Morals on the Book of Job (Moralia in Iob)

Thus in Holy Writ, when we hear the familiar names of the stars, we learn what stars the discourse runs on. And after we have well weighed what stars are described, it remains that from their motions we be led to raise ourselves to the mysteries of the spiritual meaning. For not even after the letter is there any thing strange, in that it is said that God created Arcturus, and the Orions, and the Hyades, concerning Whom it is an acknowledged truth, that there is nothing of any sort in the world but He Himself made it. But the holy man declares that the Lord made these, by which he means properly to denote things that are done in a spiritual way.

For what is represented by the name of Arcturus, which being set in the polar region of the heavens shines bright with the rays of seven stars, except the Church universal, which is represented in the Apocalypse of John Rev. i, 12—20. 504 Arcturus, the Church. The stormy Oriones, Her Martyrs. Job 9, by the seven Churches and the seven candlesticks ? Which same, while She contains in Herself the ffifts of seven-fold Alleg. grace, beaming with the brightness of highest virtue, as it were gives light from the polar region of Truth. And it is ' furthermore to be considered, that Arcturus is ever turned about, and never sunk from sight, in that Holy Church ever undergoes the persecutions of the v/icked without ceasing, j and yet endures without failing ' even unto the end of the world.' For oftentimes because the sons of perdition have persecuted her even to the death, they have been persuaded that they had as it were utterly extinguished her, but she returned with manifold increase to the rearing of her full growth, in proportion as she travailed in dying amidst the hands of Her persecutors. Thus while Arcturus is turned about, he is set on high, for Holy Church is then more strongly reinvigorated in the Truth, when she spends herself more fervently for the Truth. j 14. Hence too after Arcturus he immediately subjoins the ' Oriones' with propriety. For they arise in the very heaviest of the winter season, and they stir up storms by their rising, and put sea and land in commotion.

What then is denoted by ' the Oriones,' after ' Arcturus,' saving the Martyrs ? who, while Holy Church is set on high to take her stand of preaching, destined to undergo the weight of the persecutors and harassing treatment, came into the face of heaven, as it were, in the winter season. For when they were born, the sea and the land were troubled, in that when the Gentile world grieved that its method of life was undone, on their courage appearing, it set up for their destruction not only the fiery and turbulent, but the mild among men also. And thus the winter lowered in * the Oriones,' in that when the constancy of the Saints shone out, the frozen soul of the unbelievers lashed itself into a tempest of persecution. And so ' the heavens' gave forth the Oriones, when Holy Church sent out her Martyrs, who whilst they had boldness to speak what is right to the uninstructed, brought upon themselves every thing most heavy from the adverse bitterness of cold.

Now he justly subjoins the Hyades directly, which, when the springtide is waxing, go forth into the face of heaven, and, when the sun is now })utting out the power of The rainy Hyades, the Doctors of Her spring-time. 50 5 his heat, are given to sight. For they are attached to the Book bearinninors of that siorn, which the wise of this world call — ^-^ ' the Bull,' at which the sun begins to increase, and arises with more fervent heat, to lengthen out the periods of the day. Who, then, after ' the Oriones,' are denoted by the title of ' the Hyades,' saving the Doctors of Holy Church, who, when the Martyrs were taken away, came at that period to the world's knowledge, when faith now shines forth the brighter, and the winter of infidelity being forced back, the sun of truth flows deeper through the hearts of the faithful. These, when the storm of persecution was overpast, and the nights of long infidelity consummated, then arose to Holy Church, when the year now opens brighter in the venial season of belief. Nor are the -holy Doctors improperly denoted by the designation of ' Hyades,' for in the Greek tongue rain is called * Hyetus;' and the * Hyades' have received their name from the rains, surely because at their rising they bring showers. Thus they are well represented by the title of the Hyades,' who, brought out in the settled frame of Holy Church, as it were into the face of heaven, upon the parched earth of the human heart poured down the showers of holy preaching.

For if the word of preaching were not rain, Moses would never have said, Let my doctrine be ivaited for 'Dent, as the rain. ' Truth' would never have said by the lips of ' ' Isaiah, / will also command the clouds that they rain no Is. 5, 6. rain upon it; and that which we brought forward a little above. Therefore the stars'^ of the showers are icithholden. 3^x^3,3. Thus while the Hyades come bringing showers, the sun is led on to the higher regions of heaven; in that, when the knowledge of the Doctors appears, while our minds drink in the showers of preaching, the heat of faith increases. And the earth being irrigated is rendered productive in fruit, when the light of the sky is fired; in that we yield the fruit of good works the more plentifully, the brighter we burn within our breasts through the flame of sacred instruction. And while heavenly lore is dis]3layed to view by them more and more da}' by day, it is as if the springtide of interior light were opened upon us, that the new Sun may glow bright! v in our souls, and being by their words made known to us, «l see note a, p. 499. Vulg. has stillse for stellsp. 506 Revelation opens as the End approaches. Job 9, may daily surpass itself in brilliancy. For the end of the : world being close at hand, the knowledge from above ad- * vances, and waxes bigger with the progress of time.

For hence Dan. 12, it is said by Daniel, Many shall run to andfro^ and knowledge shall be increased. Hence the Angel saith to John in the Kev. 10, former part of the Revelation, Seal up those things^ which the seven thunders uttered; and yet at the end of that Revelation lb. 22, ]^g i^i^g j^^jjj^ saying, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book. For the first part of the Revelation is commanded to be sealed, but the end not to be sealed ; for whatever was hidden in the beginnings of Holy Church, the end clears up day by day. But some imagine that ' the Hyades' are named from the Greek letter which is rendered by ' y;' which, if it be so, is not opposed to the sense which we have given: the Doctors are not unsuitably represented by those stars which have their name from letters; but, though ' the Hyades' are not unlike the look of that letter, yet it is a fact that a shower is called ' Hyetus,' and that those at their rising bring with them rain.

Therefore let the holy man, viewing the order of our redemption, feel wonder, and wondering let him cry out, in the words, Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea. Which maketh Arcturus, the Oriones, and Hyades, For, when the heavens were spread out, the Lord made ' Arcturus,' in that, when the Apostles were brought to honour. He stablished the Church in heavenly conversation, and when Arcturus was made, He framed ' the Oriones,' in that the faith of the Church Universal ])eing established. He launched forth the Martyrs against the storms of the world. And when ' the Oriones' were launched in heaven. He set forth ' the Hyades,' in that when the Martyrs proved strong against adversities. He vouchsafed the teaching of Masters, to water the drought of human hearts. These then are the ranks of the spiritual stars, which while they stand out conspicuous by the highest virtues, are ever shining from above.

But what remains after these things, saving that Holy Church, receiving the fruit of her toils, should attain to behold the inner depths of the Country above.'' And hence, whereas he had said. Which maketh Arcturus, the Oriones, and the Chambers of the south, depths of the Holy Spirit. 507 Hyades; he rightly added directly, and the chambers of the Book South. For what is here denoted by the name of the South,' saving the fervour of the Holy Spirit? with which he that is replenished, kindles to the love of the spiritual Country. And hence it is said by the voice of the vSpouse in the Song of Solomon, Arise, 0 north wind, and come thou Cr-nt. 4, south, blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. For upon the ' south wind' coming, the ' north wind' arising departs, when our old enemy, who had bound up our soul in inactivity, being expelled by the coming of the Holy Spirit, takes himself away. And ' the south wind blows upon the garden' of the Spouse, that ' the spices thereof may flow down;' in that, whensoever the Spirit of Truth has filled Holy Church with the excellences of His gifts. He scatters far and wide from her the odours of good works. And thus * the chambers of the South' are those unseen orders of the Angels, and those unfathomed depths of the heavenly Countiy, which are filled with the heat of the Holy Spirit.

For thither are brought the souls of the Saints, both at this present time divested of the body, and hereafter restored to the same anew, and like stars they are concealed in hidden depths. There all the day, as at midday, the fire of the sun bums with a brighter lustre, in that the brightness of our Creator, which is now overlaid with the mists of our mortal state, is rendered more clearly visible ; and the beam of the orb seems to raise itself to higher regions, in that * Truth* from Its own Self enlightens us more completely through and through. There the light of interior contemplation is seen without the intervening shadow of mutability; there is the heat of supreme Light without any dimness from the body ; there the unseen bands of Angels glitter like stars in hidden realms, which cannot now be seen by men, in proportion as they are deeper bathed in the flame of the true Light. Thus it is altogether marvellous that, in the sending of the Apostles, the Lord stretched out the Heavens; that, in moderating the swellings of persecution He trode the waves of the sea, and kept them down; that in the stablishing of the Church, He set ' Arcturus' in his place ; that in making the Martyrs proof against aflflictions, He sent forth ' the Oriones ;' that in the Doctors being replenished in peace, He gave forth ' the 508 The hidden qlories exceed all we know. Job 9, Hyades ;' but after these it is beyond all comparison marvel- - — ^ — lous, that He should have provided for us the haven of the heavenly Land, as ' the chambers of the South.'

All this is beautiful, that is seen as it were in the face of heaven of God's ordering; but infinitely and incomparably more beautiful is that, to which we are brouj^ht without its being able to be seen. Hence the Spouse justly repeats a Cant. 4, second time in the commendation of His Bride ; Behold ^' thou art fair, my love; hehold thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes, besides that which lieth hidden witldn. He describes her ' fair,' and says again ' fair,' in that there is one sort of beauty of life and conduct, wherein she is now seen, and another beauty of rewards, wherein she will then be lifted up in the likeness of her Creator ; and because her members, which are all the Elect, go about all things with simplicity, her eyes are called ' doves' eyes ;' which shine with extraordinary light, for that they glitter even with the si^ns of miraculous power. But how great is all this marvel, which is able to be seen ! That marvel relating to things of the interior is more wonderful, which is not now" able to be seen, concerning which it is fitly added in that place. Besides that which lieth hidden within. For the glory of the visible work is great, but the glory of the secret recompensing far beyond comparison. That, then, which is denoted by the name of stars' by blessed Job, is in the words of Solomon represented by the title of ' eyes ;' and wdiat is described by Solomon, Besides that which lieth within, blessed Job conveys to us, when he extols ' the chambers of the South.' But see;

the holy man in admiring things without, and contemplating those of the interior, telling of things manifest, and diving into things secret, aims to describe all that is done both within and without; but vvhen shall the tongue of flesh unfold the works of the Supreme Greatness ? And hence with just \)yopriety directly afterwards, by giving up the attempt, he measures the compass of these same works the more effectually, saying, Ver. 10. Which doeth great things past finding out; yea^ and wonders without number. xii. li). For then we more thoroughly compass the deeds of Divine Might, when we acknowledge that we can never com- ])ass them ; we then speak with greater eloquence, when wc Silence best speaks infinite praise. Man*s ignorance. 509 are silent on these, beino; struck dumb with astonishment. Book • • • IX Since for the describing of God's works our insufficiency xni. finds in itself how it may put forth its tongue sufficiently, that what it cannot suitably understand, it may suitably extol by being dumb. Whence it is well said by the Psalmist, Praise Him in His migJity acts; praise Him according to^^ jgQ His excellent greatness. For He ' praises God according to 2. His excellent greatness,' who sees that he breaks down in the fulfilling of His praise. Therefore let him say. Which doeth great things past Jinding out; yea, and wonders without number: viz. 'great,' in power, 'past finding out,' in reason, ' without number,' in multitude.

Therefore the works of God which he could not compass by speaking, he more eloquently defined by proving deficient. But in the review of things, why are we carried so far without ourselves, considering that we know nothing of the very thing that is done to our own selves .? Hence it is fitly added, Ver. 11. Zo, if He come to me, I see Him not: if He passeth on, I perceive Him not.

For the human race being shut out from the interior joys, in due of sin, lost the eyes of the mind; and whither it is going with the steps of its deserts, it cannot tell. Thus, often that is the gift of grace which it takes to be wrath, and often that is the wrath of God's severity, which it supposes to be grace. For very commonly it reckons gifts of virtue as grace, and yet being uplifted by those gifts is brought to the ground ; and very often it dreads the opposition of temptations as wrath, and yet being bowed down by those temptations, arises the more solicitous to the safe keeping of its virtuous attainments. For who would not reckon himself to be nigh to God, when he sees that he is magnified with gifts from on high, when either the gift of prophecy or the mastership of teaching is vouchsafed him, or when he is empowered to exercise the grace of healing ? Yet it often happens that whilst the mind is made to sit loose by self-security in its virtues, fi-om the adversary plotting against it, it is pierced with the weapon of unexpected sin, and is for ever put far away from God by the very means whereby for a time it was brought near to Him without the caution of heedfulness. And who would not look upon himself as now ;"310 fVe may take Mercy for Wrath, and Wrath for Mercy.

Job 9, abandoned by Divine grace, when after experiencing purity, ALLE T ^^^ ^^^^ *^^^ ^^ ^^ sorely pressed by the temptations of the flesh, that things unbefitting crowd on the mind, and before the eyes of fancy there pass things disgraceful and impure ? Yet, when such things as these harass but not subdue, they do not slaughter by the effect of corrupting, but preserve by their effect of humbling, that the mind, finding itself weak under temptation, may wholly betake itself to the assistance of the Divine Being, and completely give over all confidence in itself; and thus it is brought to pass, that it attaches itself to God the deeper by the same thing, by which it was made to lament its having fallen away the lower from God. Therefore the coming and going of God are not at all discoverable by our faculties, so long as the issue of alternating states is hidden from our eyes ; in that there is no certainty concerning the trial, whether it be a test of virtue or an instrument of our destruction ; and concerning gifts we never find out whether they are the reward here of such as are given up, or whether they are a support on the road to bring men to their native Country. Thus let man, once banished from the interior j oys, view the doors of the secret place of the Spirit shut against him, and cast forth to himself without, let him groan in the flesh, and seeing the losses which his blindness entails upon him, exclaim, Zo, if He come to me, I see Him not;

if He passeth on, I perceive Him not. As if he lamented openly, saying, ^ Since I have once lost my eyes by my own act and deed, as I am bearing the darkness of a self-sought night, now I neither know the rising nor the setting of the sun.' Yet man, who is pressed down by the infliction of infirmity, and heavy laden with the darkness of his blind estate, is going forward to the Judgment of the Light above, that he may render an account of his actions. And hence it is added immediately afterwards, Ver. 12. //' He question on a sudden, who will answer Him i xiv. 21. God * questions suddenly' when He calls us unexpectedly to the strict searching of His scrutiny. But man cannot answer to His questioning, for that, if he be then sifted, all pity laid aside, even the life of the righteous sinks under tlic scrutiny. Or, surely, He questions, when He None can answer God. None may question Him. 5 1 1 deals us hard blows, that, when the mmd entertains great Book thoughts of itself in peace and quiet, it may find itself out in L_ trouble, what sort it really is of. And very commonly because it is smitten, it utters groans ; but it is unable to make answer, because the very distastefulness of his stroke is displeasing to him, yet looking to himself man holds his peace, and dreads to scrutinize the Divine decrees, because he knows himself to be but dust.

Hence it is said by Paul, Nay, hut, O man.,Uom. 9, who art thou that repHest against God ? He that is called by the name of ' man' (homo) is proved to be unable to ' reply against God.' For by this circumstance, that he was taken from the dust of the earth % he is not worthy to scrutinize the judgments of the Most High. Hence too it is fitly subjoined here, Or, who will say unto Him, JVliat doesl TJiou ?

The acts of our Maker ought always to be reverenced without examining, for they can never be unjust. For to seek a reason for His secret counsel is nothing else than to erect one's self in pride against His counsel. So when the motive of His acts cannot be discovered, it remains that we be silent under those acts in humility, for the fleshly sense is not equal that it should penetrate the secrets of His Majesty. He then who sees no reason in the acts of God, on considering his own weakness does see reason wherefore he sees none. Hence also it is added by Paul afterwards, Shall the tiling formed say to Him that formed it, Whyliast Thou made me so ? For in proportion as it sees itself to be * a thing formed' by God's workmanship, it rebukes itself so as not to kickback against the hand of Him that wrought it; for He, Who in loving-kindness exalted what was not, never in injustice abandons that which is. So let the mind be brought to itself under the stroke, and what it cannot comprehend, let it cease to require, lest if the cause of God's wrath be searched out, It be called forth in larger measure for being searched out, and lest wrath, which humility might have pacified, pride kindle to an unextinguishable height. Hence it is moreover fitly added concerning this same Wrath, Ver. 13.

God, Whose wrath none can resist, and under Whom they that bear the world are bowed down, « Lat. '■ de humo/ whence ' homo,' ' man.' 512 Saints vnthsfand GocVs Wrath when He sustains them. Job 9, 23. Tt is very strange that it is declared that none can . — '—resist God's wrath, seeing that the divine Oracles witness Alleg. . ... xvi. that many have withstood the wrathfulness of the visitation of Heaven. Did not Moses resist God's wrath, when standing up for the fallen people, He restrained the very impulse of the stroke from above, by the oblation of his own death, Exod. saying, Yet now if Thou wilt forgive their sin: — and if not ^ ??' ^\' blot me, I pray Thee, out of the book, which Thou hast Numb. •> s J 3 ^ 7 16, 47. written ? Did not Aaron resist God's wrath, when between the living and the dead he took a censer, and assuaged the lb. 25, fire of visitation with the fumes of incense .? Did notPhinees resist God's wrath, when slaughtering them that went a whoring with strange women in the very act^ he offered his zeal to the 2 Sam. Divine wrath, and pacified fury with the sword? Did not ^ ' * David resist God's wrath, who by presenting himself to the Angel, as he dealt destruction, won the grace of propitiation, 1 Kings even before the appointed time.^ Did not Elijah resist God's ' * wrath, who when the earth was now for long dried up, brought back by a word the showers withdrawn from the heavens.?

In what sense then was it said that none can resist the wrath of God, when it is proved by existing examples that numbers have resisted it.? However, if we minutely consider both these words of blessed Job, and the deeds of those persons, we both find it to be true that there is no resisting the Divine Wrath, and also true that many have often resisted it. For all Saints that encounter the wrath of God, obtain it from Himself, that they should be thus set in the way to meet the force of His stroke; and so to say having Him with them, they lift up themselves against Him, and the Divine Power arms them in alliance with Itself against Itself. Since in that which they achieve against the wrath of Him dealing cruelly without, the grace of Him so angered encourages them within, and He bears up those serving Him inwardly, whom He submits to resisting Him outwardly. Thus He bears the supplicant's contradiction which He inspires, and that is forced upon Him as though He were unwilling, which is by Himself commanded to be Ex. 32, done. For He saith to Moses, Now therefore let Me alone, ^^' that My wrath may icax hot against them, and that I may consume them, and I will make of thee a great nation. If God is fully wroth, none can change His purpose. 513 What is it to say to His servant, Let 3Ie alone;

but to give Book him boldness to supplicate ? As if He said in plain words, ' Consider how thou prevailest with Me, and know that thou mayest obtain whatsoever thou beseechest for the People.' And that the thing is done with this mind, is witnessed by the pardon which is immediately subjoined. But when the Wrath above moveth Itself, so to say, from the heart's core, human opposition cannot stay It; and no man's entreaty presents itself to any purpose, when once God ordains any thing whilst angered from His inward Deep. For it is hence that Moses, who blotted out by his entreaties the guilt of the whole People in God's sight, and whilst he offered himself in the way, appeased the force of the Divine indignation, when he came to the rock Horeb, and for the bringing forth the water gave way to distiiist, could never enter the Land of Promise from the Lord being wroth. And oftentimes he is distressed on this score, often he is troubled by his regret making itself felt, and yet he could never remove from himself the anger of an ordained retribution, who by God's good pleasure removed it even from the very people. Hence David, who afterwards by prayer held back the sword of the 2 Sam. Angel from the fallen People, first fled from his son with^^'^^' bare feet howling and lamenting, and until he received to the full the cup of vengeance for the transgression he had done, he could never abate the wrath of the Lord for himself.

Hence Elijah, that as a mortal man he might as it were feel some little of God's visitation, he, who opened the heavens with a word, fled in terror through the wilderness fi'om a woman's indignation; and he proves weak for himself in his dismay, who appeases God's fury for others through his intercession. Thus there is both a possibility of resisting the wrath of God, when He, That is wroth Himself, vouchsafes aid; and there is no possibility at all of resisting it, when He both rouses Himself to deal vengeance, and doth not Himself inspire the prayer that is poured forth to Him. Hence it is said to Jeremiah, Therefore pray not thou for this people, Jer. 7, neither take to thee praise and prayer for them; for I mill not hear in the time of their crying to Me; and again. Though Jer. 15, Moses and Samuel sic be toward this people^ Moses and Samuel stood before Me, yet My mind could not 514 Power in prayer of those who pray for their enemies. Job 9, 24. Wherein it may be usefully enquired wherefore, so — j — ^many more ancient fathers being set aside, Moses and Samuel alone are preferably and preeminently singled out for the utterance of prayer? Which however we easily learn, if we weigh well the claims of that charity which is bidden to love even enemies. For that prayer comes with a special recommendation to the ears of our Creator, which exerts itself to make intercession for our enemies too;

and Matt. 5, hence ' Truth' saith by His own lips, Pray for them that Mark despitefully use you, and persecute you. And again. When 11,25. ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any. Now when we revolve the deeds of the fathers of old time as Holy Writ describes them, we find that it was Moses and Samuel, who prayed for their adversaries. For one of them had to fly from the persecution of that infuriated People, and yet he interceded for the persecutor's life: the other being deposed from the rule of the People, saith to his own 1 Sam. adversaries themselves, God forbid that I shoidd sin against ' ' the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. Therefore in the difficult work of deprecating wrath, what is it to bring forward Moses and Samuel, but to shew the more plainly that not even they if they stood forward would stay His wrath, who might for this reason have interceded the sooner for their friends, that they were used to intercede with Him even for their enemies. Hence it is said to that same Judaea, Jer. 30, / have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the ^^' ^^' chastisement of a cruel one. And again. Why criest thou for thine ajfiiction? Thy sorrow is incurable. Let the holy man then regard how the wrath of God is restrained by no man"'s intercession, when once it is inexorably called forth, and let him say, God, Whose wrath none can resist.

And this we rightly reduce to a particular sense, if we reflect on the woes of that same Israelitish People, which the Saviour, Who was made manifest in the mystery of His economy, abandoned in their pride, and called the Gentiles to the grace of the knowledge of Him. And hence it is rightly subjoined directly, Under Whom they that bear the world are bowed down,

For they do bear the world, who sustain the cares and concerns of the prCvSent world. Since every one is necessitated Rulers, or Angels, bear the world, but bend to God. 515 to bear the burthens of as great things as he is a leader of Book in this world; and hence a ruler of the earth is not unsuitably — ^-^ designated in the Greek tongue ' basileus.' For ' laus' means ' people.' Basileus therefore is the title ' basis laou,' which in the Latin tongue is rendered ' basis populi,' or, ' the base of the people;' since it is he that bears up the people upon himself, in that he controls its motions, himself steadied by the weight of power. For in proportion as he bears the burthens of his subjects, like a base he supports a column raised upon it. Let blessed Job, then, full of the power of the prophetic Spirit, see how Judaea is forsaken, and the rulers of the Gentiles are bowed to the worship of the Divine Being, and let him say, God, Whose wrath none can resist, under Whom they that bear the world are bowed down. As though he plainly owned, saying, ' Both the People, that was once subject to Thee, Thou forsakest in Thy severity, and the powers of the Gentiles, that set up their heads, Thou bendest low in Thy mercy.'

Though hereby, that it is said. Under Whom they that bear the world are bowed down; we may also understand the Angelical powers; for these bear the world, in that they execute the charges of the governing of the universe, as Paul bears witness, when he says, Are they not all ministering Heh. i. spirits, sent forth to minister for them that shall be heirs of^^' salvation. Thus he says, God, Whose wrath none can resist, under Whom they that bear the world are bowed down. As if he beheld the humiliation of every created being, and said in fear and trembling, ' Which of frail mortals resists Thy nod, before Whose might the Angelic Powers themselves bow down themselves?' Or, surely, since, when we are bowed down, we see nothing of things above us, those subtlest spirits must needs have been erect, if they completely reached the power of His Majesty; but ' they that bear the world, are bowed down under God,' for though when they are lifted up they behold the loftiness of the Divine Nature, yet not even the Angelic Powers attain to comprehend It. Which Same the righteous man failing from infirmity to fathom, and yet in some degree estimating It from the ministrations of the most exalted spirits being subject to Him, falls back to the consideration of himself with heedful humility, and makes 516 Man's very righteousness needs mercy. Job 9, himself little in his own eyes compared with the omnipotence iiii^of the Supreme Majesty;

saying, ^^* Ver. 14. Hoio great am I that I should answer Him, and talk with Him in my words? xvii. 27. As though he said in plain words, ' If that created being is unable to take thought of Him, which is not burthened by the flesh, in what spirit do I dispute about His judgments, who am straitened by the burthen of corruption.?' But as God's words to us are oftentimes His judgments, declaring the sentence of our actions, so our words to God are the deeds which we set forth ; but man * cannot reason with God in his words,' in that, in the eye of His exact judgment, he maintains no assurance in his actions. Hence it is fitly added, Ver. 15. Who, though I possessed any thing righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my Judge, xv^i. 28. For, as we have often said, all human righteousness is proved unrighteousness, if it be judged by strict rules. And so there is need of prayer following after righteousness, that this, which if sifted to the bottom might be brought down, may be firmly established in the mere pitifulness of the Judge. And when this is possessed fully by the more perfect sort, it is said that they possess a something of it. In that the human mind both with difficulty puts in practice the truths apprehended by it, and the things which it apprehends are the merest outskirts.

Therefore let him say. Who, though I possessed any thing righteous, yet would I not answer, hut I would make supplication to my Judge. As if he owned in plainer words ; * And if I should grow to the practising of virtue, I am made vigorous to life, not by merit, but of pardoning grace.' Therefore we must be strenuous in prayer, when we do right, so that all the righteous ways we live in we may season by humihty; but very often it happens that our very supplication is tost to and fro by such a multitude of temptations, that it seems almost cast off from the presence of tlie Judge. And often our pitiful Creator receives it, but because it cannot put forth itself undefiled, as it is minded, it dreads the sentence of condemnation upon its head. Hence it goes on, Saiufs can scarce think their injirmities allow of grace. 517 Ver. 16. And when I have called and He hath answered Book me^ yet do I not believe that He hath hearkened unto my voice.

For very often the mind is set on fire with the flame ^i^of Divine love, and is uplifted to behold heavenly things and secret mysteries. It is now transported on high, and pierced with full affection, is made strange to things below ; but being struck with sudden temptation, the soul which with set purpose had been established erect in God, pierced with arising temptations is bowed low ; so that it cannot discern itself, and being held fast between good and evil practices, cannot tell on which side it is strongest. For very often it is brought to this pass, to wonder how it so lays hold of the highest truths, when unlawful thoughts defile it ; and again how it admits unlawful thoughts, when the fervour of the Holy Spirit with power transports it above itself. Which alternate motions of thought in the mind being viewed aright by the Psalmist, he exclaims, Tliey mount upFs. 107, to the heaven, they go down again to the depths. For we mount up to the heaven, when we enter into the things above, but we go down to the depths, when we are suddenly cast down from the height of contemplation by grovelling temptations. Thus whilst the motions of the mind alternate between vows and vices, too truly they cloud for themselves the certainty of their being heard. Therefore it is rightly said. When I have called and He hath answered me, yet do I not believe that He hath hearkened unto my voice. In that the mind is rendered fearful from its mere changeableness, and by that which it is unwillingly subject to, imagines itself cast off and rejected.

It is interesting to observe with what exactness the holy man passes judgment on himself, that the judgments of God may find nought in him to take hold of. For having an eye to his own frailty, he says. How much less shall 1 answer, and talk in my words with Him ? Not relying upon the claims of his own righteousness, but betaking himself to the hope alone of entreating, he adds, fVho, though I had any tJmig righteous, yet would I not answer, hut I would make supplication to my Judge. But apprehensive for the very entreaty itself, he adds, And when I have called, and He hath answered me, yet do I not believe that He hath 518 Tempest of Judgment. God punishes even original sin. Job 9, Jtearkened unto my voice. Why does he shrink with so '' great apprehension, why does he tremble with such sore misgiving ? but that his eye is fixed on the dreadfulness of the Judge, in the last strict reckoning, and not supporting the power of His searching eye, all that he does seems little worth in his account ? Whence he adds thereupon, Ver. 17. For He shall break me with a tempest. XX. 31. In every case that sinner is ' broken with a tempest,' who seemed to be stablished in tranquillity, in that the man whom the long-suffering Above bears with for long, the last strict Judgment destroys.

And this is rightly called ' a tempest,' because it is manifested in a commotion of the Ps.50,3. elements, as the Psalmist witnesses, when he says, God shall come manifest, and He shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before Him, and a mighty tempest round Nahum about Him. And hence another Prophet also says, TJie ' * Lord, His way is in the tvhirlwind and in the storm. In which same w^hirlwind the righteous man is never broken, for this reason, because here he is ever in fear and anxiety, lest he should be broken. For whilst still set in the journey of the present life, he bethinks himself how severe towards the actions of men the Kequirer of works will appear, Who then condemns even without works some that are only bound with the guilt of original sin. Whence the holy man rightly adds thereupon in the voice of mankind, Jnd multiplieth my wounds even without cause. xxi. 32. For there be some that are withdrawn from the present light, before they attain to shew forth the good or evil deserts of an active life. And whereas the Sacraments of salvation do not free them from the sin of their birth, at the same time that here they never did aright by their own act, There they are brought to torment. And these have one vvomid, viz. to be born in corruption, and another, to die in the flesh.

But forasmuch as after death there also follows death eternal, by a secret and righteous judgment * wounds are multiplied to them without cause.' For they even receive everlasting torments', who never sinned by their own Job 14, wi]], 4i^(j hence it is written, Eve?i ^ihe ii\fant of a single l^XX. ^ See note a, p. 179. on the passage, but it is so quoted by 8 The reference in Ed. IJen. is a St. Aug. Serni. clxx. §. 2. misprint. St. Greg, does not read thus Job suffered, in one sense, * without cause.' 519 day is not inire in His sight iipon earth. Hence ^ Truth' Book says by His own lips. Except a man he horn of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 5. ' Hence Paul says, We were by nature the children of wrath^^^^' ^' even as others. He then that adding nothing of his own is ruined by the guilt of birth alone, how stands it with such an one at the last account, as far as the calculation of human sense goes, but that he is ' wounded without cause ?' And yet in the strict account of God it is but just that the stock of mortality, like an unfruitful tree, should preserve in the branches that bitterness which it drew from the root. Therefore he says. For He shall hreak me with a tempest, and multiply my tcounds without cause. As if reviewing the woes of mankind he said in plain words; ' With what sort of visitation does the strict Judge mercilessly slay those, whom the guilt of their own deeds condemns, if He smites for all eternity even those, whom the guilt of deliberate choice does not impeach ?'

Now that these same sayings are not inconsistent with the case of blessed Job in a special sense, we shall acquaint ourselves, if we pursue the enquiry, how truly they were delivered. For considering himself with exactness, and judging himself in every action, he tells us with what great dread and apprehension he views the force of the seventy of the Most High, adding, For He will hreak me with a tempest. As if it were in plain words, ' For this reason I ever fear Him even in time of quiet, because I cannot but know how He may come in the whirlwind, by His scourges:' which same scourges he both in fearing forecast, and in forecasting underwent. Whence he adds, And will ?nultiply my liounds even without cause. For as we have often said already, blessed Job was never stricken that the stroke might blot out sin in him, but that it might add to his meiit. Therefore in asserting himself wounded without cause, he declares that concerning himself openly, which ' Truth*' witnesses of him in secret, saying, Although thou movedst Me against him, to destroy him without cause. The holy man then does not say from pride that which he says only in truth. Nor is he out of proportion with the rule of righteousness by those words, by which he is not at variance 5*20 Inward trials. God both Judge and Witness. Job 9, with the Judge.

Who goes on to set forth the continuance -V — " of those wounds, when he adds, Lit. _ ' ' He liill not suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitterness. xxu. 34^ It is often an exercise of virtue to the just, to be subject to ills from without by themselves; but that the conflict of a complete trial may discipline their powers, sometimes at one and the same time they are rent with torments without, and chastened with temptations within. Hence the holy man declares himself to be full of bitterness, in that whilst he is bearing scourges outwardly, there is a heavier weight, which from the adversary's tempting he carries in his interior ; but withal the force of his sorrow is abated by considering the equity and the power of the Smiter. Whence he adds, Ver. 19. If T speak of strength, lo, He is strong; if of equity in judgment, none dareth bear witness for me, xxiii. 35. For He tries the counts of our lives, Who does not make them out by the testimony of another; in that He, Who is one day revealed as a strict inflicter of punishment, Himself was for long the silent witness of the sin. For it is Jer. 29, on this account that the Prophet says, / am judge and Is. 42 witness. Hence he saith again, / Itave long time holden ^^' My peace;

I have been still, and refrained Myself; now will I cry like a travailing woman. For a woman in travail casts forth with pain, what she has long borne in her womb with burthensomeness. And so after a long silence, like a travailing woman, the Lord utters His voice, in that what He now bears silently in Himself, He one day as it were reveals with pain in the avenging of the Judgment. But it deserves our enquiry; this righteous man, if any had ventured to give testimony in his behalf, would he have cleared him of guilt .'' And if no other gave testimony to him, then, at least, is he himself at all events of strength to offer testimony in his own behalf.? It follows, Ver. 20. If I desire to justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me ; if I say I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse. xxiv. 86. As if it were in plain words ; ' Why should I speak about others, when I cannot bear testimony concerning mySin so subtle that we cannot make sure of goodness. 521 self?' But whereas thou art not competent to witness to Book thine own innocencj, dost thou know the fact that thou art ^^— innocent ? He proceeds, Ver. 21. TJiough I were perfect, even this my soul shall not know.

Most commonly if we know the good things that we do, we are led to entertain pride; if we are ignorant of them, we cannot keep them. For who would not, in however slight degree, be rendered proud by the consciousness of his virtue? or who, again, would keep safe within him that good, which he does not know of? what then remains as a provision against either of these evils, saving that all the good things that we do, in knowing we should not know ; so that we both look upon them as right things, and as a mere nothing, that thus the knowledge of their rightness may quicken the soul to a good guard, and the estimation of their littleness may never exalt it in pride ? But there are some things which are not easy to be ascertained by us, even when they are doing. For often we are inflamed with a right earnestness against the sins of transgressors, and when we are transported by passion beyond the bounds of justice, we account this the warmth of just severity. We often take upon ourselves the office of preaching, that we may in this way minister to the service of our brethren ; but unless we be acceptable to the person, whom we address, nothing that we preach is received with welcome ; and while the mind aims to please on useful grounds, it lets itself out after the love of its own praise in a shameful way, and the soul vrhich was busied in rescuing others fi'om captivity to bad habits, being itself made captive, begins to drudge to its own popularity.

For the appetite for the applause of our fellow-creatures is like a kind of footpad, who as people are going along the straight road joins them from the side, that the wayfarer's life may be barbarously taken by the dagger drawn out of sight. And when the intention of purposed usefulness is drawn off' to our own interests, in a way to make one shudder, sin accomplishes that identical work, which goodness began. Oftentimes even from the very beginning the thought of the heart seeks one thing, the deed exhibits another.

Often not even the thought itself proves faithful to "LrFr 5*22 Vanity^ covetoiisness, pride, curiosity, deceive iis. Job 9, itself, in that it sets one object before the raind's eye, and is hurrying far from it after another in real purpose. For very often we find persons who covet earthly rewards, and stand up in defence of justice, and these account themselves innocent, and exult in being the vindicators of right ; who if the prospect of money be withdrawn, instantly cease from their defence of justice ; and yet they look upon themselves as defenders of justice, and maintain themselves right to themselves, who the while aim not at rightness but money. In Deut. opposition to whom it is well said by Moses, T7iat which is ^^'^^' just, thou shalt follow justly. For he followeth unjustly that which is just, who is moved to the defence of just dealing not by his feeling for virtue, but by his love of temporal rewards. He ' followeth unjustly that which is just,' who is not afraid to drive a trade with that justice, which he makes his plea. And so ' justly to follow what is just' is in the vindication of justness to make that same justness our end and aim. We often do right things, and are far from looking for rewards, far from seeking applause from our fellowcreatures, yet the mind being set up in self-confidence, scorns to please those from whom it seeks nothing, sets at nought their opinions, and drives itself miserably free along the precipices of pride, and is the worse overwhelmed beneath sin from the same source, whence it boasts, its sins as if subdued, that it is subject to no covetous desires.

Often while we sift ourselves more than is meet, by our very aim at discernment we are the more undiscerningly led wrong, and the eye of our mind is dimmed, in proportion as it strives to perceive more ; for he too, who determinately looks at the sun's rays, turns darksighted, and is necessitated to see nothing from the very thing in which he striv^es to see too much. Therefore whereas, if we are backward in our examination, we know nothing at all of ourselves, or, if we search ourselves with an exact scrutiny, we are very often dimsighted to distinguish between virtue and vice, it is rightly said here ; Tliough I were perfect, my soul shall not know it. As if it were expressed plainly, ' With what foolhardiness do I find fault with God's judgments upon me, who do not know mine own self by reason of the darkness of my weak condition ?' Whence it is well Wem'hiess of uncertainty. Men brought to nothing. 523 said by the Prophet, The deep uttered his voice from the Book height of his imagining. For the deep sustains a height of - ^imagining, when the human mind, dim with the immensity ofio.lxx.' thought, even in its very searching does not penetrate itself, but to ' utter his voice from the height' is that whilst it is unable to fathom itself, it is constrained to rise up in admiration, so that it never should venture to dive into that which is above it, in proportion as, in taking thought itself of its own incomprehensible being, it cannot make out what it is.

But the hearts of the righteous, because they cannot examine themselves to perfection, with difficulty bear this exile of dimsightedness; and hence it is added, and I shall he weary of my life. The righteous man is weary to live, in that both by doing works he does not cease to seek after life, and yet cannot discover the merits of that same life ; since he draws the balances of trial out from the bosom of interior Justice, and in himself is disabled for the effecting of discovery from the very cause that, being transported above himself, he is enlarged in the power of inquiring. But the alleviation of our darkness lies in the just and incomprehensible power of the Creator being recalled to mind, which both never leaves the wicked without taking vengeance, and surpasses the righteousness of the just by the boundlessness of its incomprehensibility; and hence it is fitly subjoined, Ver. 22. TJtis is one thing, that I have spoken, He destroyeth both the perfect and the wicked.

The ^ perfect man is destroyed' by the Creator, in \ that whatever his pureness may have been, it is swallowed up by the pureness of the divine immensity. For though we take heed to preserve pureness, yet by consideration of the interior Perfection it is shewn, that this which we practise is not purity; ' the wicked' likewise is ' destroyed' by the Creator, in that whilst God ordereth all things marvellously, his wickedness is caught in the noose of his own artifices. For he is even unwittingly involving himself in punishment on the same grounds whereon he wittingly exults in doing any thing. Whereas therefore Almighty God at once surpasses the perfection of the righteous by pureness, and penetrating the craft of the wicked condemns it, it is rightly said, This is one thing, therefore I said it ; He destroyeth the 524 Both righteous and wicked die in the flesh. Job 9, perfect and the wicked. As if it were expressed in plain words ; * I have spoken this word of reflection to myself, that neither being perfect, shall I appear perfect, if I be strictly examined ; nor being wicked, if 1 would lie hid in myself, am I withdrawn from the piercings of heavenly probing, in that the strict Judge in comprehending all things, penetrates the subterfuges of wickedness in a marvellous way ; and in ordering for the best, condemns the same by its own devices.' Or, indeed, He is Himself said to destroy both the perfect and the wicked, in that though they be separated in the life of the soul, yet in due of the first sin, they are alike dragged to the death of the flesh.

And hence Eccl. 2, it is said by Solomon ; The learned dieth equally as the jL J unlearned. x4.nd again. All things are subject to vanity^ 20. and all go to one place ; all are of the dust, aud all turn to dust again. It proceeds : Ver. 23. If He scourge, let Him slay once for all, and not laugh at the trial of the innocent. xxvii. 41. Who would not suppose that this was uttered in pride, unless he heard the sentence of the Judge, Who pronounces, Job42,7. j^o^ yQ ])fii-Q fiot spoken of Me the thing that is right, as My servant Job hath. Therefore it follows, that no one dare to find fault with the author's words, which it appears the Judge commends. But they must be sifted in their inner sense with the greater wariness and nicety, in proportion as they sound the harder on the outside. Thus the holy man surveying the woes of mankind, and considering whence they came, how that man, in consequence of the promise of his enemy, desiring to obtain the knowledge of good and evil, lost his very self too, so that he may say with truth. Though I were perfect, yet my soul shall not know it ; how that after the punishment of exile he is further subject to the scourges of corruption, and even after being tormented is still tending to the death of the bod\^, or indeed to the death of the soul, so that he may well say, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked;

in opposition to tliis he begs the grace of the Mediator, saying, If he scourge, let him slay once for all. For in that we have both in spirit departed from God; and that in flesh we return to dust, we are obnoxious to the punishment of a double death. Hut there came unlo us One, The Death Job longed for, that of the Redeemer, 525 Who in our stead should die the death of the flesh only, and Book join His smgle Death to our twofold death, and set us free 1from either kind. Concerning which it is said by Paul, /orl^om. 6, in that He died, He died unto sin once. Thus let the holy man survey the ills of our state of corruption, and let him seek the one Death of the Mediator, which should cancel our two deaths, and in longing for this, let him say, If He scourge, let Him slay once for all.

But mark how that seems as though it were at war with humility, which is immediately introduced, And not laugh at the trial of the innocent. And yet we shall easily perceive this to be a very great piece of humility, if we consider it in a humble spirit. For it is plain to all persons that desire, when deferred, is in every case a pain; as Solomon bears witness, who says, Hope deferred maketh the heart Pror. sick. Now for God to 'laugh,' is His refusing to take pity ^^' "' upon the suffering of man. Hence the Lord saith again, by Solomon, to the children of perdition continuing in sin, /Prov. J, also will laugh at your calamity ; i. e. * I will not compassionate you in your distress with any pity.' Thus before the coming of our Redeemer, the Elect had all of them their pain, in that with ardent longing, they desired to behold the mystery of His Incarnation, as He Himself bears record, when He says. For I tell you that many Prophets a;?f/Lukeio, Kings have desired to see these things ichich ye see, and have ' not seen them; and so the 'pains of the innocent' are the desires of the righteous. For so long then as the Lord, taking no pity, deferred the wishes of His Elect, what did He else, but ' laugh at the pains of the innocent ?' Therefore let the holy man, considering the gifts of the Redeemer that should come, and enduring with pain the delay of his wishes, express himself in the words.

If He scourge^ let Him slay once for all, and not laugh at the pains of the innocent. As if he besought in plain words, saying, * Whereas our life is every day bruised with the scourge of vengeance on account of sin, let Him now appear, W^ho for our sake may undergo death once for all, without sin, that God may no more ' laugh at the pains of the innocent,' if He Himself come subject to suffering in the flesh, in desire of Whom our soul chastens itself.' 5'26 ChrisC s flesh given up to the ' hands' of the wicked one. Job 9, 43. Or indeed if He uses the expression of God's * laughing' __^ — for His joy, the Lord is said ' to laugh at the pains of the innocent,' in that the more ardently He is sought of us, the more graciously He rejoices over us. For we as it were cause a kind of joy to Him by our pain, when by holy desires, we chasten ourselves for the love of Him. Hence the Psalmist Ps. 118, saith. Appoint a solemn day in frequency^ even unto the " ^' horns of the altar. For he ' appointeth a solemn day to the Lord in frequency,' whosoever is continually chastening himself in the desire of Him; and it is enjoined that this same day of solemnity be carried even to the horns of the altar, in that it is necessary that every man chasten himself for so longtime, until he attains to the height of the heavenly sacrifice, i.

e. unto eternal bliss. Thus the holy man, for that he longs to have his desire fulfilled and no longer deferred, says with humility, Nor laugh at the pains of the innocent. As if he said, ' Let Him, gladly welcoming our petitions, no longer defer, but by manifesting bring to light Him, Who chastens us in the expecting of Himself.' Now that blessed Job prayed that He in particular might be slain once for all, Who at the end of the world underwent for our sake the death of the flesh alone, he immediately makes appear, in that he at the same time subjoins the very course of His X. Passion; saying, Ver. 24. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He cover eth the faces of the judges thereof xxviii. 44. For what is denoted by the designation of * the earth,' saving the flesh? who by the title of the wicked,' save the devil? The ' hands' of this wicked one were they, who were the aggressors in the death of our Redeemer. Thus ' the earth is given into the hands of the wicked,' in that our Redeemer's Soul our old enemy could never corrupt, by himself tempting Him. But His Flesh he being permitted did by means of his ministers deprive of life for three days; and unknownto himself, by that very permission, he ministered to the dispensation of God's pitifulness. For assailing our Redeemer with three temptations, he had no power to defile the heart of God.

15ut when he set on the mind of Judas to bring about the death of His fleshly part, and when he gave him a band of soldiers and officers from the Chief Job grieves that his days pass away before his time. 5-27 Priests and Pharisees, llien that wicked one stretched forth Book his hands upon ' the earth.' The judges of this earth were the Priests and Rulers, Pilate and the scoffing soldiers ; and so this wicked one ' covered the faces of the judges thereof,' in that he veiled the mind of the persecutors, that they should not know their Maker, with a cloud of wickedness. Whence it is said by Paul, But even unto this day, ^t'Ae?^ 2 Cor. 3, Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart; and^ie says again. For had they known it, they would not have crucified^ ^or. 2^ the Lord of glory. And so the face of the judges proved to be covered, in that the mind of the persecutors not even by His miracles ever knev/ Him to be God, Whom it had power to hold fast in the flesh. But forasmuch as our old enemy is one person with all the wicked, Holy Scripture very often so speaks of the head of the wicked, i. e. the devil, that it suddenly goes off to his body, i. e. to his followers. Therefore it may be that by the name of ' the wicked one,' the faithless and persecuting People is denoted, with which this also which is added accords -, If it is not he, who then is it?

Who then shall any where be accounted wicked, ifx, that People, which persecuted Pity Itself, be not wicked? But the holy man, after regarding the faithlessness of the Jewish People, calls back the eye of his mind to himself, grieves that he cannot behold Him Whom he loves, is sad and sorrowful that he is withdrawn from the present world, before the Saving Health of the world is manifested; and hence he adds, Ver. 25. Now my days are swifter than a post : they are fled away, they have seen no good.

For the business of a post is to tell what is coming after; and so all of the Elect that were born before the coming of the Redeemer, in that either by mode of life only, or by word of mouth likewise, they bore tidings of Him, were like a kind of post in the world. But whereas they foresee themselves withdrawn before the wished for season of Redemption, they mourn that they pass away ' swifter than a post,' and they lament that their days are short, because they are never extended so far as to see the light of the Redeemer; whence it is justly said. They flee away^ they see 528 The Fathers hut smelted the fruits they carried for us. Job 9, 710 good. All things that have been created are good, as Moses bears record, who says, A?id God saw evei'y thing JMyst. Gen. 1, that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. But that ^^' good alone is primarily good, whereby all those are good, which are not primarily good, and of this good, ' Truth' saith Lukeis, in the Gospel, None is good save one, that is, God. Therefore because the days of the former fathers were ended before ever God was manifested to the world in the flesh, it is rightly said of those days, that they fled away, and saw no good. As if it were in plain words, ' They have passed away before the looked-for season, because they might not attain to the present appearing of the Redeemer.' Whence it is yet further added;

Ver, 26. They are passed away as the ships carrying fruits. xxxi. 47. They that traverse seas transporting fruits, do themselves indeed enjoy the smell of the same, but the food thereof they convey to others. What else then did the ancient Fathers shew themselves, saving ships carrying fruits? They indeed in foretelling the mystery of God's Incarnation, themselves enjoyed the sweet odour of hope, but to ourselves they brought down the fruit by the completion of that hope. For what they but smelled at in expecting, we are replenished with in seeing and receiving. And hence That same ReJohn 4, deemer saith to His disciples. Other men laboured, and ye ^^' are entered into their labours. And their days are likened to ships, because they pass by on their way, and very properly to those bearing fruits, for all the Elect severally, whom they carried before the Redeemer's coming, through the Spirit of prophecy, they were enabled to refresh with the expectation, but not to feed with the manifest appearing. Or, surely, whereas when ships carry fruits, they mix chaff with them, in order that they may transport them to land without injury, the days of the Fathers of yore are rightly described as like to ships bearing fruits, for in that the sayings of the Ancients tell of the mysteries of the spiritual life, they preserve these by means of the intermingled chaff of the history, and they bring down to us the fruit of the Spirit under a covering, when they speak to us carnal things.

For often whilst they relate circumstances proper to themselves, The eagles of contemplation feed on the Incarnation. 559 they are exalted to the secrets of the Divine Nature. And Br ok often while they gaze at the loftiness of the Divine Nature, they are suddenly plunged into the mystery of the Incarnation. Hence it is still further added with fitness, As the eagle that haste th to the prey.

For it is of the habits of the eagle to gaze at the sun's rays with unrecoiling eye; but when it is pressed by need of sustenance, it turns the same pupil of the eye, which it had fixed on the rays of the sun, to the ken of the carcase, and though it flies high in air, it seeks the earth for the purpose of getting flesh. Thus, surely, thus was it with the old fathers, who as far as the frailty of human nature permitted it, contemplated the sight of the Creator with uplifted soul, but foreseeing Him destined to become incarnate at the end of the world, they as it were turned away their eyes to the ground from gazing at the rays of the sun; and they as it were descend from highest to lowest, whilst they see Him to be God above all things, and Man among all things; and whilst they behold Him, Who was to suffer and to die for mankind, by which same Death they know that they are themselves restored and fashioned anew to life, as it were like the eagle, after gazing at the rays of the sun, they seek their food upon the dead Body. It is good to view the Eagle gazing at the rays of the Sun, which saith, The mighty God^ The u. 9, 6. Everlasting Father^ the Prince of Peace. But let him come down from the high flight of his lofty range to earth, and seek below the food of the carcase.

For he adds a little while after, saying. The chastisement of our peace was upon ib.53,5. Him, and with His stripes we are healed. And again, AndJer. i7, He is man, and who shall know Him ? Thus the mind of the righteous man being lifted up to the Divine Nature, when it sees the grace of the Economy in His Flesh, as it were * hasteth' suddenly from on high like an * eagle to the prey.' But mark; that Israelitish People, which was for long watered with the Spirit of prophecy above measure, lost those same gifts of prophecy, and never continued in that faith, which in foreseeing it had proclaimed, and, by disowning, put away from itself that Presence of the Redeemer, which, by foretelling, it clearly delivered to all its followers. Hence, immediately, his speech is suitably made to turn, in sympathy, 2 m 530 The Jews changed. Mans days pass without seeing God. Job 9, to their obduracy, and it is shewn how the Spirit of prophecy ——^ — is taken away from them. For it is subjoined, Ver. 27. If I say^ I will never speak thus; I change my countenance^ and am tormented with grief. xxxiii. 49. For the Jewish People would not speak as before, in that it denied Him, Whom it had foretold; but with changed countenance it is tormented with grief, in that while it defiled with the foulness of imbelief the aspect of its inward man, by which it might have been known by the Creator, setting out with present evils, it brought itself under the sentence of everlasting vengeance.

For its face being as it were changed, it is not known by the Creator, in that upon faith in a good conscience being gone, it is condemned. But doubtless it remains for her, that the pain of punishment torment her, whom her Creator knowing not disowns. Seeing, then, that we have gone through these points under the signification of our Redeemer, now let us go over them again, to make them out in a moral sense. Ver. 25. Now my days have been swifter than a post, they are fled away, they have seen no good. Moral. 50. For as we have already said, the first man w^as so created that by the accessions of time his life could only be extended, but not spun to an end ; but because by his own act and deed he fell into sin, in that he touched that which was forbidden, he was made subject to a transitory career, which man now, oppressed by fondness for the present life, both undergoes and longs for without ceasing. For, that he may not come to an end, he longs to live on, yet by the accessions to life, he is daily advancing to his end, nor does he well discover the added portions of time, what nothings they are, when those things are done and over in a moment which seemed to be long in coming. Let the holy man then view the grounds of his position, and in the voice of mankind bewail the woes of a transitory career, saying, Now my days have been swifter than a post ;

they are fled away, they have seen no good. As if it were in plain words, * Man was created for this end, that he might see ' good,' which is God; but because he would not stand in the light, in flying therefrom he lost his eyes; for in the same degree that by sin he began to let himself run out to things below, he subjected Man bears untaded fndts across this life's sea. 53 1 himself to blindness, that he should not see the interior Book T X^ light/ And of those days it is farther added with fitness, They — 1_1are passed away as the ships carrying fruits. For ships, when they ' carry fruits,' convey the produce of the land through the waves. Now the land of man was Paradise, which might have kept him unshaken, if by force of innocency he could have stood fast, but, because by sin he fell into the waves of a changeful state, after the land he came into the seas of the present life. Furthermore the fruits of the land were the word of commandment, the power of good works vouchsafed him, the perception of his Creator implanted in his nature. But these fruits, which we refused to eat on the land, we cany through the seas, in that we would not keep unmoved in Paradise the blessings of so many benefits vouchsafed to us, and now we endeavour to preserve them in the midst of temptations.

Hasting to our bourn, we are driven forward by the breath of the present life, we are worn out with the tossing of our mutable condition. But whereas by the mystery of the Cross we are made fast to the good gifts implanted in our nature, it is as if we carried fruits by means of wood. And yet this may also be understood in another sense. For ships that carry fruits have sweetness of smell, but have no gravity of weight ; and man, when he became an outcast from the joys of Paradise, lost the power of contemplation, and parted with the vigour of his native strength ; and when he lifts up himself to seek anew the things above, he is sweetened indeed by the perfume of the memory, but yields no weight of life in meet proportion. Thus he is filled with the odours of fruits, and yet the vessel of our soul is lightly driven hither and thither without steadiness, in that we both call to mind the high state of Paradise with a remembrance of a sweet smell, and are subject to the troublesome waves of temptation arising from the flesh. Hence it is fitly subjoined, As the eagle that hasteth to the prey. For the eagle is suspended in an exceeding lofty flight, and poised in swift speeding skywards, but from the hunger of the belly, he seeks the ground, and suddenly plunges himself do^\Tiward from on high.

Thus, thus the race of man in our first parent fell from on high deep down below, whereas the dignity of its state by creation had hung 532 Fall of man. Pain of perplexity . Sin of questioning. Ji)B 9, it aloft in the high region of reason as in the freedom of the skies : but because, contrary to the cominandment, he touched the forbidden fruit, he descended to the earth, through the lust of the belly ; and it is as if he fed upon flesh after flying, for that he lost those free inhahngs of contemplation, and now solaces himself with corporeal delights below. Thus ' as the eagle that hastethto the prey,' our days pass swiftly by ; for in proportion as we seek things below, we are hindered from maintaining ourselves in life. ) 51. But when we revolve such things in our mind by conitinual reflection, we are silently pressed with the hard questions, why did Almighty God create one, who He foresaw would perish ? Why was He, Who is chief in power and chief in goodness, not so minded as to make man such that he could not perish ? But when the mind silently asks \ these questions, it fears lest, by its very audacity in questionI ing thus, it should break out into pride, and holds itself in with ^1 humility, and restrains the thoughts of the heart. But it is / the more distressed, that amid the ills that it suffers it is j over and above tormented concerning the secret meaning of its condition.

Hence here too it is fitly added ; If I shall say, I will never speak thus; I change my countenance, and am tormented with grief. For we say, that ' we never ought to speak thus,' when transgressing the limits of our frail nature in pushing our enquiries, we reproach ourselves in dread, and are withheld by bethinking ourselves of heavenly awe, in which same withholding, the face of our mind is altered, in that the mind, which in the nrst instance, failing to comprehend them, boldly investigated things above, afterwards, finding out its own infirmity, begins to entertain awe for what it is ignorant of. But in this very change there is pain, for the mind is very greatly afflicted that, in recompense of the first sin, she is blinded to the understanding of things touching her own self All that she undergoes she sees to be just. She dreads lest in her pain she be guilty of excess from liberty of speech, she imposes silence on the lips, but the awakened grief is increased by the very act by which it is restrained. liCt him say then ; If I shall say, I nill never speak thus ; I change my countenance, and fVith how many (jood works. Job Ml feared. 533 am tormented icitli qrief. For we are then for the most part Book . . • IX. most grievously afflicted, when, as it were by a studied '— endeavour after consolation, we try to lighten to ourselves the ills of our afflicted condition;

but whoever once considers with minute attention the ills of man propagated by the condemnation of our first parent, it follows that he must be afraid to add his own deeds thereto. Hence after the holy man had brought in matters of common concern, he at once subjoins those of special interest, saying, Ver. 28. / was afraid of all my works, knowing that Thou wottldest not spai'e me, when guilty of transgression,

What were the works that blessed Job practised, thexxxiv. text of this sacred history makes plain. For he studied to propitiate his Maker by numberless burnt offerings ; in that according to the number of his sons, as it is written, rising up early in the morning, he offered burnt offerings for each, and purified them not only from impure actions, but likewise from bad thoughts. Of whom it is recorded, by the witness of Scripture, For Job said, It may be that my sons have johi,o. sinned, and cursed ^ God in their hearts. He exercised the ^ Lat feeling of sympathy, in that he declares of himself, when he was importuned by the interrogations of his friends, Did wo/ Job 30, I weep for him that was in trouble? He discharged the office of pity, as he says, / was an eye to the blind, and a Job 29, foot was I to the lame. He kept pureness of chastity in heart, in that he discovers himself openly with adjuration, saying, If mine heai't have been deceived by a woman. He ^o^^^) held the very topmost point of humility, from the grounds of his heart, who saith, //" / did despise to be judged with my^er.is. manservant or my maidservant , when they contended with me. He bestowed the bounties of liberality, who saith. Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless^'^'^'^''hath not ealen thereof? And again;

// his loins have not"^^^-^^blessed me, and if he were not teamed with the fleece of my sheep. He displayed the kindness of hospitality, who says, The stranger did not lodge in the street ; but I opened my^^^'^"^doors to the traveller. And in the midst of the. e things, for the consummation of his virtues, by that more excellent way of charity, he even loved his very enemies, in that he says, If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me. And^^'* ^^• again, Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin, by wishing ^er. so. 534 After repentance^ sloth and false aims to be feared. Job 9, a curse to his soul. Why then was the holy man ' afraid for j^j^ ^ his works,' in that he ever practised these, by which God is wont to be softened towards transgressions? How then is it, that while doing works to be admired, he even fears for these same, being in alarm, when he says, I was afraid of all my works^ save that we gather from the deeds and the words of the holy man, that if we really desire to please God, after we overcome our bad habits, we must fear the very things themselves that are done well in us ?

For there are two particulars which must of necessity be seriously apprehended in our good works, viz. sloth and deceit. And hence it is said by the Prophet, as the old Jer. 48, translation has it. Cursed be he that doeth the work of the 10. ' *^ Lord deceitfully and negligently. Now it is to be carefully noted, that sloth comes of insensibility, deceit of self-love, for over little love of God gives magnitude to the first, while self-love, miserably possessing the mind, engenders the other. For he is guilty of deceit in the work of God, whosoever loving himself to excess, by that which he may have done well, is only making the best of his way to transitory good things in compensation. We must bear in mind too that there are three ways in which deceit itself is practised, in that, surely, the object aimed at in it is either the secret interest of our fellow creatures' feelings, or the breath of applause, or some outward advantage ; contrary to which it is rightly said of the righteous man by the prophet. Is. 33, Blessed is he that shaketh his hands clear of every favour. For as deceit does not consist only in the receiving of money ; so, no doubt, a favour is not confined to one thing, but there are three ways of receiving favours after which deceit goeth in haste. For a favour from the heart, is interest solicited in the opinion, a favour from the mouth is glory from ap])lause, a favour from the head a reward by gift.

Now every righteous man ' shaketh his hands clear of every favour,' in that in whatever he does aright, he neither aims to win vainglory from the affections of his fellowcreatures, nor applause from their lips, nor a gift from their hands. And so he alone is not guilty of deceit in doing God's work, who while he is energetic in studying riglit * *^"'!' conduct, neither pants after the rewards of earthly substance ', poralis ' * ^ . . rei.' nor after words of applause, nor after favour in man's judgGod chastises even repented sin^for us, or with us. 535 ment. Therefore because our very good actions themselves Book cannot escape the sword of ambushed sin, unless they be guarded every day by anxious fear, it is rightly said in this place by the holy man, / was afraid of all my works. As if he said with humble confession, ' What I have done publicly, I know, but what I may have been secretly subject to therein, I cannot tell.' For often our good points are spoilt by deceit robbing us, in that earthly desires unite themselves to our right actions ; oftentimes they come to nought from sloth intervening, in that, love waxing cold, they are starved of the fervour in which they began. And so because the stealth of sin is scarcely got the better of even in the very act of virtue, what safeguard remains for our security, but that even in our virtue, we ever tread with fear and caution .?

But what he adds after this presents itself as a very great difficulty to the mind ; / know that Thou icouldest not spare one that offendeth. For if there be no ' sparing of one that offendeth,' who can be rescued from death eternal, seeing that there is no one to be found clear of sin ? Or does He spare a penitent, but not one that offendeth, in that whilst we bewail our offences we are no longer offending ? Yet how is it that Peter is looked at, while he is denying, and that by the look of his denied Redeemer he is brought to tears 't How is it that Paul, when he was bent to do out the name of our Redeemer upon earth, was vouchsafed to hear His words from heaven ? Yet was sin punished both in the one and in the other. In that of Peter on the one hand it is written, as the Gospel is witness. And Peter remembered ^^^^'i'^y the word of Jesus, and went out, and wept bitterly. And of ' ' Paul, that very same ' Truth' Which called him, saith. For /Acts 9, 2C'ill shew him how great things he m ust suffer for My Name^s sake. Therefore God never doth * spare him that ofiendeth,' in that He never leaves his sin without taking vengeance on it. For either man himself in doing penance punishes it in himself, or God in dealing ^ with man in vengeance for it, visits it with His rod, and thus there is never any sparing of sin, in that it is never loosed without vengeance.

Thus David after his confession obtained to hear. The Lord «/«0 2Sam h or ' along with man avenging it,' (speaking only of sins forsaken.) ' 536 Saints fear, lest their labour be in vain. Job 9, Jiath put away thy sin. And yet being afterwards scourged — — — ^with numberless afflictions, and a fugitive, he discharged the obligation of the sin which he had been guilty of. So we by the water of salvation are absolved from the sin of our first parent; and yet in clearing off the obligations of that same sin, although absolved, we still undergo the death of the flesh. Therefore it is well said, / know that thou wouldest not spare one that offendeth. In that either by ourselves or by His own self He cuts off even when He lets off our sins. For from His Elect He is studious to wipe off by temporal affliction those spots of wickedness, which He' would not behold in them for ever. But it oftentimes happens that when the mind is fearful more than behoves, when it is shaken with alarm, vvhen it is pressed with ill-omened misgivings, it feels weary that it should live, in that it questions the attaining to life even through pains and labour. And hence it is thereupon added, Ver. 29. But if even so I be wicked, why, then, have I laboured in vain ? XXXV. ^^' For if we be examined pity set aside, our work which we look to have recompensed with a reward is deserving of punishment.

Therefore the holy man shrinking under secret judgment, says. But if even so I he wicked, why, then, have I laboured in vain ? Not that he repents of having laboured, but that it grieves him even amidst labours to be in uncertainty about the reward. But we must bear in mind that the Saints so doubt that they trust, and so trust that notwithstanding they do not slumber in security. Therefore because it is very often the case that the mind, even when bent upon right courses, is full of fears, it follows that after the good deed is done, deprecating tears be had recourse to, in order that the humility of entreaty may bear up the deserts of right practice to eternal rewards. But yet we must bear in mind that neither our life nor our tears have power to make us perfectly clean, so long as the mortal condition of our state of corruption holds us last bound. And hence it is rightly added, Ver. 30, 31. If I wash myself with snow water, and if my hands shine as if never so clean ; yet shalt Thou stain me with frithiness, and mine own clothes shall abhor me. ' Snow water' means humility, or heavenly penitence. 537 56. For ' snow water' is the weeping of humility ; which Book same, in that it excels all other virtues in the eyes of the strict Judge, is as it were white by the colour of preeminent ^^^^^* merit.

For there are some to whom there is lamenting but not humility, in that when they are afflicted they weep, yet in those very tears, they either set themselves in disdain against the life of their neighbours, or they are lifted up against the dispensation of their Maker. Such have water, but not ' snow water,' and they can never be clean, because they are not washed in the tears of humility. But he had washed himself clean from sin with snow water, who said with confidence, A hroken and a humbled Jieart, O God, Thou Ps. 51, wilt not despise. For they that afflict themselves with tears but turn rebels by murmuring, ' break' their heart indeed, but disdain to be ' humbled.' Though ' snow water' may also be understood in another sense. For water of the spring and stream issues out of the earth, but snow^ water is let fall from the sky. And there are very many, who torment themselves in the wailings of supplication, yet with all their pains in bewailing they spend themselves upon earthly objects of desire alone. They are pierced with anguish in their prayers, but it is the joys of transitory happiness that they are in search of. And so these are not washed with 'snow water,' because their tears come from below. For it is as if they were bathed in water of earth, who are pierced with giief in their prayers, on account of earthly good things.

But they who lament for this reason, because they long for the rewards on high ^, are washed clean in snow water, > or in that heavenly compunction overflows them. For when ! ?°j°^,°° they seek after the everlasting land by tears, and inflamed with longing for it lament, they receive from on high that whereby they may be made clean. Now by ' the hands' what else is denoted saving ' works ?' Whence it is said to certain persons by the Prophet; Your hands are full o/'Is.i,i5. blood, i. e. ' your works are full of cruelty.'

But it is to be observed, that the holy man does not say, And make my hands shine ever so clean, but as^ ij'^ so never so clean. For so long as we are tied and bound by^^^^' the penalty of a corrupt state, we never by whatsoever right works appropriate real cleanness to ourselves, but only 588 Our '• clothes,' this body, v:/dch is to be kept pure. Job 9, imitate it. And hence it is fitly added, Yet Thou shalt slain — ^ — -vte with iilth. For God ^ to stain us with filth' means His Moral. . ^ . shewing us to be stanied with filth ; in that in proportion as W8 more truly rise up to Him by good works, the more exactly we are made to know the filthiness of our life, by which we are rendered at variance with His pureness. Thus he saith, If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands shine as if never so clean; yet shalt Thou stain me with Jilthinesses. As if it were expressed in plain words, ' Though I be steeped in tears of heavenly compunction, though I be exercised in the courses of good works, yet in Thy pureness I perceive that I am not pure.' For the flesh itself, which is still subject to corruption, beats off the spirit when it is intent on God, and stains the beautv of the love of Him by foul and unhallowed movements of thought.

Hence too it is added, And mine own clothes shall abhor me. For what is denoted by the name of ^ clothes' saving this earthly body, with which the soul is endued and covered, that it may not be seen naked in the subtleness of Eccl. 9, its substance? For hence Solomon saith. Let thy garments be always white, i. e. the members of the body clean from ^•^»^' filthy acts. Hence Isaiah saith, A garment mixed in blood shall be for burning. For to ' mix garments in blood' is to defile the body with fleshly desires; which same the Psalmist Ps.51, dreaded to be defiled with, when he said. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, Thou That art the God of my health. Hence it is delivered to John by the voice of the Angel, Rev. 3, Thou hast a few names in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments. But according to the way of Holy Writ, our clothes are said ' to abhor us,' in that they make us to be abhorred; in like manner as it is also said of Judas by Peter, Acts 1, Now this man purchased afield with the reward of iniquity. For Judas never could have purchased the potter's field, which was bought with the price of blood, in that restoring the thirty pieces of silver, he straightway punished the guilt of the betrayal by a death with greater guilt inflicted on himself, but ' he purchased' is rendered, he * was the cause of purchasing.' So in this place.

Mine own garments shall abhor me, means, ' shall make me to be abhorred.' For whilst the members set themselves up against the s])irit, whilst Corruption of nature keeps us from perfect purity. 539 they break in upon the engagements of holy desh'e, by the Book tumult of temptations that are caused by them, the soul being set in its own conflict learns how meanly it is still regarded by the Divine Being, in that while it fully desires to go through with the chastising of self and is not able, it is defiled by the dust of filthy thoughts. He felt this ' abhorrence of the clothes,' who said, But I see another law Rom. 7, in my members warring against tite law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the laiv of sin, which is in my members. These very garments, in which he could not be entirely pleasing, he anxiously desired to lay aside, one day to be resumed much better, savin j?, O wretched man that /Rom. 7, am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Therefore let the righteous man say, If I wash myself as with snow water, and make my hands shine as if never so clean, yet shall Thoii stain me with filthin ess, and mine own clothes shall abhor me. In that howsoever he might have been transported on high in the compunctious visitings of contemplation, however he might have braced himself in practice by the exercise of pains, yet he is still sensible of somewhat unmeet derived from a body of death, and sees himself to be abominable in many things, which he bears about him from his load of conuption.

And this too becomes a worse afiliction to him, that he often cannot make out by what means he is an off'ender. He undergoes scourges, but knows nothing what in him is greater, or what less, that displeases the severe Judge. And hence it is added, 32. For He is not a man, such as I am, that I should answer Him, or that He can be heard with me in Judgment on an equal footing.

When we * contend with another in judgment on anxxxvii. equal footing,' we both learn what is urged against us, and in all we allege we are heard, and in proportion as we apprehend the points openly objected, we reply with boldness to the points propounded. In this way forasmuch as the invisible Judge sees all that we do, it is as if He hears things that we say. But because we never know fully the thing that displeases Him, it is as if what He Himself says, we know not. Thus the holy man. considering the ' abhorrence of his own clothes,' is the more filled with fears, that he can540 No man can urge reason against GocTs Wrath. Job 9, not ' be heard with Him in judgment on an equal fooling.' -— ^'— In that so long as he is burthened with the load of his corruption, he meets with this worst evil in his punishment, that he does not even know the view that liis Reprover takes. As though he said in plain words ; ' Herein I am not heard on an equal footing, in that while all that I do is open to view, yet I myself cannot tell under what liabilities I am arrested.' It goes on, Ver. 32. Neither is there any that is able to convict hath oftis, and to lay his hand upon us both. xxxviii 60. It sounds hard that any should be sought who might convict God, but it will not be hard, if we recall to mind what He Himself says by another Prophet;

for He charges Isa. 1, us by Isaiah, Cease to do evil, learn to do well. Seek judg- ~ ' ment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fathtrless, plead for ' ' arthe widow. Come, and convict^ Me, saith the Lord. For one ^^^ ^ whom we convict, we encounter with the authority of reason. And what is this, that when the Lord bids us do holy actions, He adds. Come, and convict Me, but that He plainly intimates the great assurance He vouchsafes to good works ? As if it were said in plain words, ' Do right, and then no longer meet the motions of My displeasure by the groan of entreaty, but by the confident voice of authority.' 1 John For it is hence that John saith, If our heart condemn us not, ' ' then have we confidence toward God. It is hence that Moses, in that he is acceptable in rendering service, is heard while keeping silence, where it is said to him when he was Ex. 14, silent, Wherefore criest thou unto Me? It is hence that he withholds Him waxing wrath, when he hears the words, Ex. 32, Now therefore let Me alone, tit at My wrath may wax hot against this people. It is hence that the Lord complains that He had no one to convict Him, where it is said by Ez. 22, the Prophet, And I sought for a man among them that ^^' should make up the hedge, and stand in the way against Me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found Ifl. 64, none. It is hence that Isaiah laments bitterly, saying, And ^' '^' we all do Jade as a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon Thy Name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee.

Now any of the righteous may sometimes be able to Christ a Mediator able to meet God. 541 resist the ^^sitations of a present judgmeot, by the merits of Book a derived innocency, but they have no power by their own — i-lgoodness to rid mankind of the woes of the death to come. Therefore let the holy man bethink himself whereunto the human race has run out, let him cast his eye on the woes of eternal death, which it is plain that human righteousness can never withstand, let him see how frowardly man has offended, let him see how severely the wrath of the Creator is directed against man, and let him call for the Mediator between God and man, God and Man in one, forasmuch as he beholds Him destined to come long after; let him lament and say, Neither is there any that is able to convict both of ks, and to lay his hand upon us both. For the Redeemer of Mankind, who was made the Mediator between God and Man through the flesh, because that He alone appeared righteous among men, and yet, even though without sin, was notwithstanding brought to the punishment of sin, did both convict man, that he might not sin, and withstand God, that He might not smite ; He gave examples of innocency that He took upon Him the punishment due to wickedness. Thus by suffering He convinced both the One and the other, in that He both rebuked the sin of man by infusing righteousness, and moderated the wrath of the Judge by undergoing death;

and He ' laid His hand upon both,' in that He at once gave examples to men which they might imitate, and exhibited in Himself those works to God, by which He might be reconciled to men. For before Him there never was forthcoming One, Who interceded for the guiltinesses of others in such wise, as not to have any of His own. Therefore none could encounter eternal death in the case of others, in the degree that he was bound by the guilt of his own. Therefore there came to men a new Man, as to sin a rebuker, as to punishment a befriender. He manifested miracles. He undei'went cruel treatment. Thus He laid His hand upon both, for by the same steps by which He taught the guilty good things, He appeased the indignant Judge. And He did this too the more marvellously by His very miracles themselves, in that He reformed the hearts of offenders by mildness rather than by terror. Hence it is added. 542 The Law ineffectual, as Eiisluis staff. Job 9, Ver. 34. Let Him take au:ay His rod from Me. and let 34. 35 .7 »/ ' -T^^ not His fear terrify ine, xxxix. 62. For in the Law God held the rod, in that He said, ' If any man do this or that, let him die the death.' But in His Incarnation He removed the rod, in that He shewed the paths of life by mild means.

Whence it is said to Him by Ps.45,3. the Psalmist, Set forward, go forth prosperously arid rejoice^ because of truths and meekness, and righteousness. For He had no mind to be feared as God, but put it into our hearts that as a Father He should be loved ; as Paul clearly delivers ; Kom. 8, Pqjt ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the Spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Hence too it is fitly added here, Ver. 35. Then would I speak, and not fear Him., '^' 63. For the holy man, because he beholds the Redeemer of the world coming in meekness, does not assume fear towards a Master, but affection towards a Father. And he loots down on fear, in that through the grace of adoption he 1 John j.jseg up t^Q love. Hence John savs ; There is no fear in 4 18. .< ' «^ love, but perfect love casteth out fear. Hence Zachariah Luke 1, says, That we being delivered out of the hand of out enemies ' * might serve Him without fear. Therefore fear had no power to raise us from the death of sin, but the infused grace of meekness erected us to the seat of life. Which is well 2 Kings (denoted by Elisha when he raised the child of the Shunamite. He, when he sent his servant with a staff, never a whit restored life to the dead child;

but upon coming in his own person, and spreading himself upon the dead body, and contracting himself to its limbs, and walking to and fro, and breathing seven times into the mouth of the dead body, he forthwith quickened it to the light of new life through the ministering of compassion. For God, the Creator of mankind, as it were grieved for His dead son, when He beheld us with compassion killed by the sting of iniquity. And whereas He put forth the terror of the Law by Moses, He as it were sent the rod by the servant. But the servant could not raise the dead body with the staff; because, as Paul Heb. 7, bears witness, The Law made nothing perfect. But when He came in His own Person, and spread Himself in Christ*s Person and Breath give life. Fear ' responds^ not. 543 humility upon the dead body, He contracted Himself to Book match the limbs of the dead body to Himself. Who^ being p^:^ '^in the form of God., thought it not robbery to be equal withQ—^. God; but made Himself of no reputation^ and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men ; and found in fashion as a man. He ' walks to and fro' also, in that He calls Juda3a nigh at hand, and the Gentiles afar off. He breathes upon the dead body seven times, in that by the publishing of the Divine gift, He bestows the Spirit of sevenfold grace upon those that lie prostrate in the death of sin.

And afterwards it is raised up alive, in that the child, whom the rod of terror could not raise up, has been brought back to life by the Spirit of love. Therefore let him say in himself, and in the voice of mankindj Let Him take His rod away from me, and let not His fear terrify me. Then would I speak, and not fear Him, Where it is fitly added, ' For I cannot respond whilst I fear. 64. We are said to respond to any one, when we pay back deeds worthy of his doings. Therefore to ^respond' to God, is to render back our services in return for His previous gifts. And hence it is that certain of the Psalms, in which holy Vid. ^ practice is set forth for imitation, are prenoted as written ^ to y^ig. ' respond.' Thus God created man upright, and bore with him in long-suffering, when he let himself out to do froward deeds. Every day He beholds sin, and yet does not quickly cut off the periods of life. He lavishes His gifts in loving-kindness, and exercises patience towards evildoers. Man ought to respond to so many benefits, yet ' he is not able to respond whilst he fears,' in that every one that continues to dread with a slavish fear the Creator of mankind, assuredly does not love Him. For we then only render real services to God, when we have no fear of Him through the confidence of our love, when affection, not fear, directs us to good works, when sin is now no longer pleasing to our mind, even if it were allowed us.

For every one that is restrained by fear alone from the practice of evil, would gladly do evil things if liberty were given him. He then is in no whit really righteous, who is still not free from the hankering after evil ; and so it is w^ell said, For I cannot respond while 1 fear. In that we do not render 544 Weariness, self-accusation, hitter repentance. Job 10, real service to God, so long as we obey His command- -— -^ — ments from fear, and not much rather from love. But when Lit. the love of His sweetness is kindled in our mind, all desire of the present life goes for little, fondness is turned into weariness, and the mind endures with sorrow this same, which she formerly served, under the dominion of an accursed love. Hence it is added with propriety. Chap. X. 1. My soul is weary of my life. xlii. Qo. Now whensoever the present life has once begun to grow tasteless, and the love of the Creator to become sweet, the soul inflames itself against self, that it may accuse self for the sins, wherein it formerly vindicated itself, beingignorant of the things above. Whence he yet further adds with propriety, / will let my speech go against myself xliii ^^* -^^ ^^ ^^ were employs his speech in behalf of himself, who tries to defend by excuses the evil things he has done.

But he ' lets his speech go against himself,' who begins to accuse himself of that which he has done amiss. Now very frequently even when we commit sin, we go on to try the things we have done. The mind of itself brings what it does to trial ; but forasmuch as it does not at all forsake this in the desire, it is ashamed to acknowledge what it has done; but when it now comes down upon the indulgence of the flesh with the whole weight of its judgment, it lifts itself with a bold voice in the acknowledgment of that self-accusing. Whence it is rightly said here, / ivill let my speech go against myself; in that the resolute mind begins to let loose against itself words of abhorrence, which aforetime from a feeling of shame it kept to itself through weakness. But there be some that confess their sins in explicit words, but yet know nothing how to bewail in confessing them. And they utter things with pleasme, that they ought to bewail. Hence it is further added with propriety ; / will speak in the bitterness of my soul. xliv. 67. He that tells his sins abhorring them, must needs likewise ^ speak of them in the bitterness of his soul,' that that very bitterness may punish whatsoever the tongue accuses of in the warrant of conscience. But we must bear in mind, that from the pains of penitence, which the mind inflicts upon itself, it Judgment here saves not from fuhire icithout penitence.

545 derives a certain degree of security, and rises with the greater Book confidence to meet the inquest of the heavenly Judge, that it — ^— may make itself out more thoroughly, and ascertain how each particular is appointed towards it. Hence it is forthwith added ; Ver. 12. I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore Thou so judgest me. 68. Whereas he declares himself a sinner ' in the bitterIxv, ness of his soul,' what else does he say to God, but that he may not be condemned, in that the bitterness of his present penance does away with the pains of ensuing wrath } Now God judgeth man in this life in two ways, seeing that either by present ills He is already beginning to bring upon him the torments to come, or else by present scourges He does away with the torments to come. For except there were some whom the just Judge, as the due of their sins, did both now and hereafter visit, Jude would never have said. The Jude 5. Lord afterwards destroyed them that believed not. And the Psalmist would not say of the wicked. Let them cover themps. 109 selves with their own confusion as icith a lined cloak^. For??.' , . , '^ *diploide we mean by ' a lined cloak' a double garment. And so they are ' clothed with confusion as with a double garment,' who according to the due reward of their sin are at once visited with both a temporal and an everlasting judgment.

For chastisement delivers those alone fi'om woe, whom it alters. For those whom present evils do not amend, they conduct to those which are to ensue. But if there were not some whom present punishment preserves from eternal woe, Paul would never have said. But ichen ice are Judged we are 1 Cor. chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with ^^' ^^' the world. Hence it is spoken to John by the voice of the Angel, As many as I love I rebuke and chasten. Hence Rev. 3, also it is written. For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, jj^^ ^^ and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. 6. 69. Therefore it often happens that the mind of the righteous man, in order to be made more secure, is the more penetrated with fear, and when he is beset with scourges, he is troubled with misgivings about the Judgment of the Most High. He fears lest all that he suffers should be the forerunner of the doom to ensue, and in his heart he questions 546 One may long to know wherefore Ood afflicts. Job 10, the Judge, in that under His visitation he is full of doubts j^^J^ about the merit of his life. But when the goodness of his life is brought before the eyes of the mind, it is as if comfort were given in answer by the Judge, in that He never strikes to destroy him, whom by so striking He keeps in innocency of life and conduct.

Therefore it is justly said here. Shew me wherefore TJiou so judgest me. As if it were expressed in plain words, ' Whereas Thou exercisest judgment upon me by scourging me, shew me that by these scourges Thou art making me secure against the Judgment.' Which same however may also be understood in another sense. For very often the righteous man receives scourges for trial, and examining his life mth the keenest eye of enquiry, though he both feel and own himself to be a sinner, yet for what particular sin he is smitten he cannot at all make out, and he trembles the more under the rod, in proportion as he knows nothing the reasons of his being smitten. He pra^s that the Judge would shew him to himself, that what He in striking aims at, he may himself also chastise in himself by weeping. For he is well assured that That most just Avenger never afflicts any one of us unjustly, and he is moved with excessive alarm, in that he is both put to pain under the lash, and cannot entirely discover in himself what there is for him to lament. Hence it is further added; Ver. 3. Is it good unto Thee that Thou shouldest calumniate * ^^B' and oppress the poor ^, and the work of Thine hands, and help the counsel of the wicked^ xlvi. 70. This same is so said by way of interrogation, that it is denied.

As though it were in plain terms; ' Thou, That art supremely good, I know dost not hold it good to oppress the poor man by calumny. And therefore I know that that is not unjust that I am suffering, and I am the more grieved, that I cannot tell the causes of its justness.' But observe that he does not say, That Thou shouldest oppress the innocent, but, the poor vian. For he who doth not represent his innocency, but his poorness to the severity of the Judge, does not now put on a bold front on the ground of his own life, but shews of how little strength he sees himself to be. Where also he fitly subjoins, The work of Thine hands. As if he said plainly, ' Thou canst not ever unfeelingly oppress God helps not the permitted counsel of the wicked, 547 liim, whom Thou rememberest Thyself to have made of Thy Book mere grace.' — l-l71. Now the words are excellently put in, And help the counsel of the wicked. For whom does he here call wicked, save the malignant spirits, who as they cannot themselves return back to life, mercilessly look out for fellows in destruction. Whose ' counsel' it was that God's stroke should visit blessed Job, that he who shewed himself righteous while at peace, might at all events commit sin under the scourge. Now the Lord did not ' help the counsel of the wicked,' in that whilst He gave up the flesh of the righteous man to their arts of temptation.

He withheld his soul. It is this counsel that the evil spirits incessantly persevere in against the good, that those, whom they see serving God in innocency while at rest, on being stricken by misfortune may go headlong into a whirlpool of sin. But the sharpness of their counsel is brought to nought, in that our pitiful Creator qualifies the strokes in accordance with our powers, that the infliction may not exceed our virtue, and by the craftiness of the strong ones man's weakness be thrown out of course. Hence it is well said by Paul, But God is faithful. Who willi Cor. not suffer you to he tempted above that ye are able, hut will^^^ ^^' with the temptation also make a way to escape^ that ye may he able to bear it. For except the merciful God tempered His trials to correspond with our powers, there is surely no man who could sustain the cunning plots of evil spirits without being brought to the ground, in that excepting the Judge assign a measure to our temptations, by this alone He at once throws down one standing, in that He puts upon him a burthen too much for his strength. Now blessed Job, in the way of denying, so put in a question the things which be uttered, even as in asking he denies the things which he thereupon subjoins, saying, Ver. 4 — 7. Hast Thou eyes of flesh ?

or shall Thou see as man seeth ? Are Thy days as the days of man ? Are TJiy years as the time of man, that Thou inquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin? To know that I have done nothing ungodly. 72. Eyes of flesh see not the deeds of the periods of time, save in time, in that both they themselves came out with 548 God needs not search to see. Man pleads His workmanship. Job 10, time to see, and are closed with time, and man's sight follows jj^ ' any deed and does not prevent it, seeing that it but just glimpses at things existing, and sees nothing at all of things to come. Moreover the days and years of men differ from the days and years of Eternity, in that our life, which is begun in time and ended in time, Eternity, whilst it frames it within the boundlessness of its bosom, doth swallow up. And whereas the immensity of the same extends beyond us on this side and on that side, His ' to be eternally' spreads without beginning and without end: whereunto neither things gone by are past, nor things still to come, as though they did not appear, are absent; in that He, Who hath it always to be, seeth all things present to His eyes, and whereas He doth not stretch Himself by looking behind and before. He changes with no varieties of sight.

And so let him say; Hast thou eyes of jiesh '? or shalt Thou see as man seeth ? Are my days as the days of man ? Are Thy days as the days of man, that TJtou inquirest after mine iniquity , and sear chest after my sin ? To know that I have done nothiny ungodly. As if, humbly inquiring, he said, ^ Wherefore dost Thou search me by scourges in time, when even before time was Thou didst know me perfectly in Thine own self? Wherefore dost Thou make inquest concerning my sins by smiting, whom by the mightiness of Thine eternity Thou didst never but know before Thou fashionedst me V The weight of Whose power he immediately goes on to describe, where he adds; And there is none that can deliver out of Thine hand. xlviii. 73. As if he expressed it in plain words; ' What is left to Thee, saving to spare. Whose power no man can resist } For in proportion as there is none who might stay Thy visitation by the merits of his own excellence, let Thy pitifulness the 1 lit. more easily obtain from Thee^ to spare.' But because being if °lf ' conceived in sin, and born in wickedness, we either do evil things of malice, or even in doing good things go wrong out of heedlessness, we have not wherewith the strict Judge may be rendered propitious towards us;

but while we arc unable to present our work as worthy of His regard, it remains that for the propitiation of His favour we offer to Him His own work. Hence it is added ; Ver. 8. Thine hands have made me and fashioned me Man framed of GocVs special counsel, in His Image. 549 altogether round about: and dost Thou thus suddenly cast Book me down ? ^^' 74. As if He said to Him in humility; ' Wliereas that which I have done being submitted to a just examination is not meet for the propitiating of Thee, consider in Thy mercy lest that should perish which is Thy doing ^' By which i ' quod same words too the wicked doctrine of Manichaeus"^ is f^*^^^^'* *= some destroyed, who feigning that there are two Principles, strives Mss.' of to maintain that the spirit was made by God, but the flesh by Satan. For the holy man, being full of the grace of the prophetic Spirit, views events to come long afterwards, and foreseeing the shoots of divers errors, treads them underfoot, saying, Thine hands have made me and fashioned me altogether round about. For he, who declares himself both ' made and fashioned altogether round about' by God, leaves to the race of darkness no part either in his spirit or in his flesh. For he described himself as ' ^moulded' inspiasvirtue of the interior image, but he spoke of being ' fashioned ™^*^"^' together round about' in so far as he consists of a covering of flesh.

75. But it is to be observed, that herein that he declares himself made by the hands of God, he is setting before the Divine Mercy the dignity of his creation; for though all things were created by the Word, Which is coeternal with the Father, yet in the very account of the Creation, it is shewn how greatly man is prefeiTed above all animals, how much even above things celestial, yet without sense. For, He commanded^-ps 148 and they all were created. But when He determines to^make Man, this which is to be thought of with awe is premised; Let Us make man in Our Image, after Our q^^ j Likeness, Nor yet is it written concerning him as it is of26. the rest of things created ; Let there be, and it was so. Xor ^^^ « as the waters the fowl, so did the earth produce Man ; but before he was made it was said, Z^/ Us make; that whereas ver. 20 it was a creature endowed with reason that was being made, it mij^ht seem as if it were made with counsel. As if bv design he is formed out of earth, and by the inspiration of his Creator set erect in the power of a vital spirit in this way, that he who was made after the image of his Creator, might have his being not by word of command, but by the greater eminence of action.

That, then, which Man in the work of 560 Weakness of our Clay^ [body moistened iviih soul.) Job 10, his creating received preeminently upon earth above all other -=-^ — creatures, this, being laid under the scourge, he represents to the pitifulness of his Artificer, saying, T/nneha?idshave made me and fasliioned me altogether round about: and dost Thou thus suddenly cast me down? As if it were in plain words; ' Why dost Thou despise me with such light esteem, w^hen Thou createdst me with such circumstances of dignity ? and him whom by reason Thou settest above all other things, why dost Thou by sorrow set below them ?' Yet this preeminence, that we possess, shines bright by reason of the ' Likeness,' but is very far removed from the perfection of blessedness by reason of the flesh, in that whilst the spirit mixes with dust, it is in a certain measure united with weakness. Which weakness blessed Job presents to the pitifulness of the Judge, when he subjoins; Ver. 9. Remember, I pray Thee, that Thou hast made me as the clay. 1. \ 76. The spirits of the Angels did for this reason sin without i forgiveness, because they might have stood the stronger in proportion as no mixture with flesh held them in bonds. But man for this reason obtained pardon after sin, that in a body of flesh he got that wherein he should be beneath himself And hence in the eye of the Judge this frailty of the flesh alone is a ground for shewing pity;

as where it is said by the Psalmist, But He is full of compassion, and will Ps. 78, forgive their iniquity, and not destroy them; yea, many a time * * turned He His anger away from them, and did not stir up all His wrath, and remembered that they were but flesh. And so man was ' made as the clay' in that he was taken out of clay, for the making of him. For clay is made, when » se conwater is sprinkled^ in with earth. Therefore man is made as spergi . (.|g^y^ jjj \}^2ii it is as if water moistened dust, while the soul waters the flesh. Which name the holy man excellently represents to the pitifulness of the Judge, when he beseeches saying. Remember, 1 pray Thee, that Thou hast made me as the clay. As if he said in plain words; ' Consider the frailty of the flesh, and remit the guilt of my sin.* Where moreover the death of that flesh is openly added, in that the ^*x^ words are immediately brought in ; ^ And wilt Thou bring me unto dust again? li. 77. As if he begged openly, saying, ^ Remember, I pray MarCs natural generation. His spiritual creation. 551 Thee, that by the flesh I came from earth, aod by the death Book thereof, I tend to earth. Thus regard the substance of my '— origin, and the penalty of my end, and be the readier to spare the sin of a transient being;' but as he has given out the sort and kind of man as created, he now subjoins the order of man as propagated, saying, Ver.

10, 11. Hast Thou not poured ine out like milk., and curdled me like cheese ? Thou hast clothed me iviih skin andjlesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews. 78. For man when fashioned was moulded like clay, but being propagated he is ' poured out like milk' in the seed, and is ' curdled like cheese' in the flesh, and he is ' clothed with skin and flesh,' and is rendered firm by bones and sinews. Therefore by clay we have set forth to us the character of the first creating, but by milk the order of the subsequent conception, in that by the stages of curdling, it goes on little by little to be wrought strong into bones. But the account of the body as it was created is but slender praise of God, unless at the same time there be afterwards set forth the marvellous inspiration of its quickening. Hence it is added. Thou hast granted me life and mercy. 79. But the Creator vouchsafes to us blessings in vain, except He Himself keep safe all whatsoever He giveth. It follows, And Thy visitation hatli preserved my spirit. Now all this that we have spoken of the exterior man, in what sense it may accord with the interior man, it is well to unfold and exhibit in few words. Remember, I beseech Thee, that Thou hast made me as the clay. 80. For our interior man proves like clay, in that the grace Moual.

of the Holy Spirit is infused into the earthly mind, that it may be lifted up to the understanding of its Creator. For the thinking faculty in man, which is dried up by the barrenness of its sin, through the power of the Holy Spirit grows green, like land when it is watered. Now it very often happens that whilst we use without let or hindrance the endowments of virtue by gift from above, by being used to such uninterrupted prosperity we are lilted up to self-confidence. Whence it very often happens that the same Holy Spirit, Which had exalted us, leaves us for a time, in order to shew mere man to himself And this is what the holy man im55*2 Ttie inner man begins as mllk^ grows to bone and sinew. Job 10, mediately sets forth, when he adds, And icilt Thou bring me '- — into dust aqain ? For as by the withdrawal of the Spirit the soul IS leit lor a space under temptation, it is as it the grouna were dried of its former moisture ; that by being so forsaken it may be made sensible of its weakness, and learn how man was dried up without the infusion of heavenly grace. And he is fitly described as being ' brought into dust again,' in that when he is left to himself he is caught up by the breath of every temptation. But whereas on being left we are exposed to shocks, those gifts which we knew when we were inspired, we now think of more nicely.

Whence he adds, Hast Thou )w( poured me out like milky and curdled me like cheese? For when by the grace of the Holy Spirit our mind is withdrawn from the way of its former conversation, it is as if ^ milk poured out,' in that it is formed in the sort of tenderness and delicacy of a new beginning. And it is ' curdled like cheese,' in that it is bound up in the consistency of consolidating thought, never from henceforth to let itself go loose in desires, but concentrating itself in a single affection, to rise up into a substantial remoulding. But it very often happens that the flesh, from old habit, murmurs against this spiritual embryo, and the soul meets with war from the man which it bears about without it. And hence he adds, TJiou hast clothed me icith skin and flesh. For the interior man is ' clothed with skin and flesh,' since wherein it is raised up to things above, it is straitly blockaded with the besieging of fleshly motions. Now one that is going on to righteousness our Creator never forsakes under temptation, Who by the inspiration of His Grace preventeth even him that is sinning ; but the soul that is lifted up He both lets loose to wars without, and endues with strength within. And hence it is yet further fitly subjoined, ^//<i/j«.9< fenced me witli bones and sine/is. With ^ flesh and skin we are clothed,' but we are ^ fenced with bones and sinews,' in that though ue receive a shock by temptation assaulting us from without, yet the hand of the Creator strengthens us within, that we should not be shattered.

And so by the promptings of the flesh. He abases us in respect of His gifts, but by the bones of virtue He strengthens us against temptations. Therefore he says, Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews. As if God*s mercy needed after the gift of life. 553 it were in plain words, ' Without Thou dost abandon me to Book undergo trial, yet within, that I may not perish, Thou — ^-^ keepest me by bracing me with virtue.' And for this reason He gives us righteousness to live as we ought, because in His loving-kindness He spares the past misdeeds whereby we have done amiss. And hence it is further added with propriety, Thou hast granted me life and mercy. 81. For ' life' is granted, when goodness is inspired into evil minds, but ' life' cannot be had without ' mercy,' in that the Lord does not aid us to obtain the endowments of righteousness, unless He first in mercy" remit our past iniquities. Or surely. He ' grants us life and mercy,' in that by the same mercy, with which He prevents us that we may lead a good life, continuing on afterwards He keep us safe. For except He add mercy, the life which He vouchsafes cannot be preserved ; since we are daily growing old by the mere custoraariness of our human life, and by the impulse of the outward man we are carried out of interior life by loose thought;

so that unless heavenly visiting either by piercing our hearts quicken us in love, or by scourging us renew us in fear, the soul is wholly and entirely ruined by a sudden downfall, when it seemed to be made new by a long course of devotion to virtue. Hence he subjoins, And Thy visitation hath preserved my spirit. For the visitation of the Most High preserves man's spirit, when, it being richly endowed with graces, He does not cease either to scourge it with the rod, or to pierce it with love. For if He bestows gifts, but does not raise it up by continually restoring it, the blessing is speedily lost, which is not preserved by the Giver. But mark how the holy man, whilst he views himself in a humble light, discovers the secrets of Divine mercy destined to be universally bestowed, and whilst he truly confesses his own weakness, he is suddenly transported on high to learn the calling of the Gentiles. For he forthwith adds, \ er. 13. Though Thou hide these things in Thine heart; yet I know that Tliou reniemherest all. 82. As if it were in plain words ; ' Why do I tremble for myself, who know that Thou dost gather in one even all nations ? Which nevertheless Thou ' hidest in Thine heart,' 554 Sins forsaken leave traces of iindeanness. Job 10, in that Thou dost not yet make it known by open revelation, but Thou, That ' rememberest all,' giv^est me, doubtless.

assurance of pardon.' But it is to be borne in mind, that in certain deeds we are both made certain of pardon, and after the commission of the sins are strengthened to have confidence oT our absolution by subsequent chastisement and penance, yet we are still touched with the remembrance of the wickedness we have committed, and, unwilling and abhorring it, are preyed upon by unlawful thoughts. And hence it is fitly subjoined, Ver. 14. If I have sinned, and Thou spare dst me at the hour, wherefore dost Thou not let me be clean from mine iniquity ? Iv. 83. The Lord ' spareth sin at the houi,' when the moment that we yield tears. He does away with the guilt of sin. But He doth not ' let us be clean from our iniquity,' in that of fi:ee will indeed we committed the sin, but sometimes against our will we undergo the remembrance of it with a sense of pleasure ; for often that, which has been put away from the sight of the just Judge by tears intervening,recurs to mind, and the conquered habit strives to insinuate itself again for the entertaining of delight, and is renewed again in the former contest with revived assault, that what it once did in the body, it may afterwards go through in the mind by intruding thought; which same that spiritual wrestler knew how to regard with Ps.38,5. heedful eye, who said.

My scars^ stink, and are corrupt cairice}i^^'''ough my fooUshness. For what are ' scars' but the healings of wounds ? And so he who lamented his scars, beheld his pardoned wickednesses return to his remembrance for the entertaining of delight. Since for scars to grow corrupt is for wounds of sins, already healed, again to insinuate themselves in the tempting of us, and at their suggestions, after the skin of penitence has grown over, to be sensible of the stench and pain of sin again. Wherein there is at once both nothing done outwardly in deed, and sin is committed within in the thought alone, and the soul is laid under a close bond of guilt except it do away with it by heedful lamentation. Deut. 84. Whence it is well said by Moses, If there be among Yi ' you any man that is not clean by reason of a dream that chanceth him by niyht, then shall he go abroad without the Legal uncleanness of the night, type oj evil thoughts. 555 camp, he shall fwt come within the camp : but it shall be Book when evening cometh on he shall wash himself with water and when the sun is down he shall come into the camp again. For ' the dream that chanceth by night' is the secret tempting, whereby there is something foul conceived in the heart in dark thought, which nevertheless is not fulfilled in the deed of the body.

Novv, if there be any that is ' not clean by reason of a dream that chanceth him by night,' he is bidden to go abroad without the camp, in that it is meet that he that is defiled with impure thought, should look upon himself as unworthy the society of the faithful, that he should set before his eyes the deserts of his sin, and look down upon himself in the scale of good men. And so for ' one unclean to go abroad out of the camp' is for one hard bestead by the assaults of impurity, to look down upon himself by comparison with men of continency. And * when evening cometh on he washes himself with water,' in that seeing his offence he has recourse to tears of penitence, that by weeping he may wash out every thing that hidden defilement biings home to the soul's charge. ' And when the sun is down he shall come into the camp again,' in that when the heat of temptation has subsided, it follows that he should again take confidence to join the company of the good. For after washing with water, when the sun is set, he returns to the camp, who after tears of penance, when the flame of unlawful thought is quenched, is restored to assume the claims of the faithful, that he should not any longer account himself far removed from others, who rejoices that he is clean by the departure of the inward burning.

But herein be it known that it is for this reason that we are sometimes driven to straits by the impulse of unlawful thought, because we are ready to employ ourselves in certain courses of earthly conduct, though not unlawful. And when even in the very least things we come in contact with earthly conduct in desire, the might of our old enemy gaining strength against us, our mind is defiled by no little urgency of temptation. And hence the Priest of the Law is Lev. i, • • RIO enjoined to consume with fire the limbs of the victim cut * into pieces, the head, and the parts about the liver; but the inwards and the legs he is to wash with water first. For we 556 Parts of the very sacrifice need washing. Job 10, offer our own selves a sacrifice to God, when we dedicate our lives to the service of God, and we set the members of the Moral. .^ . . n /. i m ^i sacrmce cut mto pieces upon the lire, when we orier up the deeds of our lives dividing them in the virtues. The head and the parts contained about the liver we burn, when in our faculty of sense, whereby all the body is governed, and in our hidden desires we are kindled with the flame of divine love. And yet it is bidden, that the feet and the inwards of the victim be washed with water.