In the same place. — And thus in darkness they walk as in light. 78. The wicked so rejoice in the night of sin, as if the light of righteousness surrounded them. — For with a perverse mind they rejoice in their crimes, they are daily dragged by their fault to punishment, and yet they are secure. Whence it is said through Solomon: There are wicked men who are as secure as if they had the deeds of the just (Ecclesiastes viii, 14). Of whom again it is written: Who rejoice when they have done evil, and exult in most wicked things (Proverbs ii, 14). And so thus in darkness they walk as in light, because they so rejoice in the night of sin, as if the light of righteousness surrounded them.
Or certainly, since darkness not unfittingly expresses the present life, in which the consciences of others are not seen; but our light is the eternal fatherland, in which, while we behold faces, we mutually see our own hearts within us; but the wicked, because they so love the present life, and embrace these times of exile as if they already reigned in the fatherland: it is rightly said, Thus in darkness they walk as in light, because they are so glad in the present blindness, as if they already fully enjoyed the light of the eternal fatherland. There follows: