115. But those mysteries pertain not to
individuals only, but to the whole human race. For observe the
order of grace according to the type of the Law. When the first
trumpet sounds, it collects those towards the east, as the chief and
elect; when the second sounds, those nearly equal in merit, who, being
placed towards Libanus, have abandoned the follies of the nations; when
the third, those who as it were, tossed on the sea of this world, have
been driven hither and thither by the waves of this life; when the
fourth, those who have by no means been able sufficiently to soften the
hardness of their hearts by the commandments of spiritual utterance,
and therefore are said to be towards the north—for, according to
Solomon, the north is a hard wind. Prov. xxvii. 16 [LXX.].