Verse 14. — If he directs his heart toward him, he will draw his spirit and breath to himself. 47. He directs the crooked hearts of men, when he wills, by raising them to himself. — The heart is crooked when it desires what is low; it is made straight when it is lifted up to things above. If, therefore, a man directs his heart to the Lord, the Lord draws his spirit and breath to himself. He sets 'spirit' for the inward thoughts, but 'breath,' which is drawn through the body, for the outward actions. For God to draw to himself the spirit and breath of man is to transform both our inner and outer parts to the conversion of his own desire, so that now nothing outward pleases the mind, nothing lower pleases the flesh, or, if it desires it, it may strive to attain it;
but that all that a man is may burn with inward longing toward him, namely, from whom he is, and by subduing himself may be constrained outwardly. Whence he also aptly adds: