Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
Read Chapter 8
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Fear. Thus they abuse the patience of God, and grow worse, because he is good. His time will come, Apocalypse xvi. 15., Ecclesiasticus v. 4., and 2 Peter iii. 10.
Up until now, when you never gainsaid him either by your own or by anybody else’s response, you gave him leave to have the mastery in you, as Solomon says: “Because those who do evil are not quickly opposed, therefore the heart of the children of men is full within them, so that they may do evil.” And therefore, after he has been disclosed, this most wicked spirit will no longer be able to disturb you, nor shall the filthy serpent ever again seize a place to make his lair in you, now that by a salutary confession he has been drawn out from the darkness of your heart into the light. .
It is clear, then, that no one can be deceived by the devil except the person who has chosen to offer him the assent of his will. Ecclesiastes has expressed this plainly in these words: “Because those who do evil are not quickly opposed, therefore the heart of the children of men is full within them, so that they may do evil.” Hence it is evident that a person transgresses because, when wicked thoughts attack him, he does not at once resist and oppose them. .
