Morals on the Book of Job (Moralia in Iob)

The one is fed with enjoyment, the last thrives on bitterness. And as hardships wound the flesh, so softness kills the spirit, as things laborious kill the one, so things delightful destroy the other. Therefore the hope of carnal men is said to be the abomination of the soul ; in that the spirit perishes for ever by the same means whereby the flesh lives pleasantly for a while.

Now Zophar would have said this aright, if blessed Job had not proclaimed it all more fully even by living accordingly. But whereas he sets himself to give an holier Conceit of knowledge breeds foolish contempt, 611 man admonition concerning the way of living, and to instruct Book one more skilled than himself with the tutorage of wisdom, he — ^-^ hy his own act makes the weight of his words light, in that by letting in indiscreetness he undoes all that he says ; in that he is pouring on the liquid element of knowledge into a full vessel. For the treasures of knowledge are possessed by the indiscreet just as treasures of corporal substance are often in the possession of fools. For some that are sustained by a full measure of earthly goods at times give largely even to those that have, that they may themselves seem to have them in fuller measure than all men. So the v.icked, since they are imbued with truth, speak in some respects right even to those that are more right than they are, not that they may instruct others that hear them, but that they may make it appear with what a lund of instruction they are furnished. For they hold that they excel all men in wisdom, therefore they imagine that there is nothing that they can say to any man beyond the measure of theii greatness. Thus all the wicked, thus all heretics are not afraid to instmct their betters with a high tone, in that they look upon all as inferior to themselves.

But Holy Church recalls every one that is high minded from the height of his selfesteem, and fashions him anewby the band of discretion in the jointing of equality. Whence blessed Job, who is a member of the same Holy Church, seeing that the mind of his friend was swoln and big in words of instruction whicli he delivered, thereupon answered, saying, Chap. xii. •2. No doubt but ye are the only men, and tcisdom shall die with you.

Whosoever reckons himself to excel all men in the faculty of reason, what else does such a man but exult that he is the ' only Man ?' xA.nd it often ha])pens that when the mind is borne on high through pride, it is uplifted in contempt of all men, and in admiration of self. For self-applause springs up in the imagination, and folly is itself its own flatterer for singularity of wisdom. It ponders all that it has heard, and considers the words that it utters ; and it admires its own, and scoffs at those of others. He then, who thinks that he only is wise, what else is this but that he believes that that same ' wisdom dies with him ?' For what he denies 2 r2 C12 Job''s friends proud of common attainments. Job 12, to be ^ith others, ascribing to himself alone, he doth, in -rT—~ tiiith, confine within the period of his brief span. But we are to consider what exact discretion the holy man employs, in order that the arrogance of his friends in the fulness of pride might be brought within bounds, in that he adds forthwith, Ver. 3. But I have understanding as well as you ; I am not inferior to you, xxvi. 45. For who is ignorant how greatly the practice and the knowledge of blessed Job excels the knowledge that his friends have ? Now in order to correct their pride, he asserts that he is ' not inferior' to them, and lest he should transgress the limits of his own humility, he keeps to himself that he is superior to them ;

not by setting himself above, but by equalling himself to them, he points out what they should learn concerning themselves, who are far unlike to him ; that whereas that wisdom which is high is voluntarily bowed down, the knowledge which lies grovelling may never erect itself against the nature of its powers, and he does well that he immediately recalls these to a sense of their equal condition, reflecting that they are swoln to excess as if for singularity in greatness, when he afterwards proceeds. Yea, who knoweth not such things as these that ye know ? xxvii. 46. As though he said in plain words ; Since what ye say is known to all men, wherefore are ye puffed up by the knowledge contained in your sayings, as of singular merit ? Therefore whereas in bringing back the pride of the self-conceited to a common level of equality, he has reproved with a full correction, he now breaks out into statements of instruction; that his friends having been humbled first might learn the weightiness of Truth, and how reverently they should hear it. It proceeds, Ver. 4. He that is mocked of his neighbour as I am, calleth upon God, and He answereth him, xxviii. 47. Oftentimes the frail mind, when it is welcomed by the breath of human regard on the score of good actions, runs out into outward delights, so that it lays aside what it inwardly desires, and willingly lies all loosely in that which it gives ear to without.

So that it does not so much delight to become as to be called blessed ; and whereas it gapes after Mockery of men drives holy minds to God. 613 the words of applause, it gives over what it had begun to be ; Book I and so it is severed from God by the same means by which — ^-^— it appeared to be commendable in God. But sometimes it presses forward in good practice with a constant heart, and yet is pushed hard by the scoffs of men; it does admirable deeds, and gets only abuse; and he that might have been made to go forth without by commendations, being repulsed by insults, returns back again into himself; and stablishes himself the more firmly in God, that he findeth no place without when he may rest in peace : for all his hope is fixed in his Creator. And amidst scoffs and revilings, the interior Witness is alone implored. And his soul in his distress becomes God's neighbour, in proportion as he is a stranger to the favour of man's esteem. He forthwith pours himself out in prayer, and being pressed without, he is refined with a more perfect purity to penetrate into all within. I'herefore it is well said at this time, He that is mocked of his neighbour as I am, will call upon God, and He will hear him. For whilst the wicked reproach the soul of the good, they are shewing them Whom to seek as the Witness of their actions.

And while their soul in compunction braces itself in prayer, it is united within itself to the hearing of the Most High, by the same act whereby it is severed from the applause of man without itself But we ought to note how thoughtfully the words are inserted, as I am. For there be some men whom both the scoffings of their fellow-creatures sink to the ground, and yet they are not such as to be heard bv the ears of God. For when mocking issues against sin, surely no virtuous merit is begotten in that mocking. For the priests of Baal, when they called upon him with clamorous voices, were mocked by Elijah, when he said. Cry aloud; for he is a god, either he is talking, i Kings or he is staying on a Journey. But this mocking was con- ^^' '^'^' ducive to the service of virtue, in that it came by the deserts of sin. So that it is advisedly said now, He that is mocked of his friend, as I am, calleth upon God, and He heareth him. For the mockery of his fellow-creatures makes Him God's neighbour, whom innocency of life keeps a stranger to his fellow -creatures' wickednesses. It proceeds. For the upright man'^s simplicity is Umghed to scorn. 014 Simplicity of the upright scorned by the World. Job 12, 48. It is the wisdom of this world to overlay the heart with inventions, to veil the sense with words;

things that are Hist.* ^^^se to shew for true, what is true to make out fallacious. This is the wisdom that is acquired by the young by practice. This is learnt at a price by children, they that are acquainted with it are filled with pride, despising other men ; they that know nothing of it, being subdued and browbeaten, admire it in others; for this same duplicity of wickedness, being glossed over by a name, is their joy and delight, so long as frowardness of mind goes by the title of urbanity. She dictates to her followers to seek the high places of honour, to triumph in attaining the vain acquisition of temporal glory; to return manifold the mischiefs that others bring upon us ; when the means are with us, to give way to no man's opposition; when the opportunity of power is lacking, all whatsoever he cannot accomplish in wickedness to represent in the guise of peaceable good nature. But on the other hand it is the wisdom of the righteous, to pretend nothing in show, to discover the meaning by words; to love the truth as it is, to eschew falsehood ; to set forth good deeds for nought, to bear evil more gladly than to do it; to seek no revenging of a wrong, to account opprobrium for the Truth's sake to be a gain. But this simplicity of the righteous is ' laughed to scorn,' in that the goodness of purity is taken for foil}' with the wise men of this world.

For doubtless every thing that is done from innocency is accounted foolish by them, and whatever truth sanctions in practice sounds weak to carnal wisdom. For what seems worse folly to the world than to shew the mind by the words, to feign nothing by crafty contrivance, to return no abuse for wrong, to pray for them that speak evil of us, to seek after poverty, to forsake our possessions, not to resist him that is robbing us, to offer the other cheek to one that strikes us.'' Whence that illustrious Wise one of God speaks well to the lovers of this Exod.8, world, We shall sacrifice the abominalion of the Egyptians to the Lord our God. For the Egyptians loathe to eat the flesh of shee]), but that which the Egyptians loathe, the Israelites offer up to God; for that singleness of conscience, which the unrighteous one and all scorn as a thing most mean and abject, the righteous turn into a sacrifice of virtue. The ' ricW that are judged^ those who think themselves so, 615 and the just in their worshipping sacrifice purity arid mildBook ness to God, which the sons of perdition in abomination thereof account weakness. Which same siraphcity of the righteous man is briefly yet adequately expressed, in that the words are forthwith introduced; Ver. 5. A lamp despised in the thought of the rich.

What is denoted in this place by the title of the ' rich,' but the highmindedness of the proud, who have no respect for the Judge that shall come, while they are swollen with proud thoughts within themselves ? For there are some that by a fortune are not lifted up in pride, but elevated thereby through works of mercy. And there are some who, while they see that they overflow with earthly resources, do not look for the true riches of God, and have no affection for the eternal land, for they think that this is enough for them, that they are set up with temporal goods. The fortune then is not in fault, but the feeling. For all things that God created are good, but he who uses good things amiss, assuredly brings it about that as it were through gluttonness of greedy appetite, he perishes by the bread whereby he ought to live. The beggar Lazarus attained to rest, but torments racked the proud rich one. And yet Abraham was rich, who held Lazarus in his bosom. Yet holding commune with his Maker, he says, / have taken upon me to speak unto theGen.is, Lord, which am hnt dust and ashes! How then did he know to set a value on riches, who accounted himself to be dust and ashes f or how could his possessions even exalt him, who entertained such poor notions about himself who was the owner of them } 50 Yet again there are some, to whom earthly property is not vouchsafed, and yet they are set up in their own ayes, in height of swollen pride.

At the same time that there is no fortune at all to uplift these to the display of power, yet the frowardness of their ways assigns them a place among the lost children of riches. All, then, that love of the life to come does not fill with abasement, the sacred word here calls rich. For in the avenging of Judgment, there is no difference to them whether tbcy be swollen with goods, or only in disposition. These, when they see the life of the simple sort in this world to be lowly and abased, forthwith scoff" at them 616 Men icho die to sin thought dead by the World. Job 12, with proud sconiings ; for they mark that that is wholly wanting '- — to them without, which they pant after themselves with their best endeavours. Therefore they look down upon them as fools, who are without those things, by the having or merely loving of which they themselves in trath are perishing; and they take those for dead, whom they observe in no sort to live with themselves after the flesh. For he that dies from the desires of this world, is of course held by earthly minds to be utterly dead. Which is well represented by the miracle of our Redeemer when He frees a man from an Mark9, unclean spirit, concerning which same it is written: And '' the spirit cried and rent him sore, and came out of him, and he was as one dead;

insomuch that many said, he is dead. But Jesus took him hy the hand, and lifted him up, and he arose: for he looks like one dead that is set free from the power of an evil spirit. For whosoever has already got the better of earthly desires, makes the life of carnal conversation extinct in himself; and he seems dead to the world, in that he lacks the wicked one that possessed him, who urged him by impure desires; and many call him dead, in that they who know not how to live spiritually, look upon him who does not follow carnal good to be wholly lifeless.

But because the very scoffers at the simple ones are themselves too enrolled under the name of Christians, being overruled by reverence for religion, they are ashamed to make a display of the sin of open scoffing. Whence it happens that full of pride in themselves, and in silence, they scoff at those whom they take to be utterly mean and abject from their simplicity. Therefore it is well expressed, A lamp is despised in the tJtought of the rich; for all the proud, whereas they are unskilled to estimate the blessings to come, as we have said above, account him almost as nothing whom they do not see to be possessed of that which they are devoted to. For it often happens that each one of the Elect, who is being conducted to eternal bliss, is overwhelmed here with unintermitted calamitj*, there is no plentifulness of stores that buoys him up, no lustre from titles that makes him conspicuous, no crowd of followers falls to his lot, no pomp of raiment makes him a figure in the eyes of men, but he is regarded as an object of contempt by all men, and accounted unworthy of David despised without , bright within. 617 the regard of this world. Yet in the eyes of the hidden Book Judge he is bright with virtues, and full of lustre from the — — — merits of his life; he dreads to be honoured, he never shrinks from being despised, he disciplines the body by continence, he is fattened by love alone in the soul, he ever sets his mind to bear with patience, and standing erect on the ground of righteousness, he exults in the insults he receives, he compassionates the distressed from his heart, he rejoices in the successes of the good as in his own, he carefully ruminates the provender of the sacred word in his heart, and when examined he is unskilled to give a double answer;

' a lamp' because he is bright within, ^ despised' because he is not luminous without. Inwardly he glows with the flame of charity, without he shines with no gloriousness of lustre. Therefore he shines and is despised, who, while he glows with virtue, is accounted vile. Hence it is that his own father looked down upon holy David, when he refused to i Sam. present him to the eyes of the Prophet Samuel. He, when he l^' ^^* had brought out seven sons to receive the grace of anointing, being questioned by the Prophet whether he had gone through the whole number of his children, answered with despair enough, There remaineih yet a little hoy that keepeth the sheep; and when he was brought forward and chosen, he heard the words, Man looketh in the face, hut the Lord searcheth the heart. Thus David was a lamp by his innocency, but yet a lamp greatly despised, in that he gave no light to those that regard the outside appearance. But be it known that every righteous man is either without temporal glory, or if he has it, he breaks it beneath himself, that he may freely rise on high above his own honour, lest overcome by enjoyment he be brought down beneath it. It is hence that that illustrious Preacher lowered the glory of his Apostleship before the eyes of men, saying, We have not \ Thess. U8ed this power, when we might have been burthensome a.9^'^-^the Apostles of Christ, but we made ourselves little children among you.

But the swelling of the neck still remained in the heart of the hearers of that same person, when they said, For his letters say they are iveighty and powerful, but his2 Cor. bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible. For^^'^^* him who they knew could say such things they determined 618 True Light despised till revealed in the Judgment. Job 12, could not live in common with tliemselv^es, and when they * — both saw him lowly in his mode of hfe and high in his tone of speech, their pride drove them on, that him whose writings had made him to be feared, his vrords in presence should make an object of little account. What then was Paul, saving ' a lamp despised in the thought of the rich,' who by the same act whereby he set forth a lesson of humihty, got the affronts of highmindedness from ill-instructed disciples. For in a dreadful way, the sickness of those so filled with pride was increased by the same means, whereby it ought to have subsided; while the proud mind of carnal persons rejected, as if it were worthy of scorn that which their master set forth as deserving of imitation. Was not he ' a lamp despised,' who when he shone forth with so many virtues, underwent such adverse treatment at the hands of his persecutors ? He discharges his mission in chains, and his bonds are made known in all the palace, he is beaten with rods, he is beset with numberless dangers from his own race and from the Gentiles;

at Lystra he is battered with stones, he is dragged by the feet without the city, in that he is taken for dead. But to what point is this * lamp despised ?' Up to what point is it held contemptible? Does it never at any point unveil its lustre? Does it never shew, with what excess of brightness it glows? It does shew clearly. For when it is said that the ' lamp is despised in the thought of the rich,' it is therefore added, Prepared for an appointed time. xxxi. 5*2. For the ' appointed time' for ^ the despised lamp' is the predestined Day of final Judgment, wherein it is shewn how each one of the righteous, who is now contemned, shines bright in greatness of power. For then they come as judges with God, who now are judged unjustly for God's sake. Then their Light shines over so much the wider space, the more cruelly the persecutor's hand confines and fetters them now. Then it will be made clear to the eyes of the wicked, that they were supported by heavenly power, \\ ho forsook all earthly things of their free will. Whence Truth saith to His Mat. 19, own Elect; Ye which have followed Me, in the Regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye also shull sit npon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel, Not that the court of the interior They that choose poverty shall judye with Christ.

619 Assize will have no more than twelve judges, but, surely, that Book by the number twelve the amount of the whole is described; ^ * for whosoever being urged by the incitement of divine love, has forsaken all that he possessed here, shall doubtless attain there to the height of judicial power; that he may then come as judge in company with the Judge, who now by consideration of the Judgment chastens himself with voluntary poverty. For hence it is that it is said by Solomon concerning the spouse of Holy Church, Her husband is knownvrov. in the gates^ when he sitteth among the elders of the land.^^^'^^' Hence Isaiah says. The Lord will come to judg7nejit, with is.3,i4. the elders of His people. Hence Truth proclaims these same Elders now no longer servants but fiiends. Henceforth /Johnis, call you not servants, hut I hare called you friends. And the Psalmist regarding these same saith. Honourable alsoFs. 139, are thy friends unto me, O God. And whilst he beheld their loftiness of mind, and how they trod down with the heel of the foot the glory of the world, he thereupon added. How siablished is their rule! And that we might not think that they be few, who we learn thus advance even to the summit of such high perfection, he thereupon added, //' / should count them, they are more in number than the sand. For as many persons, then, as now wittingly abase themselves for the love of the Trulh, so many lamps shall then blaze forth in the Judgment. Therefore let it be justly said, A lamp despised in the thought of the rich, prepared for the appointed time; for the soul of every righteous man is despised as abject, when in passing through life he is without glory; but he is beheld as an object to admire, when he shines from on high.

Amid these things it is good to lift the eye of the mind to the paths of our Redeemer, and to proceed step by step from the members to the head. For He did Himself prove truly * a lamp' to us, Vv^ho by dying upon the Cross for our redemption, poured light through the wood into our benighted minds. John had attained to see that we are lightened by this Lamp, when he said. That was the true Light, John 1, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Yet he saw it ' despised in the thought of the rich,' when he soon after brought in, He came unto His own, and His ownxex.u. 020 Christ, os a Lamp despised, Job iQ, received Him not. Herod desired to examine into the '- — flames of this Lamp, vvhen he lons-ed to see the miracles of Alleg. . , . Lute23 that One, as it is written, For he was desirous to see Him of ^' a long season, because lie had heard many tilings of Him, and he hoped to have seen some miracles done by Him. But this Lamp did not shine forth before his eyes with a single ray of light, in that to him, who sought Him not from piety but from curiosity, He exhibited nothing wonderful concerning Himself. For our Redeemer when He was questioned held His peace, when He was looked for,

He scorned to shew forth His miracles, and keeping Himself to Himself in secret, those whom He found looking for outward things He left in their ingratitude without, rather choosing to be openly despised by those who were led by pride, than to be commended with empty voice by those that did not believe. And hence this ' Lamp' is straightway ' despised,' according Luke23, ^Q what is there added. And Herod with his men of icar set Him at nought, and mocked Him, and arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe.

Yet the ' despised lamp,' which is subject to scoffings on earth, flashes judgment from heaven. Hence it is justly added \\Qxe, prepared for an appointed season. Concerning Ps.75,2. which same season He saith by the Psalmist, When I shall receive the time, I will judge uprightly. Hence in the John 7, Gospel ' Truth' declareth, saying, My lime is not yet come. Acts 3, Hence Peter saith. Whom the heaven must receive until the ^^' times of the restitution of all things. Therefore the ^ Lamp' which is now ' despised' is ' prepared' for its coming ' at the appointed season.' For He by Himself judge th sin on the last Day, Who now bears with the scoffs of sinners, and then He brings out severity the more rigorously, the more mildly He now spreads low His patience in calling sinners. For he that awaits long while for some to be converted, if they be not converted, torments them without revoke. Which same truth he conveys by the Prophet in few words, saying, Is. 42, / have long time holden my peace, I have been still and refrained myself; now will I cry like a travailing icoman. For as we have already before said, a woman in travail with pain gives forth that which she bore for long in her inmost parts. He then that for long time held his peace, ' crieth like shall shine out in Judi/ment.

621 a travailing woman,' in that the Judge that shall come, Who Book for long bore with the deeds of men without taking venge ^-^— ance, sooner or later brings to light with hotness of examination, as if with pain of mind, the sentence of direful visiting which He kept within. Therefore let none despise this Lamp, when it is out of sight, lest He burn up His despisers when He shineth fi'om heaven. For to whomsoever He does not now burn to give pardon, He shall then assuredly burn to award punishment. Therefore because by grace fi'om above we are vouchsafed the season of our calhng, whilst there is still the room left, let us by altering our ways for the better flee from the wrath of Him, Who is every where present. For him alone that visitation fails to find, whom correction keeps in hiding.

Let it suffice for us by the Lord's bounty to have now run through these particulars in two volumes^ For because \corpowe cannot embrace in a brief exposition the following parts" ^** of the sacred book, drawn out in the stream of mysteries, we must of necessity reserve them for other sheets, that the reader may return the more ardent to the task of reading, in proportion as he has breathing given him by the inteiTuption of what is read. Gregory the Great • Morals* PONTIFICAL INSTITUTE OF MEDIAEVAL SiUUlfe-S T0R0NT0-~5, CANAD/^

Though in a long work variableness of style ought not i. to be a matter of blame, yet lest any should censure me for change in my way of expressing myself, in the Epistle which was prefixed to these books, I gave the reasons^ why I never ^ pi. A. brought the third part of this Work up to a likeness and^^^ ' ' accordance with the others by amending it. And while these are omitted, there is this added further, that the interpretation of this same part begins from the verse in which it is said, TJie tabernacles of robbers have plenty ^^c. and reaches down in the handling thereof to that which is written, TJieir Soh 24, sweetness shall be through the worm, 8fc. which in fact^^* includes so much, that it is impossible all should be comprised in one volume, except it be reduced to great brevity; and so let any one that is free from other employments read the other parts that are given in a multiplied form, but for him, who has no time to read with diligent application, the shortness of this part may be to his mind, wherein we do not so much deliver what we have in our mind, as mark what there is to deliver. Therefore, whereas I have herein left many things such as they were received from me by word of mouth, take kindly, reader, this change of style, in that to people eating often the same meats, a difference in the mode of cooking is acceptable.

But as you take the several parts to read, make it your business ever to recall to mind that original of the case which I have set forth ; how that both 2 Joh represents our Lord and Ilis Bod// ; lie judt/ea rhjlithj. Job 12, by blessed Job, who is called * Grieving,' are denoted llio sufferings of our Lord and of His T3ody, i. e. the holy Church, Hist. and that his friends bear the likeness of heretics, who, as we have often said already, whilst they strive to defend, only offend God ; and these, whilst they falsely abet, forcibly wound the souls of Saints. Yet not that in all w hich they say they are void of understanding in knowledge of the truth, but for the most part they blend what is wise with what is foolish, and the true with the false ; that while they first propose somewhat on the side of truth, they may easily draw aside into falsehood. And hence too, what the friends of blessed Job utter is one while worthy of contempt, and at another time deserves admiration, which same the holy man whilst sometimes discarding he condemns it, sometimes approving admits, and turns to the account of righteousness even the very things, which, though right, are not by them rightly delivered ; and so he scorns them, when they scorn his destitution, and, placed upon a dunghill in the body, he shews on how high a summit of virtue he is seated within, when he records that this life's riches are nought, which he describes to be abundantly bestowed even on the sons of perdition, saying ;

Ver. 6. The tabernacles of robbers have plenty^ and they provoke God with boldness; when He hath given all into their hand. ii. 2. It is easy for a man, at the time, to despise riches, when he has them, but it is hard to hold them worthless, when he lacks them. Hence it is clearly shewn, how great a contempt of earthly things was lodged in the breast of blessed Job, who then declares that all is nought which the lost enjoy in plenty, at the time when he had lost every thing. Thus he says. The tabernacles of robbers have plenty, and they provoke God with boldness ; for it very commonly happens that bad men set themselves up the more against God, even the more they are enriched by His bounty contrary to their desert, and they that ought to be impelled by good gifts to better conduct, are rendered worse men by ! the blessings.

But we have to make out how they are called ' robbers,' \ whereas it is thereupon added, When He hath given all intol God permits justly, what man does xoronyfidly. '3 their hands. For if they are robbers, then they took by Book force, and there is no doubt that God is no abettor of those — -1that use force. In what sense tlien does He Himself bestow what they that are robbers carry off' by wicked means ? We are to know then that what Almighty God in His mercy vouchsafes is one thing, and another thing what in His wrath He suffers men to have ; for that which robbers do contrary to right the Equal Dispenser no otherwise than justly permits to be done by them, that both the man who is let to rob being blinded in mind may increase his guilt, and that he who suffers from his robbing, may now in the mischief thereof be chastised for some sin, which he had been guilty of before. For look, a man taking post in the pass of a mountain lies in wait for travellers passing by ; now he that is taking his journey perchance has done some wickedness at one time or another, and Almighty God requiting him his evil-doing in the present life, and giving him into the hands of tlie lier-in-wait, suffers him either to be spoiled of his goods, or even to be killed.

And so what the robber unjustly aimed at, the same the Equitable Judge justly permitted to be done, that both the one might be repaid what he had done contrary to justice, and the other might one time or another receive the worse chastisement, by whose voluntary deed of atrocity Almighty God brought just vengeance for sin upon the head of another. He is cleansed that suffers the wrong: in the case of him that does the wrong guilt is accumulated ; that either from the very depth of wickedness he may one day be brought back to repentance, or else be visited with eternal damnation, aggravated in proportion as he was borne with for long in his sin. With the first He deals in mercy that he may bring his sins to an end, with the other in severity that he may greatly add thereto, unless he betake himself to repentance ; in the one evil deeds are wiped away while he suffers violence, in the other they are accumulated while he offers it. Therefore it is meet and right that Almighty God suffer that to be done which He forbids to be done, that by the very same act, whereby He now awaits and bears with the unconverted for long. He may one day smite them the worse. Therefore it is rightly said. The tabernacles of rohhers are in plenty, and 4 liad men hold spiritual (jifts as robbers, yet from God. Job 12, they provoke God with boldness ; when He giveth all into -'— ^— ^ their hand ; for what tlio wicked take away, He does Himself give them, Who miglit have withstood them in their rapine, if He had been minded to pity them.

Yet this may likewise be understood of spiritual things. For it very often happens that some have gifts of teaching vouchsafed them, yet they are suoln with the same, and have a desire to appear great by comparison with others. And to * provoke' Almighty God is to be lifted up amongst our neighbours on the score of His gifts. Which same also are not unjustly called ' robbers,' in that whilst they speak what they never do, they take away the words of the righteous to serve the turn of their own speech. But because those very words heavenly Grace vouchsafes to some persons, whose lives notwithstanding it leaves in a course of wickedness, in themselves they are ' robbers ;' but yet the good that is theirs they have gotten from above. It goes on ; Ver, 7, 8. But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee. Or speak to the earth, and it shall answer thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. iii. 5. What are we to understand by * the beasts,' but men of slow parts ; and what by ' the fowls of the air,' but those that are skilled in high and sublime truths ? For of ' the beasts,' P». 68, i. e. the dull of sense, it is written ; Thine animals^ shall 1 Y^ gQ dwell therein.

And forasmuch as those, who have minds for sublime themes, soar among the words of the Redeemer, it is Mat. 13 written, ^"0 tJiat the birds of the air come and lodge in the ^^* branches thereof. And what by * the earth,' saving men whose taste is for earthly things ? Hence too it is said to the Gen. 3, first man on his forsaking the things of heaven, Dast thou art, and. unto dust shalt thou return. What are we to understand by ' the fishes of the sea,' but the inquisitive ones) Ps.8, 8. of this world, concerning whom the Psalmist saith, The fish\ of the sea, that pass through the paths of the seas. Which same busy themselves in large researches into things, as it were in undiscoverable floods. Now what all these teacl: upon being so interrogated, he adds, saying, Ver. 1). W]io kfwweth not in all these that the hand ofthtl Lord hath wrought this ? 1 Every sort oj creature bears ivitncss to God. 5

As if he said in plain terms ; ^ Whether you ask the Book dull of understanding, or persons full of the loftiest subjects, — r^^or those devoted to earthly ways, or the men busied with investigations that belong to this world, all of them acknowledge God to be the Creator of all things, and with one consent agree about His Power, though they do not with one consent live in submission to it. For that which the righteous man speaks by his way of living too, that the unrighteous man generally is constrained to own concerning God by his voice alone, if not otherwise ; and it comes to pass that evil-doers, by attesting Him, do homage to the Creator of all things, Whom by their deeds they rebel against, in that Him, Whom they have dared to fight against by their lives, they cannot deny to be the Creator of all things. Yet this same may also Lit. be understood to good purpose after the mere form of the letter alone ; in that every creature, when it is looked at, as it were utters a voice of its own, bearing witness by that mere form which it has. We ask * the beasts,' or ' the fowls of the air,' ' the earth,' or ^ the fish,' whilst we view them, and these answer us with one accord, that ' the Hand of the Lord hath wrought all things,' in that whilst they present their lineaments to our eyes, they bear witness that they are not from themselves. For by the mere circumstance that they are created, by the figure they present, they render as it were the voice of confession to their Creator, Who, as He created all things, likewise ordained how they should be conducted. Hence it is added, Ver. 10. In Whose Hand is the soul of every living thing ^ and the spirit of alljiesh of man.

For by the ' Hand' Power is denoted. Thus ' the soul v. of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind,' is in the Power of Him, from Whom it has its being, that He Himself should appoint in what condition it should be, Who vouchsafed that to be, which was not. But by ' the soul of every living thing' may be denoted the life of beasts. Now Almighty God quickens the soul of beasts to the extent of the corporeal senses, but man's spirit He draws out to a spiritual understanding ; and thus ' in His Hand is the soul of every living thing and the breath of all flesh of men,' in that both in the one. He bestows this power on the soul that it should 6 Meanings of the word ' s^pirit.^ Many senses hy one hrain. JoiJ 12, give life to the flesh, and in the other He quickens the soul -^^ — to this degree, that it should attain to the understanding of eternity. But we are to bear in mind that in Holy Writ ' the spirit of man' is wont to be put in two ways. For sometimes ' the spirit' is put for the soul, sometimes for spiritual agency. Thus ' the spirit' is put for the soul, as it John is written of our own Head Himself, And He bowed His I spiri'. Head, and gave up His SpiritK For if the Evangelist had ^^''5' called any thing else ' the spirit' saving the soul, then surely upon that spirit departing, the soul would have remained.

Moreover, the term ' spirit' is used for spiritual agency, as Ps. 104, where it is written, Who maketh His Angels spirits, His Ministers a jiaming fire. For Preachers are occasionally called ' Angels,' i. e. ' bearers of tidings,' in Holy Writ, as Mai. 2, where it is said by the Prophet, The priesfs lips keep knowledge, and they seek the law from his mouth : for he is the ^Y.Au-AngeP of the Lord of Hosts. Thus Almighty God ' maketh ge us jj^^ Angels spirits,' in that He changeth His Preachers into spiritual men. But in this passage, if by ' the soul of every living thing,' the mere life of the body is denoted, by the ' spirit of all flesh of man,' there is set forth the agency of a spiritual understanding. It goes on ; Ver. 11. The ear trieth words, and the mouth of the eater savour. vi. 8. There is scarce a person that is ignorant that the five senses of our body, viz. of seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching, in all their operations of perceiving and discriminating derive the power of perception and discrimination from the brain. And whereas there is but one judge that presides within, viz. the percipient faculty of the brain, yet by their proper passages he keeps five senses distinct, God causing groat marvels, so that neither the eye should hear, nor the ear see, the mouth take in scent^ the nose taste, nor the hands smell ;

and whereas all things are determined by the one faculty of the brain, yet no one of the senses can do aught but what it received by the Creator's appointment. And so by these corporeal and external arrangements we are left to gather ihe interior and spiritual ones ; so that by that which is open to the eye in us, we ought to pass on to the secret thing that is in us, and escapes our eyes. For we are One Wisdom yives various powers. Hearing is not tastimj. 7 to observe, that whereas there is one Wisdom, it dwells in Book one man less, in another more. To one it gives this function, '—to another that ; and in the manner of the brain, it uses ourselves like so many senses, that though in itself it bears no dissimilitude to itself, yet by us it is ever working different and dissimilar operations, so as for this man to receive the gift of wisdom, and that the gift of knowledge ; one to have kinds of tongues, and another the grace of healing.

But in these words wherein blessed Job saith, The ear friefh ivords, a?id the mouth of the eater savour, he seems likewise to imply something about the Elect and the damned; for the words of wisdom, which the children of perdition hear, the Elect not only hear but taste too, that that should have a savour for them in the heart, which conveys no sound to the minds of the damned, but only to their ears. For it is one thing to hear food named only, and another thing to taste of it also ; then the Elect so hear of the meat of wisdom, that they taste of it, in that what they hear is full of relish to them in their very marrow^ from love; but the knowledge of i medulthe reprobate extends only to the cognizance of the sound, so ^^'"® that they hear indeed of virtues, but yet from coldness of heart they know nothing what a relish they have. By which same words blessed Job condemns the inexperience of his friends, and the presumption of all that are puffed up for their learning in wisdom, in that it is one thing to know somewhat concerning God, and another to taste with the mouth of understanding the thing that is known. Therefore it is well said. Doth not the ear try words ? and the mouth of the eater savour ? As if it were said to the presumptuous in plain words, ' The words of instruction, which came to you only so far as to the ear, to me touch the mouth'* of understanding likewise in the inward savour.' But because a weak age, even when it hath a right sense, should not spring forth with incautious haste to preach, it is rightly added ; Ver. 1*2. With the ancient is wisdom, and in length of days imdersfanding.

For these sayings are set fast in the root of wisdom, which by continuance in living, are also made strong by the practice of deeds. But because there are many to whom at " ' Fauces,' which means the part of the mouth toward the throat. 8 The Personal and the Inherent IViadom and Power of God. Job 12, once longer life is given, and yet no grace of wisdom vouch- — =r^ — safed, it is further shewn with propriety on whose decision the gifts themselves depend, whilst it is added ; Ver. 13. With Him is wisdom and strength: He hath counsel and understanding. viii. 11. We not unfitly interpret these words of the Onlybegotten Son of the Supreme Father, so as to understand Him to be Himself ' the Wisdom and Strength of God.' For Paul also bears testimony to our interpretation, in the words, 1 Cor. Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God. Who is John 1 ever ' with Him,' in that. In the Beginning was the W^ord, 1and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. But God ' hath counsel and understanding ;' ' counsel,' in that He orders His own matters, ' understanding,' in that He knows ours. By the naming of ' counsel' may also be denoted the mere delay of secret judgment alone, as that He is sometimes slow in striking offenders, not because the sin of bad men is not seen, but that their sentence of condemnation, which is delayed for the practising of penance, may seem as if out of counsel slow to issue forth.

And so what the public declaration one day reveals without, that lay hid with the Almighty Lord in counsel before the world began. It proceeds ; Ver. 14. If He break down, there is none that can build again : if He shut up a man, there is none that can open. ix. 12. Almighty God 'breaks down' the heart of man, when He forsakes it ; He ' builds it up,' when He fills it. For He does not destroy man's soul by consummation of war, but by withdrawing Himself from it ; in that when it is left to itself, it wants nothing to its own ruin. Whence it commonly happens, that when the heart of the hearer, in due of his sins, is not filled with Almighty God's grace, it is in vain that he is outwardly admonished by the preacher. For every mouth that speaks is but mute, if He does not utter a voice in the heart within, Who inspires the words that are admitted into the Ps. 127, ears. Hence the Prophet saith. Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it. Hence Solomon Eccles. saith. Consider the work of God ; for who can set him right whom He hath despised ? Nor is it strange, if the preacher is not attended to by the reprobate soul, since it sometimes happens that the Lord Himself, in the things which He None can alter God's opening and shutting.

9 speaks, is withstood by the tempers of those that withstand Book Him. For hence it is that Cain could be admonished even — l_ by the voice of God, yet could not be changed, because as due to the sin of his evil heart, within God had already forsaken the soul, to which outwardly He addressed words to serve for a testimony. And it is well added, Tf He shut up a man^ there is none that can open; in that every man, whereinsoever he does wrong, what else does he but make for himself a prison-house of his own conscience, that guiltiness of soul may oppress him even though no man accuse I him without.'' And when by the judgment of God he is left \. in the blindness of his evil heart, he is as it were shut up \vithin himself, that he may never find a place of escape, which he never deserves to find. For it often happens that there are persons who long to quit their bad practices, but because they are weighed to the ground by the burthen of them, being shut up in the prison-house of bad habit, they are unable to go forth of themselves. And there are some that anxiously desiring to visit their own offences with punishment, turn into worse offences what they reckon themselves to be doing aright ; and it is brought to pass in a lamentable way, that what they take for their going out they find to be their imprisoning. Thus the reprobate Judas, Mat.27, when he inflicted death upon himself to spite sin, was brought to the punishment of eternal death, and repented of sin in a more heinous way than he had committed sin.

Therefore let it be said. If He shulteth up a man, thereEi^odA, is none that can open. For as no man withstands His ' ' * bountifulness in calling, so no one withstands His justice in forsaking ; and so for God to ' shut up' is, not to open to those that are shut up ; and hence it is said to Moses concerning Pharaoh, / will harden his heart. For God is said Gen. 27, to harden the heart in executing justice, when He does not^* soften the reprobate heart in bestowing grace. And so He * shuts up' the man, whom He leaves in the darkness of his own practices. For Isaac desired to open this shutting up ib. 26 to his first-born son, when he endeavoured to set him before ^"^ ^^* his brother in blessing him. But the son whom the father desired, the Lord rejected ; and him, whom the Lord desired, the father blessed even against his will ; that he, who had sold his 10 God*s gifts and injiuences renew and change man. Job 12, birthright to his brother for a meal, might not get the blessing —Y— — of the first-born, whieh he had relinquished through a gluttonous appetite; who, whilst that aiming at earthly objeets, following after transitory things, he desired to inherit the Heb.i2, blessing, was rejected. For lie found no place for repenlance, though he sought it with tears;

for tears have no fruit, which are spent on regretting with sighs things destined to perish. And so Isaac could not open even to his son, whom Almighty God by a just judgment shut up in the prison-house of his evil heart. It proceeds ; Ver. lb. If He withholdeth the waters, all things are dried up. If He sendeth them out, they will overturn the earth. X. 14. If water' be understood of knowledge for preaching, as Prov. when it is written. The words of a man's mouth are as deep ' * waters, and the well-spring of wisdom as an overflowing brook ; when ' water is withheld, all is dried up,' in that if the knowledge of the preacher is withdrawn, the hearts of those that might have flourished in eternal hope, are forthwith ' dried up,' that they should remain in hopeless barrenness, whilst, in love with transitory things, they care not to look for those which shall abide. But if bv the term of ' water' the grace of the Holy Spirit is denoted, as it is said John 7, by the voice of Truth in the Gospel, He that helieveth in Me, ^^' as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water ; in which place the Evangelist immediately added, But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe in Him should receive ; a suitable sense is laid open in these words wherein he saith.

Behold He withholdeth the waters, and all tilings are dried up ; in that if the grace of the Holy Spirit be withdrawn from the hearer's mind, the sense is at once ' dried up,' which already through hope seemed to be green in the hearer. But forasmuch as he does not mention ' water' but ' waters,' by the plural designation, he refers to the sevenfold grace of spiritual gifts, inasmuch as every one is filled, so to speak, with as many waters as he is replenished with gifts, of which it is fitly added. Also if He sendeth them out, they tvill overturn the earth.

For what is ' the earth' taken for, but the sinner, to I Lat. whom it is said in sentence, Dust^ thou art^ and unto dust Terra Grace given turns men to contraries. 1 1 shall Ihou relurn ? Thus the earth remains immoveable Book when the sinner scorns to obey the precepts of the Lord, when he erects the neck of pride, and shuts the mind's eyes to the light of truth. But whereas it is written, His Jeelu&h.Sy stood, and the earth was moved; in that when Truth isj^x^*^' rooted in the heart, the immoveableness of the mind is stirred; if the grace of the Holy Spirit, by bestowal from above, is infused according to the voice of the preacher, instantly the earth is ' overturned,' in that the obduracy of the guilty soul is changed from the stubbornness of its immobility, that it should afterwards bow down itself in weeping to the }:!recepts of the Lord, as much as it aforetime erected the neck in swelling high against the Lord. For you may see that the earth of the human heart, when the water of God's blessing is poured upon it, afterwards gladly bears injuries, which before it outrageously inflicted; afterwards even gives its own, whereas before it even laid hands on the things of others; afterwards tortures the flesh by practising abstinence, whereas before, in the plenishing of the flesh, it let itself loose in the deadly gratifications of gross sensualities; afterwards loves its very persecutors, whereas before it refused to love even those that loved itself When, then, the human soul watered by God's bounty begins to act contrary to what was its wont, ' the earth is overturned,' in that the part is put down, which before reared itself on high, and the face is lifted upwards, which was before weighed down deeply below.

It seems well in illustration of this point to bring forward Paul as one among many. Who when he was on his way to Damascus armed with letters against Christ, being Acts a, on his journey watered with the grace of the Holy Spirit, * was changed on the spot from that bloodthirsty purpose which he had, and afterwards received those strokes in Christ's behalf, which he was journeying with the intention of inflicting upon Christians ; and he who before, when living after the flesh, strove to deliver the Saints of the Lord over to death, is afterwards rejoiced to offer the sacrifice of his flesh for the life of the Saints. Those cold-blooded ])arposes of cruelty are turned into the warmth of pity ; and he that i Tim. aforetime was a blasphemer and a persecutor, afterwards ' 12 Conversion of St. Paul. Ephrairn a ^ cake unturned.'' Job 12, becomes a huniblc and compassionate preacher. He, who ' — accounted it great gain to him to slay Chiist in His Disciples, Acts 9, now holds ' Christ to be his life, and to die gain ;' and so when Phil 1 ^^^ ' sendeth out the waters, the earth is overturned,' in that 21. the mind of Paul, the moment he received the grace of the Holy Spirit, altered the fixture of his stubbornness and cruelty. Contrary to which the Lord utters the complaint against Hosea Ephraim, by the Prophet, saying, Ephraim is a cake under » V.so.

the ashes'^ not turned. For a cake under the ashes, that hath ashes upon it, lays the cleaner side flat to the ground, and has the upper side the fouler, in proportion as it carries the ashes upon it. And so with the mind that harbours earthly thoughts, what else does it carry upon itself but a load of ashes ? But if it will be ' turned,' the clean surface, which it had kept downwards, it brings back to the top, when it has shaken off the ashes that it had upon it. If therefore we shake off from the mind the ashes of earthly thoughts, as it were we ' turn the cake under the ashes,' that that bent of our mind may henceforth go to the rear, which the ashes of grovelling thought before overlaid, and the clean face come to the top, that our right bent of mind may not henceforth be surcharged with the weight of earthly desire. Which we can never do, except we be bedewed with the grace of the Holy Spirit, in that when Almighty God * sendeth out the waters, they will overturn the earth.' It proceeds ; Ver. 16. With Him is strength and wisdom. ^^* 17. A little above it had been said. With Him is imsdom and strength ; but now it is said. With Him is strength and wisdom. For because Almighty God, when in the mysteiy of pitifulness He was made Man, first gave the lesson of mildness, and afterwards at the Judgment He shews what strength He is of;

it is rightly done that in the place above Wisdom is mentioned before Strength, when the thing is spoken of the Only Begotten Son of the Father, With Him is Wisdom and Strength. But forasmuch as when He cometh to judge. He will appear in the terribleness of His power, and the damned being cast off, will manifest to His Elect in His everlasting kingdom, how He is ^ the Wisdom' of the Father, it is rightly said in the subsequent sentence, that with Him is first * strength' and then ^wisdom.' Thus in tlie Wisdom before Strength now^ Strength before Wisdom at last. 13 first words wherein he saith, With Him is wisdom and Book strength; he plainly shews, that what He taught in mildness how to believe, in the power of the Judgment He will exhibit in terribleness. But in the subsequent words, wherein He saith, With Him is strength and wisdom ; He makes it clearer than the day, that He first destroys reprobate men in the Judgment by dint of power, and afterwards shines into the souls of the Elect with the perfect light of the eternal kingdom. But because before the day of final Judgment, He never ceases daily to judge the deeds of mortal men by His secret awards. He comes back to that which is done in this present time, where it is added ; Ver. 16, 17. He kno teeth both the deceiver and deceived, He bringeth counsellors to a foolish end, and the judges to dulness.

Whereas every man that strives to deceive his neighhour is wicked, and ' Truth' saith to the wicked, / never M.3itt. 7, Anew yoii, depart fro fn 3Ie ye that work iniquity; in what sense is it said here, that ' the Lord knoweth the deceiver?' But forasmuch as God's ' knowing' sometimes means His taking cognizance, sometimes His approving. He at once knows a wicked man, in that in taking cognizance He judges him, (for He would never judge any wicked man, if He did not take cognizance of him,) and yet He does not know a wicked person, in that He does not approve his doings. And so He both knows him, in that He finds him out, and knows him not, in that He doth not acknowledge him in a likeness to His own Wisdom. As it is said of any truthful man, that he does not know falsehood, not because, when any thing false is said even by others, he is too blind to find fault with it, but this very falsehood he at once knows in the tracing out, and knows not in the affection of the heart, so as not to do that himself, which he condemns the doing of in others. And it may often happen that persons, busy in artful contrivances, spread the nets of their wickedness for another's lift', and when he, in ignorance of it, is seen to be taken by the snares, perchance it is questioned whether such things are seen from above, and men wonder, why it is, if God does see them, that He suffers them to be done.

But He knoweth the deceiver and the deceived. For 14 Open Judf/ment deferred, Counsellors turned to fill?/. Job 12,' He knou'cth the deceiver,' in that generally He sees former - — ^ — sins of his, and by a just judgment suffers him to fall into others also. ' He l<noweth the deceiver,' in that, left in the hand of his own doings, He forsaketh him, that he may be Apoc. precipitated into worse ones, as it is written. He that is ^^' ^^' unjust let him be unjust still, and he that isjilthy let him be ' Lat. filthy^ still. Moreover 'He knoweth the deceived' too, in Sr *^^* men often do evil things that they know^ and therefore they arc suffered to be ' deceived,' so as further to fall into evil things which they know not. However, this is used to be done to the deceived sometimes for their purifying, sometimes as the beginning of vengeance.

He bringeth counsellors also to a fiolish end, when they do any thing good even, with no good purpose, but are going after the recompensing of a temporal reward. For, if the Only-begotten Son of the Most High Father, because hereby, that He was made Man, He preached eternal truths, is therefore called the Angel of great counsel, we rightly interpret ' the counsellors,' those preachers, who furnish the ' counsel' of life to their hearers. But when any preacher preaches the truths of eternity for this, that he may acquire temporal gains, assuredly he is ' brought to a foolish end,' in that he is aiming to reach that point by laborious effort, whence he ought to have fled in uprightness of mind.

And it is rightly added, And the judges to dubiess. For all that are set over the examination of other men's conduct, are rightly called 'judges;' but when he that has this oversight does not diligently examine the lives of those under his authority, nor acquaint himself whom he should correct, and how, ' the judge is brought to dulness,' in that he, who should have judged things that were ill done, never finds out those things which are to be judged. It proceeds; Ver. 18. He looseth the belt of kings, and girdeth their reins with a cord. xiii. 21. They that know how to regulate aright the motions of their members, are not unjustly called ' kings.' But when the mind is touched with pride on the grounds of that very continence, it very often happens that Almighty God, deserting its pride, suffers it to fall into uncleanness of practice. And so ' He looseth the belt of kings,' when in the case of Gifts withdrawn to humble men. Glory and disgrace of Priests. 15 those who seemed to regulate their members aright, on Book accomit of the sin of pride he undoes the girdle of chastity. '— Now what is meant by * a cord,' but sin ? As Solomon says, His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and heFrov-d, shall he holden with the cords of his sins. And because fleshly gratification has its dominion in the ' reins,' the strict Judge of the conscience. Who ' looseth the belt of kings,' ' girdeth their reins with a cord,' that, when the girdle of chastity is undone, then the gratification of sin should have dominion over their members, so that those whom pride pollutes in secret, He may shew even publicly to be as abominable as they are. It goes on, \ev. 19. He leadeth the priests inglorious^ and overthroweth the mighty.

The great glory of the priest is the righteousness of those that are subject to him. Whence the excellent preacher saith well to his disciples ; For what is our hope, or i Thes. Joy, or crown of rejoicing f Are not even ye in the presence ' * of our Lord? But when the priests neglect the lives of their charge, and bring no fruit from their advancement before the presence of the Lord, what else is this but that they are called ^ ^ inglorious ?' Since before the strict Judge they do not then find glor}^, who do not now seek it out in the lives of those subject to their charge by urgency in preaching. And it is well said. And overthroweth the mighty. In that, when, by a righteous judgment, He forsakes the heart of those that rule, it does not look for the inward recompensing of the rev^ard, and it is overthrown in that whereby it is deceived, so as to rejoice in temporal superiority instead of eternal glory. Therefore ' the mighty are overthrown,' in that while they lose sight of the real rewards of the heavenly country, they are brought to the ground here in their own pleasures. It goes on, Ver. 20. Who changeth the lip of the truthfid, and taketh away the instruction of the aged.

When the priest does not do the good that he tells, even the very word of his lips is withdrawn from him, that he may not dare to speak what he does not practise ; as where it is said by the Prophet, But unto the wicked God saith, Ps. so, *» ' Dicuntur,' some Mss. read * ducuntur,' ' are led.' 10 Truth taken away from the unrighteous. Job 12, < What hast thou to do. to declare My statutes., or that thou -=r^ — takest My covenant in thy mouth i Whence also he beseeches, Ps. 119, saying, And take not the word of truth utterly out of my ^^' mouth. For he reflects that Almighty God gives the word of truth to those that do it, and takes it away from those that do it not. He then that prayed that he might not have it ' taken out of his mouth,' what did he else than pray for the grace of good practice ? As if he said in plain words, ' Let me not go astray from good works, lest, while I lose the regularity of good living, I also part with the right rule of speaking.' And for the most part the teacher, who ventures to teach what he neglects to practise, when he ceases to speak the good which he scorned to do, begins to teach his charge the evil things that lie does, that, by the righteous judgment of the Almighty, that man may not henceforth have a tongue for a good theme, who will not have a good life;

so that whilst his mind is inflamed with the love of earthly things, he should be ever speaking of earthly Mat.i2, things. Whence ' Truth' saith in the Gospel, For out of O J Off ^ * * the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bring eth forth good things^ and an evil man out of the evil treasure bring eth iSo^mA^j'Q^tfi Q^ii things. Hence also John saith. They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world. Therefore it is well said, Who changeth the lip of the truthfid, and taketh away the instruction of the aged. In that while they, who were aforetime ' truthful' in preaching heavenly things, setting their affections on those of time, are sunk down to the same, ' the lip of the truthful is changed, and the instruction of the aged taken away;' in that being in love with temporal things, they never follow the precepts of their predecessors, so as to be occupying the place of authority as if but for the fruit of pleasure, and for no good end of labour. Proph. 24. Which nevertheless may be understood more plainly of the Jews, who before the Lord's Incarnation were ' truthful,' in that they believed that He was to come, and proclaimed the same; but when He appeared in the flesh, they denied that it was He. Therefore ' the lip of the truthful was changed,' in that Him, of Whom they had told that He was about to come, they denied when present;

' and the Fall of the Jews and calling of Gentiles foreshewn. 1 7 instruction of the aged was taken away,* in that they never Book fe)llo\ved in believing the things, which they remembered '— their fathers to have foretold. Whence too at the coming of Elijah it is promised, that he shall ' turn the hearts of the Mai. 4, children to their fathers ;' thai * the instruction of the aged,' which is now ' taken away' from the heart of the Jews, upon the Lord taking compassion on them, may then be brought back, when the children begin to understand that concerning the Lord, which their fathers foretold. But if by ' the aged' we understand likewise those same Jews, who, by the persuasions of unbelief, set themselves to oppose the word of * Truth,' then ' the instruction of the aged was taken away,' when the Church consisting of the Gentiles, being indeed young, received it, as she saith by the Psalmist, I under- ^^'^^^> stand nioj'e than the ancients. And because she kept this same in practising it, in what way she came to understand more than the ancients, she makes plain, whereas she adds directly, Because I keep Thy precepts. For whereas she aimed to fulfil in practising that thing which she learnt, it was vouchsafed her to understand what she might teach. Whence it is still further added with propriety, Ver. 21. He poureth contempt upon princes, and lifteth up those that were oppressed.

20. For whilst the Jewish people continued in the precept of the Law, and the whole Gentile world knew nothing of the precepts of God, both the former seemed to be as * princes' by faith, and the latter lay borne down in the depth by unbelief. But when Judaea denied the mystery of our Lord's Incarnation, and the Gentile world believed it, both * the princes' fell into contempt, and they that had been borne down in the sin of unbelief, were ' lifted up' in the liberty of true faith. But Jeremiah seeing this fall of the Israelites long before, says. The Lord is become as z7Lam.2, were an enemy; He hath swallowed up Israel; He hath^' thrown down all his palaces; He hath destroyed his bidwarks. Now * palaces' in cities are for ornaments, but the ' bulwarks' are for defence. And the gifts that keep us safe are one thing, those that ornament us are another. For prophetical teaching, different kinds of tongues, the power of working cures, arc a kind of ' palaces' of the mind, which 18 Oifh firat forfmtcd^ then (jrace itself. Jon 12, ihongh a man have not, yet he is able to stand fast defended Proph ^y '^^^^' ^^^^ righteousness, though he does not shew himself at all adorned with the towering height of the gifts of virtue; but faith, hope, and eharity, are not our ' palaces,' but our ' bulwarks,' which, if we neglect to possess ourselves of, we lie exposed to the snares of the enemy.

In the case of Judaea, therefore, seeing that He took away from her prophecy, and teaching, and miraculous signs, * He overthrows all her palaces.' And because, for her hardness of heart. He let faith, hope, and charity, be taken away from her, lie was bent to ' destroy her bulwarks.' Now we have the right order observed, in that the * palaces' first, and then the ' bulwarks,' are described as destroyed, because, when the sinful soul is forsaken, first the gifts of miraculous powers, which were given in manifestation of the Spirit, are destroyed, and afterwards the foundations of faith, hope, and charity. All which, being taken away from the unfaithful, the Lord bestowed upon the Gentile world, and by the things, which He took from the unbelievers. He adorned the believers' Ps. 68 minds. Whence it is written. And to divide the spoils of the ^^* beauty of the house. For when He took away from the Jews the spoils of the powers of virtue. He imparted the beauty of His gifts to the house of the heart of the Gentiles, which He deigned to dwell in by faith. Which same was brought to pass, when the words of God were on the one hand interpreted by the Jewish people after the mere ' letter,' which 2 Cor. ' killeth,' and on the other, by the converted Gentiles pene- ' * trated in the ' spirit,' which ' maketh alive.' Whence it is directly added, Ver.

22. WJio discoveretli deep things out of darkness^ and hringeth out to light the shadoia of death, xvii. 26. For when the several mystical truths are recognised in the secret words of the Prophets by them that believe, what else is it, than that ' deep things are discovered out of darkness?' Whence too ' Truth' Himself, speaking in parables Matt.^ to the disciples, saith. What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light. For when by explaining we unravel the mystical knots of allegories, then we as it were ^ speak in light, what we have heard in darkness.' Now ' the shadow of death' was the hardness of the old Law, which made every Man^s pride in Go(Vs gifts brought, down. 10 one that sinned liable to be punished with the death of the Book body. But when our Redeemer tempered by mildness the '— harshness of the sanctions of the Law, nor any longer ordained death of the flesh to be inflicted for sin, but shewed how greatly the death of the spirit was to be dreaded, then, surely, ' He brought out to light the shadow of death.' For this death, wherein the flesh is severed from the soul, is a ' shadow' of that death, wherein the soul is severed from God, and so ' the shadow of death is brought out to light,' when, upon the death of the spirit being understood, the death of the body is no whit feared.

Which may likewise be understood in another sense also. For those are not unjustly called ' princes,' who with great judiciousness of counsel rule the thoughts of their hearts at all times, and by the power of wisdom keep down all the motions of folly. But it very often happens that the mind is in secret lifted up on the grounds of its very wisdom to the topmost pitch of pride, and is brought to the ground under those evil habits, over which it was rejoicing to have gained the victory. Therefore it is well said, He poureth contempt upon princes. But because it sometimes happens that they who appear to lie prostrate in evil ways have recourse to tears of penitence, and gather themselves up against the sins, to which they were subjected, it is fitly added, And lifteth up those that were oppressed. For there are some, who, being enlightened by the gift from on high, see in what exceeding filthiness of their sinful doings they lie grovelling, wash with tears the stains of their misdeeds, and henceforth keep down beneath them the motions of the flesh, by which they were aforetime weighed to the ground. 27. Which same is brought to pass by the excellent disposal of Almighty God, that so in this life every thing should be accounted uncertain, and no man be set up for possessing chastity, seeing that He poureth contempt upon princes^ and no man despair from his evil habits weighing him down, seeing that He lifteth up those that were oppressed.

And because, when these things are done, there is brought forth out of the secret counsels of God an open sentence upon each individual, it is rightly subjoined. And revealeth deep things out of darkness. c 2 20 tSatan draffged to lujfd. Nations destroyed and restored. Jovi 12, 28. For llie Lord ^ rcvcalcth deep things out of darkness/ when Pie manifests an open sentence from His secret counsels, so as to shew what Tie thinks concerning each individual. For because now the Creator seeth all things, and Himself is not seen in His counsels, it is well said of Ps. 18, Him by the Psalmist, He made darkness His secret place. But it is as if He issued out from that darkness into light, when He shews what are His thoughts conceraing the actions of each individual. And whereas when he, who was sunk down by the weight of his sins, is brought to the setting up of uprightness, he for the first time sees that very death, wherein he was going on ruining himself, and at the same time too blind to take account of it; it is rightly added. And bringeih out to light the shadow of death. For ' the shadow of death' is evil doing, which is drawn as if in bodily lineaments by a copy of our old enemy. Concerning whom Rev. 6, too, in the character of a certain one, it is said.

And his name was Death. And it very often happens that his evil instigation escapes the minds of men, and by this circumstance, that it is no^ known, is the more successful. And so ' the shadow of death is brought to light,' in that the evil doing of our old enemy is revealed to the minds of the Saints that it may be made an end of It goes on : Ver. 23. Who multiplieth the nations and destroyeth them, and them that are overturned He restoreth entire, xviii. 29. We may understand it, viz. that ' the Lord multiplieth ^^^' the nations and destroyeth them,' in this way, that day by day men are bom destined to die, and that ' them, that be overturned, He restoreth entire,' in that they, who were dead, shall rise again; which however we shall interpret in a better sense, if we think how it is that this is done in their souls. Proph. For ' He increaseth the nations and destroyeth them,' in that He both enlarges them by fruitfulness of offspring, and yet leaves them in their own infidelity ; but ' them, that were overturned. He restoreth entire,' in that those, whom He had left in the downfall of infidelity, He one time or another reestablishes in the seat of faith. And these being restored in a whole state of mind, that ancient People, which seemed faithful to God, being reprobate was cast away in heart, so that, being deceived by its own misbelief, it should afterwards The Jews deceived and staggered bij our hordes Humanity.

2 1 rise up against Him, Whom it had before preached. It goes Book Ver. 24, 25. Who changeth the heart of the chief of the people of the eartlt, and deceireth them, that tJtey wander in vain where there is no way. They shall grope in the dark without any light, and He shall make them to stagger like a drunken man.

For ' the heart of the chief of the earth was changed,' when the chief priests and ciders of the people in Jiidsea set themselv^es to withstand Him by their counsels, Whom they beforehand proclaimed, that He was to come. And when they strove to put out His Name by persecuting Him, being deceived by their own wickedness they vainly essayed to ' wander where there is no way,' because it was impossible that a ' way' could be open to their cruelty directed against the Creator of all things. They saw the miracles, they were made to fear by His power", but refusing to believe, they still sought signs, whilst they said. What sign shewest John G, Thou then, that we may see and believe Thee ? Therefore ^^' it is well said, They grope in the dark without light ? For he that hesitates in the midst of so many manifest miracles, as it were ' gropes in the dark,' in that he sees not what he is touching. But every man that ' staggers,' is borne now hither, now thither. And because they were shewn at one time to believe, as when they said, If this man were not of John God He could do nothing, and at another time denied that ' He was from God, as when they said contemning Flim, Is Mat.is, not this the carpenter^ s Son? Is not His mother called Mary?

and His brethren, James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? it is rightly added. He maketh them to stagger like a drunken man. For they saw both that He raised the dead, and yet that He was a mortal being. Who would not believe tl^at He was God, Whom they beheld raise the dead to life .'* But on the other hand, when they saw that He was mortal, they scorned to believe that He was immortal God, and so herein, viz. that Almighty God manifested Himself such to their eyes as to be both ca])ablc of exhibiting divine signs and of ^' ' virtute tentbantur.' A. B. C. D. M. baritur, terrebantur.' ' They wondered at and some ap. "Hen. read ' virtutes miraHis acts of power, they were terrified,' 22 Job prophesied with under staniUrKj. His humiliti/. Job 13, undergoing hunnan sufibrings, lie 'made them to stagger ;,^— ^ — like drunken men,' that their pride, which chose rather to spurn the mystery of the Incarnation, than to follow it, should at one and the same time lift itself up against His human nature, and wonder at the power of ilis Divine nature shining within. And because all these were made present to the eyes of blessed Job by the spirit of prophecy, it is rightly added ; Chap. xiii. 1. Lo, all! XX. 31. For what was to follow he saw as present in Him, Hist.

. Whom neither things future come to, nor things past go from ; but all things are present at once and together i^efore His eyes. And because the very things that were to come he saw were part in works and part in words, it is rightly said, All this mine eye hatit seen, mine ear hath heard. But words are without use, if they lack the understanding of them. Whence it is fitly added. And I have understood every wldt. For when any thing is shewn or heard, if the understanding of it be not bestowed, it is little of a prophecy. Thus Pharaoh saw in a dream things that were to come upon Egypt, but, because he could not understand what he saw, Dan. 5, he was no prophet. King Balthasar ' saw the fingers of the hand that wrote' upon the wall j but he was no prophet, because he did not attain to the understanding of that thing which he saw. Therefore, that blessed Job might testify that he had the spirit of prophecy, he declares not only that he had ' seen and heard,' but also that he had ' understood all this.' And that he is not elated on the grounds of such understanding, his words subjoined bear witness, when he says, Ver. 2. What ye know, the same do I know also; I am not inferior to you. xxi. 32. By which same words he made known what exceeding humility he had, who says that he was ' not inferior' to them, whose life by holy living he very far surpassed.

For he makes good that ' what they knew he knew,' who by knowing the things of heaven transcended their earthly thoughts through the spirit of prophecy in addition. It goes on ; Ver. 3. Yet still I wonld speak to the Almighty, and 1 desire to reason with God. Tliose who leave all for God may reason witli Him. t2;3

We ' speak with the Almighty,' when we beseech His Book pity ; but we ' reason with Him ' when uniting ourselves to — rr— ... XXll. His righteousness, we sift our actions with minute investigation. Or otherwise, to ' reason witli God,' is for him who obeyed His commandments here, to come with Him hereafter as Judge to judge the people. As it is said to the Preachers that leave all things. Verily I say unto you, that ^^^\ ye wJiich have followed Me, in the reyeneralion, when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Whence the Lord saith by Isaiah too. Believe the oppressed, ls.i,i7. judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together. For it is right that they should reason with God concerning their charges ^ in the Judgment, who, at the words of God, entirely give up the present world. Thus the ' speaking' has to do with prayer, and the ^ reasoning' has to do with judgment. Therefore the holy man * speaks' to the Almighty now, that he may ' reason' with the Almighty hereafter, in that He cometh with God afterwards as a judge, who here in this present time was familar with Him in prayer. But Holy Church, whom we have already said that blessed Job bears the likeness of, not only then judges the wicked, when the day of final Judgment shall come, but even now doth not cease to judge all that either act wickedly, or think foolishly.

And hence it is added ; Ver. 4. First shewing that ye are builders of lies, and votaries of wrong doctrines, 34. By which same words it is clearly shewn that his friends as in the likeness of heretics oppose the decisions of the holy man's judgment. For it is clear that they do not hold the figure of Catholics, who are termed ^ votaries of wrong doctrines.' Wherein this likewise ought to be marked, that they are called ' builders of lies.' For as an edifice is * built' with stones, so a lie is ' built' with words. For when there is not deceitful speech, but a meaning of truth, it is like a fortified mound, arising not by fabrication, but by nature. It goes on; ^ ' de pupillis,' lit. ' wards/ same Most Mss. read * populis,' ' peoples/ word as ' fatherless' in our Version, but with an abbreviation. 24 Job reproves his Friends as speaking falsely for God. Job 13, Vcr. 5. O that ye would altogether hold your peace, and — - — 'ye should be accounted wise! Hist. ^ . , . . , xxiv. ^^- ^^ ^^ ^ house, when the door is shut, it is not known what members there are hidden within, so, generally s})eaking, if a fool hold his peace, it is hidden whether he be wise or foolish, only, however, if no other works come to light, which may speak the mind even of one that is silent.

For this reason the holy man, seeing that his friends were anxious to appear what they were not, charged them to hold their peace, that they might not appear what they were. And hence it Prov. is said by Solomon ; Even a fool when he holdeth his peace ^^?^^* is counted wise. But because when a fool speaks, from this, that he brings in his own words, he is unable to reflect on the words of the wise, after he had bidden silence, he yet further adds rightly, Ver. 6. Hear now my reproofs, and hearken to the judgment of my lips. XXV. 36. Now he did w^ell first to bring forward ' reproof,' and afterwards ^judgment.' For except by reproof first the swelling of the fool be put down, the judgment of the righteous is not by comprehension at all understood. It goes on; Ver. 7. Doth God need your lie, that ye should talk deceitfully for Him? xxvi. 37. God doth not ' stand in need of a lie,' in that Truth does not seek to be stayed up by the aid of falsehood. But because Heretics are unable to defend on principles of truth the things which they erroneously conceive about God, it is as if they sought for the shadow of falsehood, to shew the ray of light. And they ' speak deceitfully for Him,' in that weak minds, by being senselessly seduced, they deceive in the understanding of Him.

It goes on ; Ver. 8. Will ye take His person ? will ye strive to Judge for God? xxvii. 38. For when foolish men behold the doings of the wise, they all seem to them to be worthy of blame; who, forgetting their own emptiness and deficiency, pass judgment on the concerns of others the more eagerly, in proportion as they are more deeply ignorant of their own. But on the other hand, when the righteous reprove the deeds of the wicked, God is not pleased that men take His part wrongfully. Q5 ever conscious of their own weakness, they administer reproof. Book though in launching forth against them outwardly, yet in sympathizing with them inwardly; in that it belongs to Him alone to scrutinize the sins of men without fellow-feeling, Who by the omnipotence of His nature knows not to commit sin. Therefore, as the friends of blessed Job had so reproved his deeds as if they had nothing in themselves to be reproved, it is well said in this place, Will ye take His face? Will ye strive to fudge for God? For to * take the face of God' is to assume His authority in the act of judging; and he as it were ' strives to judge for God,' who when he reproves the several weak points in another, does not feel weak in himself within from fellow-feeling. It goes on; Ver. 9. Or shall it please Him, from Whom nothing can he concealed^ ? Or like as a man tvill He be deceived by i celare. your deceits.

Heretics shew God deceit in that they fabricate such^^xvui. things as cannot be pleasing to the very Being, in Whose behalf they say them. And whilst they set themselves as if to defend, they only offend Him, in that they are brought to the ground in^ fighting against Him, Whom they appear by^A.B.C. preaching to be serving. Hence it is said by the Psalmist, < faii * That Thou mightest still the enemy and the defenders For?^*^-' every heretic is to Almighty God an ' enemy and defender,' for wherein he strives in his way to defend Him, therein he fights against His truth. But because nothing can escape God's sight. He judges according to that in them, which they think within their heart, but not by their appearing without to be doing Him service. Therefore since by their frauds ' as a man is deceived, God is not so deceived,' it is rightly added, Ver. 10, 11. He will surely reprove you., if ye do secretly take His face. Presently when He ariseth He shall make you afraid; and His dread shall fall upon you.

This part, wherein He declares that ' the face of God^^ is taken in secret,' may be understood in two ways. For there be some, who at one and the same time perceive truth in their hearts, and yet utter outwardly concerning God things that are false. For lest they should appear to be « ' Defensorem.' E. V. <■ avenger.^ Vulg. ' tiltorem.' LXX, t»J/«>jT«i.. 'iO God will (Hid (lay be moved ayaiiLst hypocrites. Job 13, subdued, they botli know the truth within, and yet assail it J^^-i: without. Hence it is well said in this i)lace, He will surely Hist. reprove you^ if ye do necrelly lake His face. As if it were expressed in i)lain words ; ' Ye are the more to be blamed in His sight for falsehood, as ye see in yourselves what is true.' And there be some, who when they turn back into the interior, contemplate the justice and righteousness of God, and in praying and weeping tremble with fear, but after the hour of contemplation has passed by, they return with as much boldness to their wickednesses, as if, being placed l)ehind 1 His back, they were not seen by the light of His righteousness. And so these with themselves in secret ' take God's face' as if it saw with a bodily sight, in that both, when they are present to Him, they flatter Him with their tears, and, when they are as it were gone from His sight, they make slight of Him by their practices. And these deserve to be beaten more for their evil doings, even in proportion as in the secret of their hearts they know the righteous judgments of God. And hence it is added; As soon as He stirreth up Himself y He will trouble you, and His dread shall fall upon you.

Seeing that Almighty God is of a nature unchangeable, in the wrath of judgment He is not capable of being moved; but by the expression proper to man, of God's being 'moved,' is understood nothing else than that enforcement of His rule of righteousness, by which the wickedness of man is chastised. NoW' righteous men conceive a dread of God before His indignation is stirred up against them; they fear Him at rest, lest they should feel Him as moved. But, on the other hand, the wicked then for the first time fear to be smitten, when they are under the rod, and terror then rouses them from the sleep of their insensibility, when vengeance is Is. 28, troubling them. And hence it is said by the Prophet, And only the vexiny alone shall supply under standiuy to the lieariny. For when they have begun to be stricken in vengeance for the contempt and neglect of God's precepts, then they understand the thing that they heard. And the Ps.78, Psalmist saith, When He slew them, then they souyht Him,^ Therefore it is well said. As soon as He stirreth up Himselj He will trouble you, and His dread will fall upon you A Eartlily memorials vanish^ riches end in rottenness. 27 in that the hearts of the children of perdition have not Book fear producing repose, but punishment producing fear. It —i— 1goes on; Ver. 12. Your remembrances are like unto ashes.

All that are conformed to this present state of being by an earthly temper of mind, mean, by all that they do, to leave the remembrance of themselves to the world. Some in the toils of war, some in the towering walls of edifices, some in eloquent books of this world's lore, they are eagerly toiling and striving and building up for themselves a name of remembrance. But whereas life itself runs on to an end with speed, what is there in it that will stand stedfast, when even its very self by nature running rapidly speeds away. For a breath of air seizes the ashes, as it is written; 77iePs. i,4. unyodly are not so, but are like the chaff, which the wind scatterelJt away from the face of the earth. And so the remembrance of fools is rightly compared to ' ashes,' in that it is placed there, where it is liable to be carried away by a breath of air. For howsoever a man may toil to achieve the glory of his name, he has placed his ' remembrance like ashes,' in that the wind of mortality hurries it away in a moment. Contrary to which it is written of the just man, The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance. Ps. 112;, For by the very circumstance, that he imprints his deeds * upon the eyes of God alone, he sets firm the name of his remembrance in the eternal world. It goes on; And your necks shall be brought down to the mii'e.

As the sight is used to be denoted by the eye, so is pride by the ' neck.' Thus ' the neck is brought down to the mire,' when every proud man is humbled in death, and the flesh that was lifted up rots in corruption. For let us contemplate how and like what the carcases of the rich lie in their graves, what that form of death is in the lifeless flesh, what the rottenness of coiTuption. And surely these were tlie very persons who were lifted up with honours, swollen with the things gotten by them, who looked down upon others, and exulted to stand as it were alone. Yet, while they never considered whereunto they were going, they knew nothing at all what they were. But ' the neck is brought down to the mire,' in that they lie neglected in rottenness. 28 Job speaks mysteries. The ChurclCs teeth, Preachers. Job 13, who swelled high in emptiness. ' The neck is brought — '- — ^down to the mire,' because what the miiirht of flesh is good Hist. o j for, the rottenness of corruption evidences. It goes on; Ver. 13. Hold your peace for a little , that I may speak whatsoever my mind shall bid me. xxxii. 44. He shews that they spoke with the perception of the flesh, whom he therefore binds to silence, that he may speak that which ' his mind bids him.' As if he said in plain words, * I do not speak in a carnal, but in a spiritual way, because I hear by the perception of the Spirit things that I bring forth by the service of the body.

Whence he at once mounts up on high, and lifts himself aloft in mysteries, and changes into mystical discourse the reproofs which he had delivered, saying, Ver. 14. Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my hand ? xxxiii 45. In Holy Scripture ' teeth' are sometimes used to be ^^^'^' understood for the holy preachers, and sometimes for the interior senses ^ Thus of the holy preachers it is said to the Cant. 4, Bride, Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing. And hence it is said to one of them, when the Gentiles were represented to Acts him in a figure. Kill and eat, i. e. ' crush their oldness, and 10, 13. convert it into the body of the Church, i. e. into your own members.' Again, that ' teeth' are wont to be understood of the interior senses, is testified by the Prophet Jeremiah, when Lam. 3, he says, He hath broken my teeth by number. For by the ^^' * teeth' the food is broken in pieces, to allow of its being swallowed. Hence we not unjustly understand the interior senses by ' teeth,' which as it were chew and mince small the several particulars that occur to the mind, and transfer them to the belly of the memory, which the Prophet declares to be * broken by number,' in that according to the measure of each particular sin there is blindness of understanding engendered in our perception, and in proportion to that which each person has committed outwardly, he is made dull of sense in that, which he might have understood of the ' S.

Thomas Aq. distinguishes four reason makes in them. Sum. Theol. 1. interior senses in men and animals, the P. Qusest. Ixxviii. Art. 4. same in both, with the diflFerence that The * Teeth* may mean the interior perceptiuns. 29 inward and invisible. Whence too it is rightly written, Book Every one that hath eaten the sour grape, his teeth shall be^^ — '- — •' . . Moral. 9f limbed. For what is * the sour grape,' saving sin? foraJer. 31, ' sour grape' is fruit before the time. So whosoever desires to be satisfied with the enjoyments of this present life, is as it were in a hurry to eat fruit before the time. Thus ' the teeth of him that eateth the sour grape are numbed,* in that he who feeds in the gratification of the present life, has the interior perceptions tied fast, that they should no longer be able to eat, i. e. to understand spiritual things; in that from the very self-same cause that they gratify themselves in outward things, they are rendered dull in those of the interior. And whereas the soul is fed with sin, it is unable to eat the bread of righteousness, in that the teeth being tied fast by the custom of sin, can never at all chew such good, as has a relish in the interior. In this place then, because, as we have said, we understand ' the teeth' to be the interior perceptions, we ought to consider very heedfully what the righteous are wont to do.

Who, commonly, if they detect in themselves any points of a carnal sort however slightly, going over these in the interior senses, vehemently prosecute them in their own person, afflict themselves with selfchastisement, and with excessive self-inflictions visit in judgment the very least things wrong in them, and condemn them by penitence. Which same they do for this reason, that in the sight of the eternal Judge, both they may themselves be found as far as may be without blame, and that those, who see them thus judge themselves, may be kindled to reform themselves from worse offences. And this blessed Job had done in the presence of his friends, who kept fast temporal glory, and extolled transitory blessings. Yet he could not bring their sense to see the usefulness of the scourge with which he was afflicted, that so they might bethink themselves that Almighty God not only bestows prosperity, but likewise brings down adversity upon us, when He is favourable. Whence he says well in this place, Wherefore do I tear myflenh with my teeth? As if he said in plain words, ' Why with uiy interior perceptions do I hunt out things carnal, if there be any such thing done in me, if 30 Job complains that they v)ill not learn, from his life. Job 13, X cannot thereby benefit my spectators?' Where too it is -jj^fitly added, And carry my life in my hand?

To ' carry our life in our hands' is to shew forth the bias of the heart in practice. For the righteous have this thing proper to them, that in all that they do, and all that they say, they not only seek their own increase, but the edification of their neighbours likewise. Sometimes they judge themselves in some point, that they may recall indolent hearers to tlie consideration of themselves. Sometimes they exhibit good works, that their spectators may be ashamed Matt. 5, not to imitate what they see. For it is written. That they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Which is in Heaven. Thus he that exhibits the bent of his mind by his works, ' carries his life in his hand ;' but when any good man, whether by judging himself or by exhibiting good works, furthers not his neighbour's welfare by what he has done, he returns to words of sorrow. Whence it is rightly said in this place, TVherefore do I take 7ny flesh in my teeth ? and carry my life in my hand? i.e. ^ W^hy do I either judge myself strictly before men, or shew in practice what my heart is bent on, if I do not advance my neighbour's good either by passing judgment on my evil things, or exhibiting good ones ?' But yet the righteous, even while they speak so, never give over setting their neighbour a good example.

Hence blessed Job, still further exemplifying and exhibiting the excellence of patience before the eyes of his friends, saith, Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. xxxiv. 47. There is no room for the virtue of patience in prosperous circumstances. He is really patient, who is at once bruised with misfortune, and yet not bowed down from the erectness of his hope. Concerning the temper of mind of Ps. 49, the reprobate man it is written, He will praise TJiee, when Vuiff. Thou doest well to him. Hereby, then, the righteous mind is distinguished from the unrighteous, that even in the midst of aflBiction the former acknowledges the praise to Almighty God, that he is not broken down together with his worldly fortune, does not fall together with the fall of outward glory, but hereby proves the more, what he was with worldly Hypocrites do not jud()c themselves^ to he safe from Judyment. 31 goods, who even without worldly goods stands the stronger. Book It goes on ; Ver. 15, 16. But 1 trill rebuke mine own ways before Him. He also shall be my salvation.

Whereas Paul the Apostle saith ; For, if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged, the Lord is found ^^ 3^j to be our * Salvation' Then, in proportion as our sin is now rebuked by ourselves, from fear of God. Whence the Elect are used never to spare their own sins, that they may find the Judge of sin rendered propitious; and they look to find Him hereafter truly their ' Salvation,' Whom they now strictly fear as their Judge. For, he that spareth himself now in sin, is not spared hereafter in punishment. So let him say. But I will rebuke mine own ways before Him. And what use and advantage results from such rebuking, let him add. He also shall be my salvation. It goes on ; For an Jiypocrite shall not come before Him.

Whereas we knovv that the Judge, when He cometh, will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left, with what reason is it now said, ' that the hypocrite shall not come before Him,' when, if he be among the goats, he will appear on the left hand of the Judge ? But we are to bear in mind that we come before the Lord in two ways. One, whereby taking exact account of our offences here we punish and judge ourselves before Him with weeping. For as often as we recall to our perception the power of our Creator, we as often, as it were, stand before Him.' Hence too it is well said by Elijah, the man of God, Tlie ioro^i Kings God of Israel liveth, before Whom I stand. In another way ^'^' ^' we ' come before God,' when at the last Judgment we present ourselves before His Tribunal. And thus the hypocrite in the last reckoning does come before the Judge, but because now he shuts his eyes to consider and bewail transgressions, he refuses to ' come before' the Lord. For as righteous men, when they fix their eyes on the severity of the Judge that shall come, recall their sins to remembrance, bewail the things that they have done, and judge themselves severely that they be not judged; so hypocrites, as they outwardly please the world, hence omit to look inwardly into themselves, and wholly engross themselves in the words of their neigh32 Job humhle, in (.alliyuj himsdf jufit^ when (jod said more.

Job 13, hours, and account tliemselves to bo holy, hecause they con- ^r=^ — '-sider that they are so accounted by iheir f(;lhiw-creatures. And when they have dissipated their mind in the words that sound their own praises, they never recall it to the cognizance of sin, never mark wherein they offend the interior Judge, entertain no fears concerning His severity, for they believe that they have pleased Him as they have their fellow-creatures. Yet if they but brought His tembleness to mind, this very circumstance, that fixed in a wrong bias they are making themselves pleasing to their fellowcreatures, would cause them to fear the more. Therefore it is well said. For an hypocrite sit all not come before Him ; in that he does not set before his eyes the severity of God, so long as he is ambitious to please the eyes of men. Who, if he set himself in the presence of God in searching his own conscience, would then assuredly no longer be a hypocrite. It goes on ; Ver. 17. Hear my speech, and take in my riddles with your ears xxxvii. 50. Herein, that he names ' riddles,' he shews that he has parts of his speech framed in figures. Whence too it is fitly added by the voice of the faithful People ; Ver. 18. If I shall he judged, I know that I shall he found just. xxxviii 51. Which too is not at variance with the person of the self-same blessed Job, since he is only telling that concerning himself without, which ' Truth' had inwardly declared to his enemy concerning him ;

Hast thou considered My servant Joh, that there is none like him in the earth? And yet it is much less that the holy man records concerning himself, than what the Lord declared concerning him. For it is one thing to be ' just,' and another to have ' none like him.' Therefore he thought humbly of himself, who, whereas he was just beyond comparison with another, described himself not just above others, but simply able to be ' found just.' It seems however to furnish this ground for raising a question in his words, viz. that he who said above, / will rehuke jnine own ways before Him ; and again says V. 2G. further on. Thou wouldcst consume me in the iniquities of my youth ; and seeing his sins with a distinct eye, says Job riyhteous^ through grace, in all that man could see. 33 still further on, My fransyression is sealed up in a bay. Book now saith, //' / shall be judged, I know that I shall be ^ ' jound just, rox it is impossible tor sin ana righteousness 17. to meet together. But the holy man, attributing wickedness to himself, and the purifying of him to Almighty God, at once sees that he is a sinner in himself, and knows that he is made righteous by free gift. Who even in the midst of good practice earned in superabounding grace to have stripes put upon him.

And he already rejoices to be ' found just' in Judgment, who beheld himself before Judgment smitten with the rod. Hence too when he says long afterwards, My transyression is sealed up in a, bay, he adds directly; but Tliou hast healed, mine iniquity. He, then, that describes himself as ' found just' in Judgment,' says not at all that he is not justly smitten, although the Lord did not intend to obliterate sins by the scourge, but to increase his merits. It proceeds; Ver. 19. Who is he that will plead with ?ne? Let him come.

Holy men so guard themselves in their good works, with God for their aid, that there can be no where found, without, grounds, whereon to accuse them; but within, in the secret thoughts of their own hearts, they watch over themselves with such good heed, that, if it might be, they may at all times stand blameless before the eyes of the interior Judge. But what they are able to effect, that they never should slip outwardly in act, they are unable to effect inwardly, that they never should make a false step in thought. For man's conscience, from the very fact that it withdraws^ from the things deepest within, is always on slippery ground. Whence it comes to pass, that even holy men often slip in them. So let holy Job, speaking as well in his own voice as in the voice of the Elect, say. Who is he that will plead with me^ Let him come. For, seeing that in external actions there is no occasion for which to fasten a blame upon him, he freely looks about for an accuser. But because the consciences even of the righteous sometimes have to charge themselves with foolishness of thought, it is on this account perhaps that it is added ; ? * recedit/ but some read ' cecidit,' ' hath fallen.' 34 Conscience notes thovr/hts. God not fully served in fear. Job 13, Why am I consumed hi silence? 20 21 ' • • • • •

For he is ^ consumed in silence,' who, in blaming Hist. jr^ himself for foolishness of thought, is gnawed in his own heart by the tooth of conscience. As if he said in plain words, ' As I have so lived that I should never fear any accuser without, would that 1 had so lived that I should never have my conscience for mine accuser within me.' For he is ' consumed in silence,' who discovers in himself within 1 unde cause whereby the fire should gnaw him *. It goes on ; uratur Yex. 20. Only do not two things unto me : then will I not hide myself from Thy face.

What are we to understand here by the ' face of God,' saving His visitation? In which, whilst He beholds, He also punishes our sins, from which no just man even is hidden, if the two things, w^hich he entreats, be not removed; concerning which he adds; Ver. 21. Withdraw Thine hand far from me, and let not TJiy dread make me afraid. xli. 5^. By which same two what else does he ask in a voice Profh. q£ prophecy, but the season of grace and redemption? For the Law held the people obnoxious to the stroke of vengeance, that whoso committed sin under its yoke, should be forthwith punished with death. Nor did the Israelitish people serve God from a principle of love, but of fear. But righteousness Simpler! can never be perfected^ by fear, seeing that according to the 1 John voice of John, perfect love casteth out fear. And Paul Rom. 8 comforts the children of adoption, by saying. For ye have 1^not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, hut ye have received the Spirit of adoption, wherehij we cry, Abba, Father. Therefore in the voice of mankind, longing for the hardness of the stroke of the Law to pass away, and eagerly desiring to advance from fear to love, he names in prayer what ' two things God should put far from him,' saying. Withdraw Thine hand far from me, atid let not Thy dread make me afraid;

i. e. remove from me the hardness of the stroke, take away the weight of dread, and while the grace of love illumines me, pour upon me the spirit of assurance, in that if I be not removed far from the rod and from dread, I know that I shall not be withdrawn from the strictness of Thy searching. Since he cannot be justified before Thee, who ^ Converse with God. Knowledge of our sins JieedJ'nl. 35 serves Thee not on a principle of love, but of fear.' Hence Book • . XI he seeks the very presence of his Creator itself, as it were — — familiarly, and in a bodily sort, that he may thereby both hear what he is ignorant of, and be heard in the things that he knows. For he adds directly; Ver. 22. Then call Thou, and I will answer; or let me speak, and answer Thou me,

Who at the time, when He did appear by the assumption of the flesh to the eyes of mankind, disclosed to men their sins, which they were doing and knew not. Whence it is added ; Ver. 23. How many are mine iniquities and my sins? make me to know my crimes and my offences, bl . Though the ' calling' and ^ answering"' may likewise be understood in another way. For God's ' calling' ns is His having respect to us in loving and choosing us, and our * answering' is the yielding obedience to His love by good works. Where it is fitly added. Or let me speak, and answer Thou me. For we ' speak,' when we beg for God's face in desire, and God answers our speaking, when He appears to us that love Him. But because whoever pants with longing for the eternal world, examines his doings, taking himself to task with great exactness, and searches lest there be aught in him, whereby he might offend the face of his Creator, he rightly adds. How many are mine iniquities ayid my sins ? Make me to know my crimes and offences. This is the task of the righteous in this life, to find out themselves, and on finding out to bring themselves to a better state by weeping and self-chastening. And though John the Apostle tells us that there is no odds between iniquity and sin, when he says, i John iniquity is sin;

yet in the simple usage of speech, * iniquity' ' * sounds something more than ' sin,' and every one confesses himself a ' sinner,' but he is sometimes ashamed to call himself an iniquitous person. Now between ' crimes' and ' offences' there is this difference, that * crime' over and above exceeds the weight and measure of sin, but an ' offence' does not exceed the weight of sin; for thus, when a sacrifice is commanded to be offered under the Law, it is doubtless enjoined, as for a ' sin,' the same for an ' offence' too. And crime is never done but in deed, whereas offence is most 36 Misery of fallen wan in not seeing God. Job 13, commonly committed in thought alone. Hence it is said by ^^' the Psalmist, Who can undersland his offencea? seeing Moral. , , „ . , , . . . . Ps. 19, that sms of practice are known the quicker, in proportion as ^^* they appear externally, but sins of thought are the more difficult to apprehend, that they are committed out of sight. Hence any one, who being made solicitous by the love of Eternity, has it at heart to appear clean before the Judge that shall come, examines himself so much the more exactly now, in proportion as he bethinks himself how he may then present himself free to His terribleness ; and he beseeches to have it shewn him, wherein he offends, that he may punish that thing in himself by penance, and by judging himself here, may be rendered unobnoxious to judgment.

But herein it is needful to observe, how great is the punishment of our pilgrimage which has fallen upon us, who have been brought to such a degree of blindness, that we do not know our own selves. We do evil, and yet do not quickly find it out, even when done. For the mind, being banished from the light of truth, finds in itself nothing else than darkness, and very often puts out the foot into the pit of sin, and knows it not. Which it is subject to from the blindness of the state of exile alone, seeing that, being driven away from the illumining of the Lord, it even lost the power to see itself, in that it loved not the face of its Maker. Hence it is added ; Ver. 24. Wherefore Iddest Thoa Thy face, and holdest me for Thine enemy ? xliii. 59. Man enjoyed the light of inward contemplation in Paradise, but by gratifying himself, as he departed from himself, he lost the light of the Creator, and fled from His face to the trees of Paradise, seeing that, after his sin, he dreaded to see Him, whom he had used to love. But mark, after sin he is brought into punishment, but from punishment he returns to love, because he finds out what was the consequence of his transgression, and that face, which he feared in sin, being awakened to a right sense, he seeks afresh by punishment, that he may henceforth flee the darkness of his blind condition, and shrink with horror from this alone, that he does not behold his Creator.

Pierced with which long-^ ing the holy uian exclaims. Wherefore hidest Thou Thy fact and tahefit me for Thine enemy '^ ' since, if Thou didst regar( Man in temptation like a leaf driven by the wind. 37 me as a friend, Thou wouldest not deprive me of the light of Book Thy vision.' And going on, he adds the fickleness of the ^ human heart, saying, Ver. 25. Wilt T/ioit sJieiv Thy power against a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt Thou pursue the dry stubble?

For what is man but a leaf, who fell in Paradise from the tree } what but a leaf is he, who is caught by the wind of temptation, and lifted up by the gusts of his passions } For the mind of man is agitated as it were by as many gusts, as it undergoes temptations. Thus very often anger agitates it; when anger is gone, empty mirth succeeds. It is driven by the goadings of lust, by the fever of avarice it is made to stretch itself far and wide to compass the things which belong to the earth. Sometimes pride lifts it up, and sometimes excessive fear sinks it lower than the dust. Therefore seeing that he is lifted and carried by so many gusts of temptation, man is well likened to a ' leaf Hence it is well said too by Isaiah, And we all have fallen as a leaf and our iniquities ls.6i,6. like the wind have taken us away. For ' our iniquity like a wind has taken us away,' in that being steadied by no weight of virtue, it has lifted us into empty self-elation. And it is well that, after a leaf, man should be called ' stubble' likewise. For he that was a ' tree' by his creating, was by himself made a ' leaf in his tempting, but afterwards he appeared ' stubble' in his fallen estate. For in that

he fell from on high, he was a leaf, but, whereas by the flesh he was fellow to the earth, even w^hen he seemed to stand, he is described as ' stubble.' But because he lost the greenness of interior love, he is henceforth ' dry stubble.' So let the holy man reflect both what meanness man is of, and what severity God is of, and let him say, Wilt Thou shew Thy power against a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt Thou pursue the dry stubble? As if he openly bewailed, saying, ' Why dost Thou run him down with so much force of righteousness, whom Thou knowest to be so frail in temptation?' It goes on; Ver. 26. For Thou writest bitter things against me.

For seeing that every thing we speak passes away, ^'^' but what we write remains, God is said not to ' speak,' but to * write bitter things,' in that His scourges upon us last for long. For it was said once to man, when he sinned, Du^t 38 Severity of God. Sins of youth feared in Manfiood. Job 13, thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return ? And Angels many — — ^ times appearing gave commandments to men. Moses, the lawgiver, restrained sins by severe means. The Only-Begotten Son of the Most High Father, Himself came to redeem us, He swallowed up death by dying. He announced that everlasting life to us, which He exhibited in Himself; yet that sentence which was given in Paradise concerning the death of our flesh remains unaltered from the very first beginning of the human race up to the end of the world. For Ps. 89, what man is he that liveth. and shall not see death? which Ps. 7Q t^^ Psalmist considering well saith again. Thou, even Thou, 7art to be feared: and who may stand in Thy sight when once Thou art angry? Who being ' once angry,' when man sinned in Paradise, fixed the sentence of the mortality of our flesh, which now even to the very last may never be changed a whit. Therefore let him say, Thou writest bitter things against me. Hence it is further added ;

And wouldest waste me with the iniquities of my youth. xlvi. 62. Observe, that whereas the holy man finds not that he ijuvenhas ever sinned in his manhood^, he dreads the sins of his Sadoles-joiit^^^Now it is necessary to know, that as in the body, so centise ^^q there advances of age in the mind also. Thus the first age of man is infancy, when, though he lives in innocence, he cannot speak*" the innocence which is in him; and then follows boyhood, in which he has henceforth the power of speaking what he wishes; to which youth succeeds, which we know is the first age in active life, which is followed by manhood, i. e. that which is suited to hardihood; and afterwards old age, which from mere time even is now fellow to maturity of mind. Therefore, as we have called the first age fit for good actions * youth,' and as the righteous when they are far advanced in perfect maturity of mind, sometimes recall to recollection the beginning of their deeds, and blame themselves for their first commencement in an equal degree as they have advanced deeper in gravity of mind, because they find that they were once void of discretion, in proportion as they afterwards more thoroughly attain possession of the stronghold of discretion, it is rightly that now, in the words of ^ In allusion to the etymology of the ance,' from ' in,' privative, and ' fari' ' to word * infant,' i.

e. ' not having utterspeak.' Holo God retains our sins, and marks our very intentions. 89 the holy man, the sins of his youth are dreaded. But if tliis Book is to be held after the bare letter, we ought from this con — sideration to infer how grievous the sins of grown men and the aged are, if the just so greatly fear even that which they did wrong in the years of weakness. It goes on; Ver. 27. Thou puttest my foot also in the stocks, and lookest narroivly into all my paths; Thou markcst the prints of my feet.

God ' set man's foot in the stocks,' in that he bound fast his wickedness with the strong sentence of His severity. And He ' looketh narrowly into all his paths,' in that He judges with minute exactness all the several particulars that belong to him. For a ' path' is usually narrower than a ' way;' but as by ' ways' we understand actions, so by ' paths' we not unjustly understand the mere thoughts of them. So God * looketh narrowly into all our paths,' in that in all our several actions He takes account of the thoughts of the heart too; and He * marketh the prints of our feet,' in that He examineth the intentions' of our works, how far they are placed aright, lest that which is done a good work, be not done with a right object. But it is possible that by the prints of the feet the several things done badly may be understood. For a foot in the body is a print in the way. And very commonly, when we do some things wrong, whereas our brethren see it, we are setting them a bad example, and our foot being as it were turaed out of the way, we leave to those that follow our footsteps all awry, while by our own deeds we lead the way for other men's consciences to stumble. But it is very hard for man to keep on his guard, that he never presume to do evil, that in his good actions he be not unsteady in the intention, and amidst upright deeds let no wrong purpose deceive him.

Yet all these particulars Almighty God minutely examines, and weighs each one of them in judgment. But when can man, bound about as he is by the frailty of the flesh, have power to rise up against all of them with exact particularity, and to maintain the line of uprightness with the thought of the heart unmoved? Hence it is properly added; Ver. 28. Who am as a rotten thimj to he consumed, and as a garment that is moth eaten. • "Which he often considers to be represented by the putting forth of (lie foot. 40 Sin eats into the soul as a moth. Man\ frail origin. Job 13. 6*4. For as a garment is eaten by the moth sprung out of itself, so man containeth rotteimess in himself, whereby he l^ - j*consumeth, and that which he is, is that whereby he consumeth that he should not be. Which may be taken in another sense also, if it be said in the voice of man when tempted ; And I as a rotten thing am to consume^ as a garment that is moth eaten. For man ' as a rotten thing consumeth,' in that he is wasted by the corruption of his flesh. And because im])ure temptation springs up to him from no other source than from himself, like a moth, temptation consumes the flesh, as a garmejit from which it issues. For man contains in himself the occasion whence he is tempted.

Therefore as it were ' the moth consumeth the garment,' whilst it proceeded from that very same garment. However, we ought to bear in mind that the moth digs its way through the garment without any sound, and it very often happens that thought pierces the mind in such a way, that the mind itself is not sensible of it, until after it has been pierced by its sting. Therefore it is well said that man ^ consumeth like a garment that is moth eaten,' for sometimes we do not know the wounds of temptation, unless after we be pierced thereby within our souls. Which same frailty of ours the holy man yet further considering justly adds; Chap. xiv. 1. 3Ian that is born of a woman liveth a short time^ and is full of many miseries. xlix. 6o. In Sacred Writ ' woman' is taken either for the sex. Gal. 4, or else Ibr ' frailty.' For the * sex,' as where it is written, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman ^ made under the Law. Ecclus. But for frailty, as where it is said by the Wise Man, Better ' * is the iniquity of a man than a woman doing well. For ' a man' is the term for every strongminded and discreet person, but ' a woman' is understood of the weak or indiscreet mind. And it often happens that even the discreet person suddenly falls into a fault, and that another weak and indiscreet man exhibits good practice.

But he that is weak and indiscreet is sometimes lifted up the more on the score of what he has done well, and falls the worse into sin; but the discreet person even from that which he' sees that he has done amiss, takes occasion to recall himself with closer application to the rule of strictness, and advances the further in righteousness Man*s short life how full of miseries at best. 41 from the same act, whereby he seemed to have fallen from Book righteousness for a time. In which respect it is rightly said, — — — Better is the iniquity of a man than a woman doing ivell; in that sometimes the very fault of the strong becomes occasion of virtue, and the virtue of the weak occasion of sin. In this place then by the name of* a woman,' what else but ' frailty' is denoted, when it is said, Man that is born of a womanf As if it were said in plainer words, ' What strength shall he have in himself, who was born in frailty?' QQ. Liveth a short time, and is full of many miseries. Observe by the holy man's words we have the punishment of man briefly set forth, in that he is at once stinted in life and filled out in misery. For if we consider with exactness all that is done here, it is punishment and misery. For to minister to the corruption of the flesh by itself in things necessary and permitted is misery, in such measure that clothing should be sought out against cold, food against hunger, coolness against heat.

That the health of the body is kept only with great care, that even when kept it is lost, when lost it is recovered not without great difficulty, and yet after being restored is always in risk ; what else is this than the misery of the life of mortality ? That we love our friends, mistrusting lest they may be offended with us; that we dread our enemies, and truly are not secure touching those whom we dread; that we often talk to our enemies as confidentially as to friends, and often take the sincere words of our friends, and those, perhaps, that love us very much, as the words of enemies; and that we, who wish never either to be deceived or to deceive, err the more by our caution; what, then, is all this but the misery of man's life? That after the heavenly country has been lost, banished man is delighted with his exile, that he is weighed down with cares, and yet shuts his eyes to considering how great the burthen is, in that he is full of a multitude of thoughts; that he is deprived of the interior light, and yet in this life wishes to prolong his state of blindness; what else is this but misery, the offspring of our punishment? Yet though he desire to stay here for long, still he is driven on by the mere current of his mortal life to depart out of it.