lying at the door, and to drag it forth.

164. The text before us, then, provides much consolation against the
enemies and murderers of the Church; for it teaches us that our
afflictions and sufferings and the shedding of our blood fill heaven
and earth with their cries. I believe, therefore, that Cain was so
overwhelmed and confounded by these words of his father that, as if
thunderstruck, he knew not what to say or what to do. No doubt his
thoughts were, "If my father Adam knows about the murder which I have
committed, how can I any longer doubt that it is known unto God, unto
the angels, and unto heaven and earth? Whither can I flee? Which way
can I turn, wretched man that I am?"

165. Such is the state of murderers to this day. They are so harassed
with the stings of conscience, after the crime of murder has been
committed, that they are always in a state of alarm. It seems to them
that heaven and earth have put on a changed aspect toward them, and
they know not whither to flee. A case in point is Orestes pursued by
the furies, as described by the poets. A horrible thing is the cry of
spilled blood and an evil conscience.

166. The same is true of all other atrocious sins. Those who commit
them, experience the same distresses of mind when remorse lays hold of
them. The whole creation seems changed toward them, and even when they
speak to persons with whom they have been familiar, and when they hear
the answers they make, the very sound of their voice appears to them
altogether changed and their countenances seem to wear an altered
aspect. Whichever way they turn their eyes, all things are clothed, as
it were, in gloom and horror. So grim and fierce a monster is a guilty
conscience! And, unless such sinners are succored from above, they
must put an end to their existence because of their anguish and
intolerable pain.

167. Again Moses' customary conciseness is in evidence, which,
however, is more effective than an excess of words. In the first
place, he personifies a lifeless object when he attributes to blood a
voice filling with its cries heaven and the earth. How can that voice
be small or weak which, rising from earth, is heard by God in heaven?
Abel, therefore, who when alive was patient under injuries and gentle
and placid of spirit, now, when dead and buried in the earth, can not
brook the wrong inflicted. He who before dared not murmur against his
brother, now fairly shrieks, and so completely enlists God