Augustine of Hippo, on Isa 57:21

“There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord God.”

“For that joy that is after the fashion of the world is not true joy. Hear the prophet Isaiah: "There is no joy, says my God, to the wicked." What the wicked call joy is not joy, such as he [David] knew, who made no account of their joy; let us believe him, brothers. He was a man, but he knew both kinds of joy. He certainly knew the joys of the cup, for he was a man; he knew the joy of the table, he knew the joys of marriage, he knew those joys worldly and luxurious.… But you say, I don't see that light which Isaiah saw. Believe and you shall see it. For perhaps you do not have the eye to see it. For it is a certain type of eye by which that beauty is discerned. For just as there is an eye of the flesh by which this light is seen, so there is an eye of the heart by which that joy is perceived. Perhaps your eye is wounded, dimmed, disturbed by passion, by greed, by indulgence, by senseless lust. Your eye is disturbed. You cannot see that light. Believe before you see. You shall be healed, and then you will see.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.