MALICE, Malitia. This Latin Word is not only used for that evil Disposition of the Mind and Heart, which we call Malice, but it is also put for Punishment and Correction. For Example, Scito quia completa est malitia 1 Sam. xx. 7.ejus. Be sure that evil (or Punishment) is determined by him. Thus David speaks to Jonathan: You may know that Saul has resolved upon my Destruction. The Hebrew says literally, know that Evil is compleated by him, that he has resolved that I shall perish. And in another Place, the Servants of Nabal tell their Mistress Abigail, that David had resolved upon the Destruction of her Husband. Quoniam completa est malitia adversus virum tuum. See also Isaiah xl. 2.
Eccles. xi. 10.Solomon in Ecclesiastes says, Amove malitiam à carne tua, put away Evil from thy Flesh. The wise Man in this Place, by the Term Evil, or Malitia, according to Saint Jerom, means all shameful Pleasures. In carnis Hieron. in Eccles.malitia universas intelligit corporis voluptates. The same Ecclesiastes has it, Per tristitiam Eccles. vii. 3.vultûs corrigitur animus delinquentis. The Hebrew has, Malitia vultûs lætificat cor. By the Sadness of the Countenance the Heart is made better. That is, Severity of the Countenance, with which we behold any one that departs from his Duty, brings him to be sensible of his Fault, and makes his Heart better. Our Saviour says in the Gospel, Sufficit diei malitia sua; Sufficient for the Day is the Evil thereof, or the Penalty and Calamity thereof. Saint Paul requires, that the Faithful should be Children in Malice, but Men in Prudence and Wisdom. Malitia parvuli estote, sensibus autem perfecti estote.
1 Cor. xiv. 20. Ecclus. xi. 29.In some Passages of Ecclesiasticus, Malitia is taken in the same Sence as Pæna. Malitia horæ oblivionem facit luxuriæ magnæ. The Evil of a Moment makes us forget the Ecclus. xii. 9.greatest Pleasures. And again, In malitia viri amicus agnitus est. A Friend is known in Adversity. And elsewhere, Melior est Ecclus. xxx. 14.pauper sanus, quam dives flagellatus malitiâ. A poor Man in Health is preferable to a rich Man afflicted with Diseases.