Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, [yet] will not his foolishness depart from him.
Ver. 22. Though thou shouldst bray a fool, &c.] The cypress tree, the more it is watered the more it is withered. So it is with the wicked. Humbled they are, but not humble; low, but not lowly; "wearied" in sin, as Babylon was "in the greatness of her way," Isa 47:13 but not weary of it. Of these Augustine, Perdidistis, saith he, utilitatem calamitatis, miserrimi factis estis, et pessimi permansistis, a ye have lost the fruit of your afflictions; ye have suffered much, and are never the better. "By this the iniquity of Jacob shall be purged, and this is all the fruit, the taking away of his sin." Isa 27:9 And if this be not done, God will say, as once, "In thy filthiness is lewdness. Because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt have thy will, thou shalt not be purged"; but then I will have my will too, for "I will cause my fury to rest upon thee." Eze 24:13 How likest thou that?
a De Civ. Dei, lib. i. cap. 33.