Who long for death, but it comes not; and dig for it more than for hidden treasures;
Read Chapter 3
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Not. They feel the same eagerness for death as those who seek for a treasure; (Calmet) and when death is at hand, they rejoice no less than those who discover a grave, in which they hope to find some riches, ver. 15, 22.
5. For they desire to mortify themselves wholly, and to be entirely extinct of the life of temporal glory, but by the secret appointments of God they are often forced either to take the lead in command, or to busy themselves with dignities imposed on them, and in these circumstances they unceasingly look for a perfect mortification, but this expected death cometh not; in that the use of them is still alive to temporal glory even against their will, though they submit to that glory from the fear of God, and while they inwardly retain their aim after piety, they outwardly discharge the functions of their station, that they should neither quit their perfection in their inward purpose, nor set themselves against the dispensations of their Creator in a spirit of pride. For by a marvellous pitifulness of the Divine Nature it comes to pass, that, when he, who aims at contemplation with a perfect heart, is busied with human affairs, his perfect mind at once profits many that are weaker, and ...
