He is grievous unto us even to behold: for his life is not like other men’s, his ways are of another fashion.
Read Chapter 2
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
"Since the wicked went away from me, I did not know him." What, then, does "I did not know him" mean? Does it refer to the fact that when a scoundrel meets a righteous person on a narrow street, the words from the Wisdom of Solomon run through his mind, "It annoys us just to see him," and he crosses the street, so as to not see that undesired person? But how many rascals there are, and how difficult it is for us to see them! They see us, and not only do they not depart from us, but also they run after us, hoping (at least sometimes) to carry out their wicked plans with our collaboration! This happens all the time. In what sense, then, do they go away? The person who is not like you departs from you. What does "he departs from you" mean? He does not follow you. And what does "He does not follow you" mean? He does not imitate your conduct. Or, "Since the wicked was far from me," that is, since he was not like me, neither did he want to imitate my conduct (he did not want to live accordin...
If you " want to love the beauty of the house of God and the place where his glory dwells, seek vessels for noble use. And do not say, "I looked for them but did not find them." If you have sought and have not found them, it means that you have not sought. The similar tends toward the similar, the dissimilar flees the dissimilar. If you are a vessel for common use, it is natural that the vessel for noble use is annoying to you, even to look at. Have you not heard how some people said of such a one, "It is unbearable for us just to look at him"? If merely to look at him is unbearable for you, how could he appear to you plainly, so you might find him? Because these vessels are found in the realm of the interior man. Certainly, when someone gives the impression of being righteous, it does not mean that he is righteous. The righteous and the unrighteous both have the same face. Both are human beings, but both are not God"s house, even if they both call themselves Christians. One is a vesse...
