Eccl 10:8

“The Jews in their imaginings, and in their agreeing to act unjustly against the Lord, forgot that they were bringing wrath upon themselves. Therefore does the Word lament for them saying, "Why do the people exalt themselves, and the nations imagine vain things?" For vain indeed was the imagination of the Jews, meditating death against the Life, and devising unreasonable things against the Word of the Father. For who that looks upon their dispersion, and the desolation of their city, may not aptly say, "Woe unto them, for they have imagined an evil imagination, saying against their own soul, let us bind the righteous man, because he is not pleasing to us." And full well it is so, my brethren; for when they erred concerning the Scriptures, they knew not that "he who digs a pit for his neighbor falls into it; and he who destroys a hedge, a serpent shall bite him." And if they had not turned their faces from the Lord, they would have feared what was written before in the divine Psalms: "The heathen are caught in the pit which they made; in the snare which they hid is their own foot taken. The Lord is known when executing judgments: by the works of his hands is the sinner taken."”

“"He who digs a pit will fall into it, and he who breaks down a wall will be bitten by a snake. "This is partly unambiguous and partly to be understood in a more complicated way. Since elsewhere Solomon also says, "he that sets a trap will be caught in it" [Eccli. 27, 29.]. And in the seventh Psalm: "he laid out a pond and dug it out, and then he fell into the hole he had made" [Ps. 7, 16.]. But the wall and the fence as well are the doctrines of the Church, and the institution set up by the apostles and prophets. And whoever knocks them down or wants them to come to an end is bitten by a snake where he is not looking. Amos writes about this snake: "if he goes down into the underworld, I will order a snake to kill him" [Am. 9, 3.].”

“Once they begin not only to use the divine expressions but also to explain them, not only to present them but also to interpret them, then people will realize how bitter, how sharp, how fierce they are. Then will the poisonous breath of their new ideas be exhaled, then will profane novelties appear in the open, then will you see that "the hedge is broken," that the ancient bounds have been passed, that the dogma of the church is lacerated, that the Catholic faith is harmed.”

“He set forth above the vanity of security: here secondly he intends to give a remedy against that vanity: and because security arose from a defect of just retribution and of the governance of providence, which appeared to exist: therefore there are here two parts. First he gives a remedy against the defect of the order of providence: second, against the defect of just retribution, below in chapter eleven: Cast your bread etc. The disorder of governance comes from a threefold cause: either because a wicked man is placed in charge, or because a foolish one, or because a useless and lax one. First, therefore, he gives a remedy against a wicked prelate; second, against a foolish prelate, at: The words of the mouth of a wise man are grace: third, against a carnal and lax prelate, at: Woe to you, O land, whose king is a child. As to the first point, then, he proceeds as follows. First he says that a good prelate is not to be removed: second, that a wicked one is not to be endured or promoted: third, he says that one who has been promoted is to be corrected: fourth, that one must not secretly detract from him. First, therefore, he says that a good prelate is not to be removed, neither by fraud nor by violence. Not by fraud: whence he threatens: He who digs a pit, namely by preparing a snare for a good prelate, shall fall into it: the Psalm: "He opened a pit and dug it out, and he fell into the pit which he made." Nor is he to be removed by power; whence he threatens one who does the contrary: He who breaks down a hedge, that is, a good prelate, who guards his subjects like a hedge: Sirach thirty-six: "Where there is no hedge, the property will be plundered." A serpent shall bite him, that is, the devil with his demons, who are biting serpents: Jeremiah eight: "Behold, I will send among you the worst serpents, against which there is no charm, and they shall bite you."”