Chapter V.
Those who place their bone in heaven are considered above others, who attribute everything to the necessity of the stars: yet it is reserved for them to return with Israel by the grace of God; the mystery of whose return is revealed: to deny that hidden things are known by God, especially being influenced by the wealth of sins: finally, Simon the Pharisee held the same opinion about Christ.
12. They set their mouth against heaven, and their tongue went through the earth (Psalm 73:9). To set their mouth against heaven means, the younger brother teaches us, who returned to his father and said: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you (Luke 15:18). But those who believe that the authorities of their crimes are imposed upon them by a certain necessity of birth, set their mouth against heaven. They are accustomed to spare neither heaven nor earth, thinking that the life of man is governed by the movement of the stars. They leave nothing to providence, nothing to good morals. And I hope that they, like that one of the two young men, will return: may the good Lord not deny a remedy, and yet even if they themselves do not want to be healed, the Lord reserves the grace of return; so that those who were expelled from Israel through the blindness of their own heart may return through the fullness of the Church; and they may not lead empty days of this life, but have fullness of good works and faith, when the Lord fills them with spiritual grace. But let us consider how they might return. For, as it is written, 'Blindness has come upon a part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles should come in, and so all Israel will be saved' (Rom. 11:25-26). However, this mystery had to be fulfilled in order for God to conclude all things in unbelief (ibid., 32), that is, to rebuke and convict (for when two people contend, if one is superior, it is said that he has concluded the other), and through His mercy, the world would become subject to God. Therefore, the people have indeed returned to being heirs, but they have been led astray by quick error, not believing that God knows the secrets. But the Lord, in order that they may be sometimes redeemed, has reserved the grace of future salvation for them, saying: Therefore my people will return here (Ps. 72:10). What is here? That is, to me, to my righteousness and justice, to my worship.
13. And he will fill the days of his life. You will certainly understand this in such a way that indeed the people are redeemed, who have believed in him: in whom, although those who have not believed are not redeemed, nevertheless the prerogative of the redeemed people of God is conferred.
14. Therefore, those who are in error have said: How does God know; and if all knowledge is in the Most High (cf. Eccl. 11:21)? For they think that there is no knowledge in God; because sinners abound in worldly prosperity. And he still brings them to speak: Behold, these sinners and those who abound in the world have obtained riches (cf. Eccl. 12:34). You have this more clearly expressed in the Gospel, where that Pharisee Simon, seeing that that sinful woman came into his house and poured ointment on the feet of Christ, said to himself: If this man were a prophet, he would surely know what kind of woman touches him; for she is a sinner (Luke 7:39). But the patience of God does not prejudice the truth, and his foreknowledge and providence are the more established by the very fact that, though a person may be steeped in sin, he still enjoys the success of worldly prosperity. The stronger one observes this and laughs, the unsuspecting is led and moved.