The Measure Of Scripture

...et calamus mensuræ in manu ejus: stabat autem in porta. Potest etiam calamus mensurae Scriptura sacra pro eo intelligi, quod quisquis hanc legit, in ea semetipsum metitur vel quantum in spiritali virtute proficit, vel quantum a bonis quae praecepta sunt longe disjunctus remansit; quantum jam assurgat ad bona facienda, quantum adhuc in pravis actibus prostratus jaceat. Sanctus Gregorius Magnus, In Ezechielem Prophetam, Liber II, Homilia I Source: Migne PL 76.945a

...and a measuring reed was in his hand, and he was standing in the gateway. 1 Indeed this measuring reed is able to understood as referring to Sacred Scripture, that anyone who reads it may in himself measure how much he has advanced in spiritual virtue, or by how much he remains distant from the goods which are commanded, that now he may raise himself so much to doing good, by as much he has yet been cast down in depraved deeds. Saint Gregory the Great, On the Prophet Ezekiel, Book 2, from Homily 1 1 Ezekiel 40.3