Chapter VII.
While the long-awaited coming of Christ is delayed, the devil became furious, in order to crush those who would believe in Christ, and he placed his signs in them: where the discussion is about the signs that we should follow and flee. The devil places his signs in those who receive the seed of faith along the way; on the other hand, he places the faith of the devil in the open road. Finally, so that the devil does not defile the tabernacle of God, it must be provided, for which perseverance is most needed.
26. Therefore, he said, why have you rejected me? And why do I walk in sorrow while my enemy afflicts me? He breaks my bones, those who torment me reproach me, saying to me every day: Where is your God? Why are you sad, my soul? (Psalm 41:10) And the rest. The first complaint was that the goods, whose fruits were already desired, were detained for trial. The second complaint was that the long-awaited coming of Christ was delayed for the wise, whom the Law had announced, whom the prophets had promised, and the hearts of the righteous were boiling more impatiently because they knew that He would come for the redemption of all. Of all these things, through evangelical teaching he opened up the path of virtue and showed the paths of good works, as he himself said in Proverbs: The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways (Prov. 8:22). Therefore, they would say to him: Where is your God; for Christ had not yet come, but was hoped for? Therefore, the devil raged, in order to crush those whom he knew would believe in the coming of the Lord, and he afflicted them with various miseries. Therefore, let David interpellate, so that he may awaken the slumbering with prophetic complaint, hurry them on, admonish them to come to the rescue. We have a similarity of this interpellation even in later [verses], where the same prophet says: Why have you repudiated us, O God, forever (Psalm 73:1)? And there he openly bewailed that he had forgotten his congregation and cast away the rod of his inheritance; and that his enemies had risen up against the people of God, of whom he says: And those who hate you have gloried in the midst of your feast (ibid., 4). This little verse here might seem to declare the Assyrians, who triumphed over the people of Judah, unless it is followed by: They set up their standards, and I did not know them (ibid. 5). Standards are always in war, which are accustomed to go before those about to fight and to lead the military host. Each unit or legion follows its own standards. And if they have been scattered in the turmoil of war, they return to the place where they have seen their standards, no matter how far away it is. Each leader establishes these signs and prescribes what should be followed. But there are also other signs that the victorious enemy imposes and decrees should be observed as if by captives; but a faithful soldier follows his own signs and does not recognize others.
27. Let us consider more intensely and more deeply the signs of others. Christ placed his sign on the foreheads of each one; likewise, Antichrist will also place his own signs there, so that he may recognize his own. But the true confessor, who is a hidden Jew, says: They have placed their signs as signs, and I did not recognize them. The devil and his ministers have placed them, but I did not know them; because I did not agree with his followers, I did not comply with his orders. Assyrian Nebuchadnezzar placed signs for the Hebrew boys and changed their names; and he commanded them to worship his image and to forsake the customs of their fathers and follow the Chaldean rites, disregarding the Law of God. The king established this, but Daniel resolved in his heart to shun the defilements of the royal table (Dan. III, 18). Therefore, it is right for him to say, 'I do not know foreign signs.' It was commanded that the Hebrew boys worship the king's image; they replied, 'We do not worship your image.' Therefore, each one of them aptly said: They have set up their own signs, and I do not recognize (Dan. III, 18); that is, I have not experienced, I have not accepted with any agreement, I have not taken in any association. Hence, we also read about the Son of God that he did not know sin (II Cor. V, 21). And elsewhere you have: For he who keeps the commandment does not know the word of wickedness (Eccles. VIII, 3): when it is clear that it is not the knowledge of wrongdoing, but the criminal association, David himself also says in the following: But I did not recognize those who turn aside to wickedness from me (Psal. C, 4). But when the adversaries want to set up these signs, he declares: 'As on a road,' he says, 'over a high place: as if in a forest, they cut down its doors with axes, they have thrown it down with hatchet and mattock' (Psalm 73:6). What does this mean, unless it shows that our faith should not be like a road, lest the birds of the sky come and take it away, as that word which you read in the Gospel, should not be sown around roads and paths (Luke 8:5).
So, the adversaries desiring to uproot the faith of this one, who does not see their signs in his heart, attempted to place them on the path, that is, in the open. But the heart is at the summit; for the eyes of the wise are in his head. And they placed signs as if in a forest of trees, which quickly burn with fire, or are cut down with axes. For fire comes out of the forest, and even the cedars of Lebanon are burned. But they thought to do this: to defile the tabernacle of the divine name, which is within us. For just as we are the temple of God, so too we are the tabernacle of God, in which the feasts of the Lord are celebrated. Therefore, oh man, guard your highest self, so that you may conquer the heads of your enemies, the top of their hair walking about (Psalm 67:22). For they walk in trivial matters, not in holy matters; on the top of hair, not on the top of devotion and faith. And if the spirit of the one who has authority over you ascends, as you have in Ecclesiastes, do not abandon your place (Ecclesiastes 10:4). Indeed, Christ placed you above, whom He made in the image of God. Therefore, hold the place of superior faith and piety that you received from Christ, so that as one who is superior, you may easily reject the wicked spirit ascending from the lower things, that is, from earthly and worldly matters, and not receive its signs in your heart. May it not occupy the entrance of your soul, nor the innermost part of your mind. And may it be like a forest consumed by its own fires, where the weak and fragile things are destroyed, or like axes cutting down the doors of your heart. Therefore, let it not be a forest but a vineyard within us; let the gate of our mouth and heart be closed more diligently, lest the enemy enter. He quickly breaks down the door if he finds it open. But truly Christ knocks, he does not cast down, he who strengthens you, O Jerusalem, the bolts of your gates. Christ knocks with his hand, that you may open, the adversary is cut down by axes; and therefore it is written (3 Kings 6:7), let not the axe and hammer of the house of God enter unlawfully. Pride and deceit should be outside, not within. For outside is the battle, and inside is the peace that is beyond all understanding. Do not let your soul be torn by iron, but let your soul pass through it like the soul of Joseph, so that your innermost being, like a dwelling place of the Word, is not destroyed by the entrance of faith and spiritual doctrine. For it is founded on use and practice, and remains steadfast, not giving place to the one who attempts to ascend to the highest, as if transforming himself into an angel of light; if he does not see his own signs in us, he cannot have the authority to resist. So that the enemy does not afflict us and break our bones, let us not fail to persevere in Christ, so that it may be said of us: They have endured with me for three days, and I do not want to send them away hungry, so that they do not faint on the way (Matthew XV, 32). Blessed is he to whom he himself has given the firmament of the heart, so that he cannot fail on the path of this life. For he does not fail who hopes in the Lord and confesses him with intimate affection; for even that knight whose horse's heel was bitten by a serpent, although he fell backward, yet he was not deceived, because he awaited salvation from the Lord.