darkness out of their minds. And they remain in darkness themselves when they put Him out of mind and do not understand Him. Worldly people in high positions also establish their own laws for the people, judging all the incidents and disagreements that go on between them, and deciding them according to their own conclusions. These earthly laws are also against the commandments of God. That is why they repel people from God and from His law: the end of all quarrels and incidents are their laws and judgments, instead of God’s commandments. They also regard the laws and regulations of spiritual and worldly hypocrites as truth among themselves and deem laws, judgments, and practices to be the truth. This all goes against God’s commandments and promotes their acquisition of worldly and spiritual power until the devil darkens everything and leads them away from the knowledge of God through it. That evil can be easily recognized today–how the devil’s great and cunning wickedness, powerful rule in everything, and the unrecognized darkening of the whole world has overflowed.
This is all through the lofty thinking of Satan, who is the priest and ruler of all darkness because his lordship on the earth is so powerfully consolidated. He forcefully and powerfully took up his lordship in the world most of all through powerful people, establishing his pawns in authority with his wicked cunning–proud, avaricious, fleshly, and blind people who do not fear God and do not care at all about others. Therefore, they are not for the common people, looking out for their good like shepherds over their flock; but the common people are for them, serving their stomachs and laboring for their pride. It is written, “Wild asses in the wilderness are the prey of lions; likewise the poor are pastures for the rich.” (Sirach 13: 19) In the same way, the poor are rich people’s pasture. The rich possess their fortunes in them and recline on them with their idleness. That is why the devil could lead everyone far astray into fleshly sins and taking pride in such things as fanciful garments, costly drapery, extravagant dwellings, and showing off with food and artisanship. Pride is exceedingly multiplied in everything by the devil as the king and worker of all pride.
He also works avariciousness, fornication, and gluttony deeply into those people and leads them into other wickedness, malevolence, and hatred as a ruler and governor. He has infused these into such people to so darken them that they cannot see each other for the thickness of the darkness. That is why the apostle now calls him the ruler, because he is the ruler of darkness and has introduced offence and invisible heresy on the wide path that people walk on so that everyone everywhere unconsciously falls and errs.
He is also the ruler of many kinds of darkness and of those on whom the way is brightly lit like the way of salvation, so that the person walking on it walks freely as in the day, not concerning himself and saying, “If the way of salvation is here.” But going in a wagon to Saint Prokop and not constraining himself with the fear of heresy, such a person merrily and unreservedly calls others after himself, having hope that great salvation is there and that the pilgrimage will be profitable–but it is a curse. That is why it does not become dark to him and he does not even suppose that his eye would make it dark to him. Instead, he believes that the sun of righteousness has risen upon him. The devil also has other kinds of darkness that are unknown to people and are not onerous to them when they are clothed in the glory of this world. People do not judge this with mournful sorrow as if they were walking in the dark, but instead celebrate the glitter of the acclaim of this world’s grandiosity. They rejoice that their daughters marry rich sons-in-law so that their honor is great, and the sons gather heirs of great wealth around themselves so that their praise does not wane. For that reason, the darkness is not odious and they do not hear that it is called darkness; among all those who live that way it is unhampered and uncorrupted vision. But who is it dark to? Only to the one who sees rightly and remembers that it was said, “You foolish one, tonight
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