[Pontius Meropius Anicius Paulinus, “Poema VII. Paraphrasis psalmi I.”, 4th-5th century AD.]
Blessed is the man who isolates his way of life far from the company of irreligious men, no longer dwelling in the path of sinners or sitting in the seat of corruption, but who concentrates his whole heart on God's law, pondering night and day His commands for life's conduct, and ennobling his mind with habits of purity. He will be like a river-tree which feeds on the nourishing moisture of the bank; soon to yield his fruit in fullness at the due time, green with the foliage that never withers, he will endure as living wood with undying leaves.
Such glory as this will not attend the godless. The anger of God will sweep them from His face as the wind whirls off dusty ashes. Accordingly, the hordes of men scattered throughout the world will be divided in such a way that the godless who have denied God the worship which is His due will not rise again for judgment, but will be punished. Blatant guilt needs no investigation to uncover it, because those who do not bear the sign of salvation on their heads will flaunt before them the mark of impending death.
But the great crowd of sinners not hostile to God will rise again not to glory but to be submitted to scrutiny. The man who is to reveal and render an account of his actions, and be approved or condemned according to his differing deeds, cannot sit with the saints.
Those who are ignorant of the law will fall, scattered in disorder; he who fell while living under the law will be judged by the law. Fire will be the judge, and will rush through every deed. Every act that the flame does not consume but approves will be allotted eternal reward. He who has done deeds which must be burnt will suffer injury, but will safely escape the flames; yet wretched because of the marks on his charred body, he will preserve his life without glory. He was conquered by the flesh, but not perverted in mind; therefore, in spite of his denying to the law the allegiance which was its due, by his frequent involvement in many sins, he will never be exiled from the shores of salvation, for he preserves the eternal glory of the faith.
So as long as all of us in this world maintain life's course and our days continue, we must keep our feet firmly on the right path, and not be seduced on to the slippery and broad highway.8 It is better to struggle on the narrow path and to enter by strenuous exertion. God gladly acknowledges the way of good men, but the path of the godless will be destroyed and leveled.
