Praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner, for it was not sent him of the Lord.
All Commentaries on Wisdom of Sirach 15:9 Go To Wisdom of Sirach 15
Athanasius the Apostolic
AD 373
Therefore, although wicked people press forward to keep the feast and praise God as though they were at a feast and intrude into the church of the saints, yet God confutes them, saying to the sinner, "Why do you speak of my decrees?" And the gentle Spirit rebukes them, saying, "Praise is not attractive in the mouth of sinners," neither does sin have anything in common with the praise of God; for the sinner has a mouth speaking perverse things, as the proverb says, "The mouth of the wicked answers evil." For how is it possible for us to praise God with an impure mouth, since things that are contrary to each other cannot coexist? "For what communion has righteousness with iniquity, or what fellowship is there between light and darkness?" So exclaims Paul, a minister of the gospel. Thus it is that sinners, and all those who have alienated themselves from the catholic church, heretics and schismatics, since they are excluded from glorifying God with the saints, cannot properly even continue as observers of the feast.
