Verse 7. 'Let that night be solitary, nor worthy of praise.' 13. The devil, when man is redeemed and idols reproved, is made solitary and without praise. That night is made solitary, because by perpetual separation it is cut off from the frequenting of the supernal homeland. Yet this can also be understood otherwise, namely that he loses the man whom he had made his companion in perdition, and the enemy perishes alone with his own body, while the grace of the Redeemer reforms the many whom he had destroyed. That night is therefore declared solitary when, those who are elect being taken away, the ancient enemy alone is consigned to the eternal fires of hell. And it is well said: 'Nor worthy of praise.'
For when the human race, pressed down by the darkness of error, believed that stones were gods, by that very serving of idols what else did it do but praise the deeds of its own seducer? Whence it is well said through Paul: 'We know that an idol is nothing; but the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons' (1 Corinthians 8:4, 10:20). Those, then, who were prostrated in the worship of idols, what else did they do but praise the darkness of the night? But behold, now we perceive that that night is known to be not worthy of praise, since now, by the redeemed human race, the worship of idols is reproved; and the night is left solitary, because one does not go to torments with the condemned apostate spirit. There follows: