Jeremiah 4:3

(Verse 3 and following.) For thus says the Lord to the man of Judah and Jerusalem: Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and remove the foreskins of your hearts, men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my fury go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your thoughts (or inventions). For we have said, Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and remove the foreskins of your hearts. Symmachus adds, Purify yourselves to the Lord, and remove the evil of your hearts: understanding circumcision, purification, and the foreskins to be a vice. But this is commanded to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, who follow the true faith and dwell in the Church, that they should not sow upon the thorns which the Gospel speech signifies, which choke the seed of God, but first make the field new and uproot all the brambles, and remove the thistles, so that clean seeds may receive clean fields. This is what is said in another place: Do not cast your pearls before swine, and do not give what is holy to dogs (Matthew 7:6). For how can someone hear the word of God and conceive seeds and bear fruit, whose soul is full of the tribulations of the world? And what follows: Circumcise yourselves to the Lord and remove the foreskins of your hearts. This is commanded to no one else except the man of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that they may abandon the letter that kills and follow the life-giving spirit. For if you do not do this, my wrath will go forth like fire, and it will be kindled, and there will be no one to extinguish it. Therefore he warns and predicts beforehand so that he is not compelled to act: which we confirm in the case of the Ninevites, to whom the sentence was predicted, so that they would avoid the impending wrath through repentance. […]

Let us imitate the example of all these people, that there may be peace and righteousness in our days, and that what we read in another place may not happen to us: "Thorns and briars shall spring up on the soil of my people." Rather, …

He adds: "And the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him they shall give praise to God in Jerusalem. For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and to those who dwell in Jerusalem." He has spoken to those from the nations, he has spoken also to those from Israel, and he now speaks to those from Judah. I remember the figurative interpretations spoken earlier concerning Judah and those who dwell in Jerusalem. For we too dwell in Jerusalem, if God grants it. Since "where the treasure is, there also is the heart," if we lay up treasure in heaven, we also have our heart in the Jerusalem above, concerning which the apostle says: "But the Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother, as it is written," and what follows. "Thus," then, "says the Lord to the men of Judah and to those who dwell in Jerusalem: Break up for yourselves fresh ground, and do not sow among thorns." This saying is spoken above all to those who teach, that they should not first entrust the things they say to their hearers before they have made fresh ground in their souls. For when, having "put their hand to the plow," they have made fresh ground in the souls, then, since these hear according to "the good and fair land," when they sow, they do not sow among thorns. But if, before the plow and before making fresh ground in the ruling faculty of the hearers, someone takes the holy seeds—the word about the Father, the word about the Son, the word about the Holy Spirit, the word about the resurrection, the word about punishment, the word about rest, the word about the law, the word about the prophets, and in a word about each of the things written—and sows them, he transgresses the commandment that says, first, "Break up for yourselves fresh ground," and second, "and do not sow among thorns." But one of the hearers will say: I do not teach, I am not subject to this commandment. […]

In the last discourse we laid down clearly what sort of character the theologian ought to bear, what kind of subject he may philosophize about, and when and to what extent he may do so. We saw that he ought to be pure, as far as he can be, in order that light may be apprehended by light. He ought to associate with serious people in order that his word will not be fruitless by falling on an unfruitful soil and creating a climate of calm within from the whirl of outward distractions. Then we will not be like madmen constantly trying to catch our breath. This way, we can go as far as we have ourselves advanced or at least in the direction we are advancing. This is how it is when we have broken up for ourselves the fallows of Divinity, so as not to sow seed among thorns. We have plowed the ground, being molded and molding others by Holy Scripture.

Put yourselves into a frame fit to receive mercy from God, and put away all that which keeps it from you, and then you may expect to receive mercy and to prosper in your endeavours to help yourselves." Note, (1.) An unconvinced unhumbled heart is like fallow-ground, ground untilled, unoccupied.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes