from the present life; these, however, through the things by which they speak evil, cast down ten thousand, and themselves first. For they do not harm the one accused only, but also others; or rather, those only who receive the accusations. For the one hearing evil falsely, not only has he not been harmed, but he also has a very great reward. For not the one suffering evil, but the one doing it, this is the one worthy of the punishment; thus also the one speaking, not the one hearing, assuming that the latter does not provide reasonable handles for the backbiting. Let us not, therefore, make it our concern that we not hear evil (for this is impossible; and there is a sentence of Christ saying,
A “Woe to you when all men shall speak well of you” [Luke 6:26]), but rather that we do not ourselves provide the occasions. For he who wishes to hear well from all men often loses his own soul, loving human glory, serving in matters that are not fitting, pleasing where he ought not, so as to purchase grace from them. Again, he who is indifferent to hearing ill from all men also loses his own soul. For just as it is impossible for a good man to hear well from all, so is it not possible for him to hear ill from all, unless he has provided to many, for many reasons, occasions to speak ill. But if, while you provide no cause for offense, there are those who speak evil of you, then you have a greater reward, just as happened to the Apostles and those noble men. One must know this, too: that even if someone speaks ill regarding a matter for which our conscience does not condemn us, the accuser is not on that account to be despised because of the injury he does you, but all things must be done with the appropriate caution, so as to remove an unjust occasion. For this reason, Paul also sent many with money to carry food to the poor (1 Cor. 16:3); he offers the reason, saying: “That no one should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us” (2 Cor. 8:20). He did not see that they were destined to be offended and simply overlook and neglect it, but because it was in his power to remove the stumbling block, he took forethought also for those who were being offended. And elsewhere he says: “If food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause my brother to stumble” (1 Cor. 8:13). If, he says, they bring an offense, even if they do not injure me, I do not neglect the salvation of those who are offended. If the damage is greater than the salvation, overlook the one who is offended; but if not, do not overlook it. For this might be a general decree and rule, teaching when it is necessary to overlook those who are offended, and when not, as for instance: the Jews were offended because Paul did not observe the Law, and because of this many thousands drew back and were faltering in the faith. What, therefore, does he do? Wishing to heal the offense (for the salvation of so many thousands was greater), and to provide a remedy for the faltering, he interim prevented it from being seen that he was not observing the Law, which was greater. Again, they were offended because he preached the Crucified (1 Cor. 1:23) — but the gain of the preaching was greater. Christ also did this. For while He was conversing with them about foods, and they were offended, at His saying, “What enters the mouth does not defile a man, but what comes out” (Matt. 15:11, 18), He says: “Let them alone; every plant which my Father has not planted will be rooted up” (Matt. 15:13-14). Yet when they demanded taxes of Him, although He knew He was not bound to pay them, yet because the time did not yet call for His authority to be revealed, He says: “But lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast a hook, and take the fish that comes up first, and in it you will find a stater; give it to them for Me and for you” (Matt. 17:26). For when He was bringing them the Law, which was full of much wisdom, and they were incurable, He rightly despised them and set the Law aside; but when they were not capable of receiving the account of His divinity, He rightly again condescends, and shadows and hides the account of His divinity by paying the tax. B “Sitting, you were speaking against your brother.” But, he says, I was doing it in order to correct him. It was not necessary, therefore, to slander in secret, but, as Christ commanded, to take him aside and correct him (Matt. 18:15). For public accusations often make them even more impudent. And many sinners, as long as they see that it is possible to remain hidden, easily persuade themselves to return to the right path; but when they have lost their good reputation among many, some next fall into despair and slip into impudence. But he did you an injury. Why, therefore, do you injure yourself as well? For he who avenges himself strikes himself with a sword. For if you wish both to benefit yourself and to truly avenge yourself on him, speak well of the one who injured you: you will thus make many his accusers in your stead, and you yourself will receive a great reward. But if you speak evil, you will not even be believed, as one who labors under the suspicion of enmity. Wherefore your zeal is turned against you. For you wish to overturn his good reputation, but the opposite occurs: for this happens *through praise*, not through accusation; quite to the contrary. And you indeed afflict yourself with greater ignominy, but your arrows will not touch him. For enmities, which offer themselves to the minds of the hearers, do not allow what is said to be admitted into their ears, and the same thing happens as in legal proceedings. For when someone in court brings an objection, the whole matter is dispersed; so, too, here the suspicion of enmity does not allow judgment to be admitted. Do not, therefore, speak evil, lest you pollute yourself; nor weave mud with mud and bricks, but connect crowns of roses, of violets, and of the remaining flowers; nor carry dung in your mouth, like beetles (for that is what those do who speak evil, being the first to feel their own stench), but be like bees, and compose honeycombs as they do, and be gentle and kind to all. For everyone turns away from the slanderer as one who smells of filth, and who, like a leech with blood and a beetle with dung, is nourished by the evils of others; but a mouth that willingly praises is accepted as a common member, as a true brother, as a son, as a father. And why do I speak of present things and of the judgments of men? Consider with me that terrible day, that judgment which cannot be corrupted, where, if you speak falsehoods, you will add others to your sins. For I say to you, that “every idle word that men may speak, they will give an account of it to God in the day of judgment” (Matt. 12:36). Even if they are true, he says, you will not even then escape being condemned, as one who parades the calamities and disgraces of your neighbor. Consider in yourself the Pharisee. He was not a publican, yet he was wickeder than the publican, because he passed judgment on the publican. Was there not
the Pharisee; but he became more righteous than the Pharisee, because he accounted himself a wretch. A *These things you have done, and I have kept silence. You supposed wickedness, that I would be like you. I will reprove you, and set your sins before your face* (Ps. XLIX, 21).
11. Do you see an unspeakable love for mankind? Do you see an excess of goodness? Do you see an infinite wealth of longsuffering? For by "silence" he here means longsuffering. You have dared so many things, he says, and I did not go forth, but I endured, and I bore it, giving you room for repentance. But you not only gained nothing from this, but you also slipped into greater wickedness. For you not only did not change, nor were you ashamed, nor did you condemn yourself for what had been done, but you even thought that I, who was longsuffering toward you, B who endured, who kept silence, who bore so much, did so not because of longsuffering and love for mankind, but because I did not wish to correct these things, nor was I displeased at what was happening. *Understand these things, you who forget God* (Ps. XLIX, 22). Which ones? The things mentioned, he says. What is, *Understand*? Consider. For what has been said in shadow, and what stands in need of much investigation? Most of all, the very manner of the teaching introduces a changed way of life. For without saying much about sacrifices, he introduces the evangelical legislation; and furthermore, since they were buried in a great mire of sins, as though wishing to pull them up from some sloughs of wickedness, and to cleanse as it were a film from their eyes, he stirs them to call to mind the things that have taken place, so that, by not delivering them to oblivion, they might not depart empty. For habituation in sins creates great calluses in the soul, renders it senseless, and blinds the sharp-sighted eye of the mind. *Lest he snatch, and there be no one to deliver* (Ps. XLIX, 22). O unspeakable love for mankind! The words are those of an affectionate mother, or rather, of a goodness that infinitely surpasses that affection. For he who has unveiled such a charge, he who has shown such C anger, provides protection. He who said, *I will reprove you, and set your sins before your face*, and brought forth a sentence of condemnation, dissolves the sentence again, not as if abandoning the condemned to punishment, but as consigning them to be corrected by exhortation and counsel, disciplining them by fear, and saying, *Lest he snatch like a lion, and there be no one to deliver*. *A sacrifice of praise shall glorify me, and there is the way, which I will show him, the salvation of God* (Ps. XLIX, 23). Having shown his love for mankind, having exhorted, having counseled, having threatened, having struck fear, having set the punishment before them, and having brought in counsel, he also says the way by which it is possible to correct what has been done, saying: *A sacrifice of praise shall glorify me*. And what he says is this: He will not only stop my anger, and not only will he dissolve the condemnation, but he will also glorify me. Observe the magnitude of the achievement, when God is glorified by it. *And there is the way, which I will show him, the salvation of God*. Do you see an unspeakable reward? Do you see an excess of love for mankind? For he promises to show D the way of God, and the true salvation of God to those who succeed. Let us therefore obey him who promises, and by a right life and a sacrifice of praise let us glorify him. For this is the way that leads to salvation, through this sacrifice; which may we all attain, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, for to him is the glory and the power, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
CONCERNING THE ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTH PSALM
*O God, do not pass over my praise, because the mouth of the sinner and the mouth of the deceitful man have been opened against me* (Ps. CVIII, 1-2). *They spoke against me with a deceitful tongue, and with words of hatred they encompassed me, and fought against me with nothing to cause it* (Ps. CVIII, 3). *Instead of loving me, they maligned me; but I was praying* (Ps. CVIII, 4). *And they set against me evil for good, and hatred for my love* (Ps. CVIII, 5). *Set a sinner over him, and may the devil stand at his right hand* (Ps. CVIII, 6). *When he is judged, let him go forth condemned, and let his prayer become sin* (Ps. CVIII, 7). *Let his days become few, and let another take his office* (Ps. CVIII, 8). *Let his children become orphans, and his wife a widow; let his children be cast out as wanderers, and let them beg, and be cast out of their dwellings* (Ps. CVIII, 9-10). *Let the usurer search out all that he has, and let aliens ransack his labors* (Ps. CVIII, 11).
1. We have need here of great understanding. For the words, according to the literal pronunciation and the cursory hearing, disturb many of those who are not paying attention. For you see that the whole Psalm is filled, and the discourse has passed through our hands in such a way, that it manifests a kind of seething and burning anger in the speaker, which does not stop at the one doing wrong, but extends the punishment to children, and father, and mother, and is not satisfied with one calamity, but joins evils upon evils. For observe how many things he prays for. *Set a sinner over him, and let the devil stand at his right hand*. That is, let him be under wicked men as accusers and conspirators, and let him not prevail over them. This is what *When he is judged, let him go forth condemned* means. And he was not satisfied with this punishment, but with this condemnation he prays for someone else after him to take his honor, saying, *Let another take his office*. And he does not stop here, but he also fills up the only harbor left, considering him unworthy of any love for mankind from God, and saying: *And let his prayer become sin*. And furthermore, he deems him worthy to suffer an untimely death. For, *Let his days*, he says, *become few*. And he does not stop here, although to say these things alone was sufficient, but he adds more, which is a sign of a very incensed soul, not to be satisfied with one or two punishments, but to ask for so many to be brought upon him. And the things that follow are still far more grievous than these. For he prays for orphanhood and widowhood of his…