The furnace proves the potter's vessels; so the trial of man is in his reasoning.
All Commentaries on Wisdom of Sirach 27:5 Go To Wisdom of Sirach 27
Gaudentius of Brescia
AD 410
If you are a sinner, recognize that it is for your correction that you have been afflicted, or at least for your purification." If, rather, you are righteous (but do not presume to attribute this title to yourself), then you will understand that your sufferings happen so that you might receive glory from the trial. It is written, "As the furnace tests what it receives from the potter, so the temptation of trials tests the righteous." Thus the apostle also says, "Trials lead to patience, patience produces perseverance, and perseverance, hope. And hope does not deceive." In this world, therefore, various pains are inflicted to test the righteous, to correct sinners or to punish the impious. These blows bring death to some; to others, salvation. Precisely for this reason the following is written in the book of Psalms, with great acuity, "The death of sinners is miserable, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned." Here it considers miserable the death of those sinners who, desiring to remain in the wickedness of their sins, hate the righteous One who afflicts them. Of those who can be corrected, it says, "There are many lashes for sinners." Finally, of the saints it says, "Many are the trials of the righteous." It is not at all difficult, for anyone who has the Spirit, to discern these differences based on the fruit of each, as the Lord says, "By their fruits you will know them."
