LXX. De obduratione.

LXX. De obduratione.

The fourth image shows the hardness of heart, which accompanies jesting: because when a person, worn out by these kinds of jokes, becomes weary, he begins to have a hardened heart, since he is not touched by the heavenly dew, so that he does not even feel what true restraint is, neither by the law of teaching nor by the plow of Scripture. And just as dense smoke is to the stature of a man, so there is no lightness, but rather a certain firmness of malicious wickedness in hardening the heart; and this is according to the measure of time, because there is nothing beneath the hour, nor above humanity, that he does not grasp in his works; for there is neither smallness nor greatness in which a malicious person does not take delight. What good is it to you if you have no form except that which is great and dark? The eyes appear in this, for the same fault hardens people so much that they neither want to know nor understand anything about others, because they themselves have no kindness, remaining without divine mercy and goodwill; but they look around in the magnitude of curses and in the darkness of God's oblivion, seeking whom they might harm with the poison of envy, like a viper. It doesn't move up or down, nor does it sway this way or that; because hard-heartedness doesn't reach upward to soften for God, nor does it bend downward to soften for humanity; it doesn't turn aside to other creatures to cease its wickedness for their sake. Instead, it remains fixed in the aforementioned darkness, for it perseveres in a single state without any motion in the curses of curses, desiring nothing but the afflictions of humanity. For it is like lead, which is thrown into violent waters, lying in the depths, and does not move for anyone's benefit; but it flees from the right hand of the Lord, which comprehends all things in creation for the benefit of humanity, and which has exalted man and established him in peace. For God placed man like the most precious stone on the earth, in whose brilliance all creation sees itself, because He is above all creatures; and therefore it is wrong for hardness to consider him as nothing, and for it to harden itself against Him. This is indeed the worst evil of all evils, sparing no one and showing no mercy; it despises humanity, withdraws from its own good, takes no joy in others, and offers no encouragement, but remains harsh in all things, scornful of everything, as it also shows in its words, as has been said. To whom true mercy responds, it also urges that good things be generously bestowed upon all.