3.
Let us not therefore listen carelessly; since even they who roast the metallic earth, when they have thrown it into the furnace, not only take up the masses of gold, but also collect the small particles with the utmost care. Inasmuch, then, as we likewise have to roast 1 the gold drawn from the Apostolic mines, not by casting it into the furnace, but by depositing it in the thoughts of your souls; not lighting an earthly flame, but kindling the fire of the Spirit, let us collect the little particles with diligence. 2 For if the saying be brief, yet is its virtue great. For pearls too have their proper market, not owing to the size of the substance, but the beauty of their nature. Even so is it with the reading of the divine Scriptures; for worldly instruction rolls forth its trifles in abundance, and deluges its hearers with a torrent of vain babblings, but dismisses them empty-handed, and without having gathered any profit great or small. Not so however is it with the grace of the Spirit, but, on the contrary, by means of small sentences, it implants divine wisdom in all who give heed, and one sentence often times affords to those who receive it a sufficient source of provision for the whole journey of life. 3
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The operation of roasting the ore, in the Cornish mines, consists in placing it in a comminuted state in a furnace of a particular construction, where it is subjected to a strong heat, but not so strong as to smelt it; by which the arsenic, sulphur, and other impurities, are carried off in the form of vapor, leaving the heavier metallic substance behind.--Tr. ↩
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See on Rom. xvi. 5, Hom. XXXI. ↩
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Socr. H. E. iv. 23. Pambos was nineteen years in learning Ps. xxxix. 1. He excelled even St. Antony in exactness of speech. Pall. Hist. Laus. c. 10. ↩
