613 chapter 11: the preacher of the mystical temple be stirred up against you.” Abimelech, moved by these pricks of conscience, went to Isaac, begged for pardon, and made him his friend by a solemn treaty. The grandsons of this same Isaac, when they were about to dine in the house of Joseph, the Viceroy of Egypt, their brother whom they did not recognize, experienced such violent interior disturbance that, filled with fear and doubt for their safety at their host’s, should I say their brother’s table, they discussed among themselves: “It must be, on account of the money put back in our bags the first time, that we are taken inside; they want to use it as a pretext to attack us” (Gen 42:25-28). No doubt, for them this is what Joseph, a most gentle man, was intending. But, as Lipomanus103 well noted: “Such are the consciences of the impious, so that they are afraid even in favorable circumstances. For when they are conscious within themselves of the wrongs done, they suspect even good things as being evil, while in others these things would give rise to peace of mind and joy.”104 Once, sons of Jacob, you put aside your meal as you were to sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites!105 You are now most rightly disturbed as you are urged on to his banquet, as if you were on your way to death. Deservedly you experience these things, because you sinned against your brother. Does not Conscience, your Advocate, impress this upon you? Happy is the man, who attends to this Advocate and obeys him. We would not need many books, nor most zealous preachers, if only we apply our mind to the whispers and voices of our conscience alone, and we would then commit nothing evil, nothing disgraceful and nothing abominable: but if committed, we would at once wash them out and return from our fall to grace with the God offended. On this point one should listen to Bernard, who says: “I cannot hide my sins, since wherever I go my conscience is with me, carrying with it whatever I have placed in it, whether good or bad. 103 See Ch. III, footnote 38 (p. 584). 104 LCG, f.389v: On Genesis, Ch. 43:18 (they are in truth the words of “the Author of the Chain”). 105 Cf. Gen 37:25-28.
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