37*2 The Cock cries loudest to deepest sleepers.
Job 38, but yet do not lament them: in one way those who even
'-
— praise the unlawful deeds which they commit, in another
those who blame their misdeeds, and yet do not avoid them ;
in one way those who are overcome with sudden concu-
piscence, in another those who are deliberately fettered with
sin ; in one way those who commit frequently unlawful deeds
though most trifling, and in another those who guard them-
selves against trifling faults but are sometimes overwhelmed
in grievous ones ; in one way those who do not even begin
good courses, in another those who do not complete what
they have begun ; in one way those who sin secretly and do
right publicly, in another those who conceal the good deeds
which they do, and who yet by some things they do publicly
allow people to think evil of them. We ought indeed to
mention minutely what course of advice should be observed
in each particular case, but are hindered by fear of prolixity
in our remarks. But we are anxious to carry that out in
\'^^ another work^, by God's help, if some small portion of this
rale.' painful life still remains to us.
14. But we have another point which we ought to
consider concerning this understanding of the cock, namely,
that it is accustomed to utter its louder and longer-drawn
strains in the deeper hours of the night, and that when the
hour ofmorn is now approaching, it utters altogether more
gentle and feeble notes. And a consideration of the discre-
tion of preachers shews us what the understanding of this
cock in these respects suggests to us. For when they are
preaching to minds which are still wicked, they declare
the terrors of eternal judgment with loud and great voices,
because, namely, they cry out, as it were, in the darkness of
the profound night. But when they know that the light of
truth is already present to the hearts of their hearers, they
turn the loudness of their cry into the gentleness of sweet-
ness ; and bring forth, not so much the terrors of punishment,
as the allurements of rewards. And they sing at that time
even with diminished tones, because as themorn approaches,
they preach all the subtlest mysteries, that their followers
may hear more minutely of heavenly things, the nearer they
approach to the light of truth, and that the shorter note of
the cock may charm those when awake, whom its long-