Morals on the Book of Job (Moralia in Iob)

And it is very often the case that ' Truth' already remits the sin, yet the troubled soul, whilst it is full of anxiety for itself, still trembles for the pardon thereof. So that in this present life the servant already escapes from his master, yet he is not free from him, in that by chastisement and penance man already forsakes his sin, yet he still fears the strict Judge for the recompensing of it. There then ^ the servant will be free from his master,' when there will be no longer misgiving about the pardon of sin, when the recollection of its sin no longer condemns the soul, now secured, where the conscience does not tremble under a sense of guilt, but exults in the pardon of the same in a state of freedom.

But if man is reached there by no remembrance of his sin, how does he congratulate himself that he has been saved therefrom ? Or how does he return thanks to his Memory of sin in heaven, not poll u fine/, pains not. 239 Benefactor for the pardon, which he has received, if by an Book intervening forgetfulness of his past wickedness, he knows not that he is a debtor to suffer punishment? For we must not pass over negligently that which the Psalmist says, /PtJ-SO,! will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever. For how does he * sing of the mercies of God for ever,' if he knows not that he has been miserable ; and if he has no recollection of past misery, whence does he answer with praises the bestowal of mercy? And again, we must enquire how the mind of the Elect can be in perfect bliss, if amidst its joys the memory of its guilt reaches it ? Or how does the glory of indefectible light shine out, when it is overcast by the sin that is recalled to mind? But be it known, that just as oftentimes now in joy we call to mind Stid things, so in the future life, we bring back the memory of past sin without any hurt to our bliss. For it verj' often hap]iens, that in the season of health, wc recall to mind past pains without feeling pain, and in proportion as we remember ourselves sick, the more we hug ourselves in health.

And so in that blissful estate there will be a remembrance of sin, not such as to pollute the mind, but to attach us the more closely to our joy, that while the mind without pain remembers itself of its pain, it may the more clearly perceive itself to be a debtor to the physician, and so much the more cherish the health it has received, in proportion as it remembers what it has escaped of uneasiness. And so then, placed in that state of bliss, we so regard our evil deeds without loathing, as now being set in light, without any inward blindness of the heart, we see the darkness with our mind ; for though that be dim which wc perceive with the imagination, this comes from the sentence of light, not from the misfortune of blindness. And thus throughout eternity we render to our Benefactor the praise of His mercy, yet are in no degree o])pressed with the consciousness of wretchedness; for whilst we review our evils without any evil betiding the mind, on the one hand there will never be ought to defile the hearts that render j)raise on the score of past wickednesses, and again there will always be somewhat to inflame them to the praise of their Deliverer. Therefore, because the repose of inward light does in such sort transport the great ones into itself, that yet it does not 240 The Converted hereof ter free even from past sin.

Job 3, leave the little ones, let it be rightly said, the small and great ____! are there. Now forasmuch as the mind of the converted 'sinner is there touched by the recollection of his sin in such sort that he is not overwhelmed by any confusion at that recollection, it is fitly subjoined, And the servant is free from his master.

Though the appointments of God are very much i. hidden from sight, why it is that in this life it is sometimes ill with the good and well with the wicked, yet they are then still more mysterious ■ when it both goes well with the good here below, and ill with the wicked. For when it goes ill with the good, and well with the bad, this perhaps is found to be for that both the good, if they have done wrong in any thing, receive punishment here that they may be more completely'' freed from eternal damnation, and the wicked meet here with the good things, which conduce to this life, that they may be dragged to unmitigated torments hereafter. And hence these words are spoken to the rich man, when burning in hell. Sot?, remeniher tltat Ihou in thy /f/<?/«//?0Luke receivedsl thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things. *^' ■^^• But when it is well with the good here and ill with the wicked, it is very doubtful, whether the good for this reason receive good things, that they may be set forward and advance to something better, or whether by a just and secret appointment they receive here the reward of their deeds, that they may prove void of the rewards of the life to come; and whether afflictions for this reason'come upon the wicked, in order that by correcting, they may be the means of preserving them from everlasting punishments, or whether their punishment only begins here, that, one day to receive completion, it should lead to the final torments of hell.

Tlierefore, because in the midst of the divine appointments the ■ i. e. more doubtful in each partinity,' i. e. in the Future State. St. cular case. Grej?ory believed a Purgatorial fire, '' ' Plenius.' It is difficult tn assign seemingly a« a thing then lately made an exact meaning to the expression, known by visionH, <fec. See Dial. ir. unlesR ' eternal' is taken for * in eterc. 39 sqq. 242 Two reasons why good men fear prosperity* Job 3, human mind is closed in bv the erreat darkness of its un- — ^-^— certainty, holy men, when they see this world's prosperity to be their lot, are disquieted yaih. fearful misgivings. For they fear lest they should receive here the fruits of their labours. They fear lest Divine Justice should see in them a secret wound, and in loading them with external blessings should withhold them from the interior. But when they exactly consider, that they never do good saving that they may please God only, nor triumph in the veiy exuberance of their prosperity, then indeed they less fear hidden judgments to their hurt in their good fortune, yet they ill endure that \ good fortune, in that it impedes the interior purpose of the heart, and they reluctantly submit to the caresses of this present life, forasmuch as they are not ignorant that they are in some degree retarded thereby in their interior longing. I For honour in this world is more engrossing than the con- :

tempt thereof, and the rise of prosperity weighs upon them \ more than the pressure of a hard necessity. For sometimes \ when a man is outwardly straitened by the latter, he is the ' more entirely set at liberty to fix his desire upon the interior good ; but by the other the mind, while forced to yield to the will of many, is kept back from the race of its own \ desire. And hence it is that holy men are in greater dread of prosperity in this world than of adversity. For they know that while the mind is under soft and beguiling impressions, it is sometimes apt to give itself up to be drawn away after external objects. They know that oftentimes the secret thought of the heart so beguiles it, that it does not see how it is changed. And they consider too, what the eternal blessings are which they desire, and they see what a mere nothing all is that courts and smiles upon us after the manner of things temporal, and their mind bears the worse all the prosperity of this world, in proportion as it is pierced with love of heavenly happiness ; and it is planted so much the more erect in contempt of the delightfulness of the present life, the more it perceives that this is beguiling it by stealth in the disregard of eternal glory. Hence when blessed Job, having his eye fixed upon the rest above, had said. The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master. He therefore adds. Holy sorrow likes not litis world's liyht. 243 Ver. 20. JVherefore is liglil given to one that is in misery? Book

In holy Scripture prosperity is sometimes represented by -'-^— the title of light, and this world's adversity by the name of ^^* night. Hence it is well said by the Psalmist, As is its Ps, 139, darkness, so also is its light. For as holy men thus trample Vuig. upon the prosperity of this state by contemning it, as also they sustain its adverse fortune by trampling upon it, by an exceeding highmindedness laying under their feet alike the good and the ill of the world, they declare, As its darkness, so also is its light. As though they said in plain words, * as its griefs do not force down the resoluteness of our fixed mind, so neither can its caresses corrupt the same.' But since these last, as we have said above, though they fail to lift up the mind of the righteous, do yet cause them disquietude ; holy men, who know themselves to be in misery in this wearisome exile, shrink from shining in its prosperity. Hence it is well said at this time, Where/ore is light given to one that is in miseiy ? lor ' light is given to those in misery,' when they, who, by contemplating things above, see themselves to be in misery in this our pilgrimage, have the brightness of transitory prosperity bestowed upon them; and when they are deploring giievously, that they are slow in returning to their country, they are over and above constrained to bear the burthen of honours.

The love of eternal things is crushing them, and at the same time the glory of temporal things smiles upon them. When these reflect what the things are, which keep them down below, and what those are that they see not of the things above, what those are that set them up on earth, and what they have lost of heavenly blessings, they are stung with regret of their prosperity. For though they see that they are never wholly overwhelmed thereby, yet they anxiously consider that their thoughts are divided between the love of God, and the gifts of His hand ; and hence when he says, JVherq/bre is light given to him that is in misery ? he subjoins forthwith. And life nntn the bitter in soul ?

For all the Elect are bitter in soul, in that either they iij, never cease to punish themselves by weeping for the transgressions they have committed, or they afflict themselves with regrets, that banished here far from the face of their 244 Bad men know not their own misery. Job 3, Creator, they are not yet admitted to the bliss of the eternal p-^— ^ — country ; and of their hearts it is well said by Solomon, The 14, 10. heart knoweth its own bitterness, and a stranger shall not intermeddle xoith his joy. For the hearts of the reprobate are likewise in bitterness, for that they are afflicted even by their very bad passions themselves. Yet they know not of this very bitterness, because having voluntarily blinded their own eyes, they cannot estimate what they are undergoing; but on the contrary the heart of a good man knoweth its own bitterness, for it knows the hard condition of this place of exile, wherein it is cast forth to be torn in pieces; and it sees how tranquil is all that it has lost, how troubled the condition it has fallen into. Yet this embittered heart is one day brought back to its own joy, and a stranger shall not intermeddle therewith, in that he, who now casts himself forth without, away from this sorrow of the heart, in his aims, will then remain shut out from, its interior festival.

They then that are in bitterness of soul, long to be wholly dead to the world, that, as they themselves aim at nothing in this present world, so they may not henceforth be fettered by the world with any ties ; and it very often happens that a person has already ceased to retain the world in his affections, but the world still ties down that person by its business, and he indeed is already dead to the world, but the world is not yet dead to him. For in a certain sense the > D/ de- ^^'01'^^) still alive, regards^ him, so long as it strives to carry sires \^[^^ away in its actions, when he is bent another way. below) Hence, since Paul both himself utterly contemned the world, and saw that he was become such an one as this world could not possibly desire, having burst the bonds of this life, and Gal. 6 being henceforth at liberty, he rightly exclaims. The world ^^is crucified to me, and I unto the world. For ^ the world was crucified to him.,' because being now dead to his affections it was no longer an object of love to him; and he had likewise ' crucified himself to the world,' in that he studied to shew himself thereto in such a light, that, as though dead, he might never be coveted by it. For if there be a dead person, and one alive in the same place, though the dead sees not the living, yet the living person does see the dead, but if both are dead, neither can possibly see the other.

Thus he, The world alive to some that are ilead to it. 245 wlio no longer loves the world, but yet even against his will Book is loved by the world, though he himself being as it were ^dead sees nothing of the world, yet the world not being dead sees him; but if he neither himself retains the world in his affections, nor again is retained in the affections of the world, then both are mutually dead to one another; in that whereas neither sects the other, it is as if the dead heeded not the dead. Therefore, because Paul neither sought tlie glory of the world, nor was himself sought out by the same, he glories both in being himself crucified to the world, and in the world beingcrucified to him. Now because there are many that desire this, who yet do not altogether rise up to the very extreme point of such a state of deadness, they may well lament and say ; Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul. For ' life is given to those in bitterness,' when the glory of this world is bestowed upon the sad and sorrowful, in which same life they do not spare themselves the chastening of most urgent fear ; for though they do not themselves hold to the world, yet they still dread being such as the world holds to ; and except they were living to it in some slight degree, it would never surely love them for their serviceableness to its interests; just as the sea keeps living bodies in her own bosom, but dead ones she forthwith casts out from herself It proceeds ; Ver. 21. Which long for death, but it cometh not,

For they desire to mortify themselves wholly, and to be entirely extinct of the life of temporal glor}', but by the secret appointments of God they are often forced either to take the lead in command, or to busy themselves with dignities imposed on them, and in these circumstances they miceasingly look for a perfect mortification, but this expected death coraeth not ; in that the use of them is still alive to temporal glory even against their will, though they submit to that glor)' from the fear of God, and while they inwardly retain their aim after piety, they outwardly discharge the fimctions of their station, that they should neither quit their perfection in their inward pui-})ose, nor set themselves against the dispensations of their Creator in a spirit of pride. For by a marvellous pitifulness of the Divine Nature it comes to pass, that, when he, who aims at contemplation with a / 246 Holy desires grow by the check of labour for others. Job 3, perfect heart, is busied with human affairs, his perfect mind — 1 — '— at once profits many that are weaker, and in whatever degree he sees himself to be imperfect, he rises therefi'om more perfect to the crowning point of humility. For sometimes by the very same means, whereby holy men suffer loss in their own longings, they bear off the larger profits by the ^ conversion of others, for, while it is not permitted them to give themselves thereto as they desire, it is their grateful office to carry off along with themselves others, whom they are associated with.

And so it is effected by a wonderful \ dispensation of pity, that by the same means, whereby they » ddseem to themselves to be the more undone^, they rise dorrs' ^^^^^ richer resources to the building up^ of their heavenly 2 coriCountry. struC" tionem ^' Now sometimes they fail to attain the desires, that they have conceived, for this reason, that by the very interposing of the delay, they may be made to expand to the same objects with an enlarged embrace of the mind, and by a striking dispensation it is effected that that, which if fulfilled might perhaps become thin and poor, being kept back, gains grow til. For they desire so to mortify themselves that, if it may be vouchsafed, they may already perfectly behold the face of their Creator, but their desire is delayed that it may gain increase, and it is fostered in the bosom of its slow advancement that it may grow larger. Hence the Bride, Cant. .3, panting with desire of her Bridegroom, justly cries out. By night on my bed I sought hint, whom my soul loveth : I sought him, but I found him not. The Spouse hides himself when He is sought, that not being found He may be sought for with the more ardent affection, and she in seeking is withheld, that she cannot find Him, in order that being rendered of larger capacity by the delay she undergoes, she may one day find a thousandfold what she sought.

Hence when blessed Job said. Which long for deaths but it cometh not ; that he might the more minutely particularize this very desire of those seekers, he thereupon adds ; And dig for it as for hid treasures. V. 7. For all men that seek for a treasure by digging, the deeper they have begun to go, kindle to the work with the greater energy; for in the same proportion that they reckon Death to the World more longed for the nearer gained. 247 themselves to be now, at this moment, a])proaching the Book buried troasm*e, they strive with hicreased efibrts in digging '-for it. They, then, that perfectly desire the moriilication of themselves, seek it as they that dig for hid treasures, lor the nearer they are brought to their object, the more ardent they shew themselves in the work. Therefore they never Hag in their labour, but increase the more in the exercise thereof; for that in the degree, that they reckon on their reward as now nearer at hand, they spend themselves the more gladly in the work. Hence Paul says well to some, that were seeking the hid treasure of the eternal inheritance, Not forsaking neh.io, the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is; but consoling^ one another, and so much the more as ye see^^-fonthe day approaching. For to give consolation to the labourer, is to continue labouring in like manner to him, the sight of a fellow labourer being the alleviation of our own labour, as, when a companion joins us in a journey, the way itself is not shortened, yet the toilsomeness of the way is alleviated by the society of a companion.

Therefore, whereas Paul looked for their consoling one another in their labours, he added these words, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching. As though he said, * let your labour increase the more, that now the reward of your labour itself is nigh at hand.' As if he expressed himself in plain words, ' Do ye seek a treasure? Then ye should dig for it with the greater ardour, that ye have by digging reached by this time close to the gold ye were in quest of.'

Though this, that he says, fVhich long for death attd it Cometh not ; and dig for it as for hid treasures, may be taken in another sense also. For in that we cannot perfectly die to the world, unless we bury ourselves within the invisible depths of our own heart from all things visible, they that long for the mortifying of themselves, are well comi)ared to those that dig for a treasure. For we die to the world by means of an unseen wisdom, of which it is said by Solomon, It' thou seckest her as silver, and diggest for her as /or ///</ Prov. -2, treasures. Since wisdom lieth not on the surface of things, for it is deep in the unseen. And we tlien lay hold nn the mortification of ourselves, in attainnig wisilom, if, reliuijuishing visible things, we bury ourselves in the invisible ; if wo 248 Joy of being hurled in divine Contemplation. Job 3, so seek for her in tlie digging of the heart, that every ima- '- — gination, which the mind conceives, of an earthly nature, she puts from her with the hand of holy discernment, and acquaints herself with the treasure of virtue which was hidden from her. For she soon finds a treasure in herself, if she thrust from her that heap of earthly thoughts, which lay as a wretched load upon her. Now because he describes death coveted as a treasure, he rightly subjoins;

Ver. 22. Which rejoice exceedingly and are glady when they can Jin d the grave. vi. 9. For as the grave is that place wherein the body is buried, so heavenly contemplation is a kind of spiritual grave wherein the soul is buried. For in a certain sense we still live to this world, when in spirit we roam abroad therein. But we are buried in the grave as dead, when being mortified in things without, we secrete ourselves in the depths of interior contemplation. And therefore holy men never cease to mortify themselves with the sword of the sacred Word to the importunate calls of earthly desires, to the throng of unprofitable cares, and to the din of obstreperous tumults, and they bury themselves within before God's presence in the bosom of the mind. Hence it is well said by the Ps. SI, Psalmist, And Thou shall hide them in the secret of Thy presence from the strife of tongues. Which though it be not until afterwards fully brought to pass, is yet even now in a great measure accomplished, when with the feeling of delight they are caught away into the inward parts from the strife of temporal desires, so that, whilst their mind wholly expands in every part to the love of God, it is not rent and torn by any useless anxiety. Hence it is that Paul had seen those disciples as dead, and as it were buried in the grave Col.

3, by contemplation, to whom he said, Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. He, then, that seeks for death rejoices when he finds the grave ; for whoso desires to mortify himself, is exceeding joyful on finding the rest of contemplation ; that being dead to the world he may lie hid, and bury himself in the bosom of interior love from all the disquietudes of external things.

But since in addition to this, that he speaks of a treasure being dug up, the finding of a grave is further Treasures buried with SaintsoJ old. Man*s waijhid toliim. 249 introduced, it is needful that our mind's eye sliould keep this Book in view, that the ancients buried their dead with their wealth. He, then, that seeks for a treasure, * rejoices when he has found the grave,' in that when we, in quest of wisdom, turn the pages of Holy Writ, when we trace out the examples of those that have gone before us, we as it were derive joy from the grave, for we find the mind's wealth among the dead, who, because they' are perfectly dead to this world, rest in J^^^J^*"^^ secret with, their riches beside them. And so he is made 'for they rich by the grave, who, following the example of the righ-^ °' teous, is raised up in the excellency of contemplation. But when he asks, saying, Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery ? he intimates the reason for which he ventures to put such a question, by saying, Ver. 23. Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and luhom God hath encompassed with darkness ?

For * man's way is hid to him,' in that though he already takes cognizance of the kind* of hie that he is lead-'' quailing, he does not yet know to what issue it tends. Though his affections are now fixed on things above, though he seeks them with all his longings, he is yet ignorant whether he shall persevere in the same longings. For forsaking our sins we strive after righteousness, and we know whence we are come, but we know nothing whereunto we may arrive. We know what we were yesterday, but we cannot tell what we may chance to be to-morrow. * Man's way then is hid to him,' in that he so sets the foot of his labour, that, this notwithstanding, he can never foresee the issue of the accomplishment thereof.

Now there is also another * hiding of our way.' For there aie times when we are ignorant, whether the very things which we believe we do aright, are rightly done in the strict Judge's eye. For, as we have also said a long way above, it often hai)i)ens that an action of ours, which is cause for our condemnation, passes with us for the aggrandizement of virtue. Often by the same act, wliereby we think to a])pease the Judge, He is urged to anger, when favoura])le. As Solomon bears witness, saying, llierc is a Prov way nhich seemeth right unto a man ; hut the end thereof ^*y ^2. are the ways qf death. Hence, whilst holy men are getting 250 Good men left still hi doubt of their final success* Job 3, the masteiy over their evil habits, their very good practices '- — even become an object of dread to them, lest, when they desire to do a good action, they be decoyed by a semblance of the thing, lest the baleful canker of corruption lurk under the fair appearance of a goodly colour. For they knovr that they are still charged with the burthen of corruption, and cannot exactly discern the things that be good. And when they bring before their eyes the standard of the final Judgment, there are times when they fear the \^ry things which they approve in themselves; and indeed they are in mind wholly intent on the concerns of the interior, yet alarmed from uncertainty about their doings, they know not whither they are going.

Hence after he had said, Wherefore is light given to one that is in misery ? it is with propriety added, to a man whose way is hid? As though the words were, ' Why has that man this life's success for his portion, who knows not of his course of conduct, in what esteem it is held by his Judge. And it is rightly subjoined, And whom God hath encompassed with darkness. For man is ^ encompassed with darkness,' since howsoever he may burn with heavenly longings, he is ignorant how it goes with him in the interior. And he is in great fear lest aught concerning himself should meet him in the Judgment, which is now hidden from himself in the aspirations of holy fervour. ' Man is encompassed with darkness,' in that he is closed in by the clouds of his own ignorance. Is not that man ^ encompassed with darkness,' who most often neither remembers the past, nor finds out the future, and scarce knows the present .? That wise man had seen himself Wisd.o, tobe encompassed with darkness, when he said. And with labour do we find the things that are before us; but the things that are in heaven who shall search out? The Prophet beheld himself * encompassed with' such ' darkness,' when he was unable to discover the interior Ps. 18, springs of His inmost economy, saying. He made darkness His secret place.

For the Author of our being, in that, when we were cast out into this place of exile. He took from us the light of His vision, buried Himself from our e}'es as it were ' in the secret place of darkness.' ^^"^ 13. Now as often as we attentively regard this same darkSpiritual food comes not till sighed after. 251 ness of our blind estate, we stir xm the mind to lamentation. Book For it weeps for the state of blindness, which it is under without, if it remember in humihty that it i's bereft of light in the interior, and when it looks to the darkness which suiTounds it, it is wrung with ardent longing for the inward brightness, and rent with thought's whole effort, and that light above, which as soon as created it relinquished, now debarred, it makes the object of its search. Whence it very often happens that that radiance of inward joy bursts out amidst those very tears of piety ; and that the mind, which had lain torpid in a state of blindness, being fed with sighs, receives strength to gaze at the interior brightness. Whence it rightly proceeds, Ver. 24. For my sighing cometh before I eat.

For the soul's * eating' is its being fed with the contemplations of the light above, and thus it sighs before it eats, in that it first travails with the groanmgs of sorrow, and afterwards is replenished with the cheer of contemplation. For except it sigh, it eats not, in that he that refuses to humble himself, in this exile we are in, by the groanings of heavenly desires, never tastes the delights of the eternal inheritance. P'or all they are stan-ed of the food of truth, that take joy in the emptiness of this scene of our pilgrimage, but he * sighs,' that * eats,' because all who are touched with the love of truth, are at the same time fed with the refreshments of contemplation. The Prophet * ate sighing,' when he said. My tears have been my bread. For the soul is fedPs-42,3. by its own grief, when it is lifted up to the joys above by the tears, which it sheds, and indeed it bears within its sorrowliil sighings, but it receives food for its refreshing, the more the force of its love gushes out in weeping. And hence blessed Job still goes on with the violence of that weeping, adding, And my roarings are poured out like overflowing waters.

Waters, that overflow, advance with a rush, and swell with billows evermore increasing. Now whilst the Elect set the judgments of God before the eyes of their mind, whilst they dread the secret sentence concerning them, whilst they trust to attain to God, but yet arc in fear lest they should not attain, while they call to mind their past doings, which 252 The Riyhteousfear lest they sin in their yood works. Job 3, they weep over, whilst they shrink from the events that still await them, in that they are unknown, there are gathered in them as it were a kind of billows, as of water, which spend themselves in the roarings of grief, as upon a shore beneath them. The holy man then saw how great are the billows of our thoughts in our penitential mourning, and he called the very waves of our grief overflowing waters, saying, And my roarinys are like overjlowiny waters. Now there are times when the righteous, as we likewise said a little above, even in the midst of their very good works, are affiighted and give themselves to continual mouniing, lest they should offend by some secret misdemeanour therein. And when God's scourges suddenly take hold of them, they imagine that they have done despite to the grace of their Maker, in that being either impeded by infirmities, or weighed down with sadness, they are not ready to perform works of mercy to their neighbours ;

and their heart turns to mourning, for that the body is become slack to its devout ministration. And whereas they see that they are not adding to their reward, they fear that their past deeds also have been displeasing. Hence when blessed Job described his roaring like overflowing waters, he thereupon added, Ver. 25. For the thiny that I yr eat iy feared is come upon me, and that which I am afraid of is come unto me. X. 16. The righteous therefore lament and fear, and torment themselves with bitter lamentations, because they dread to be given over, and though they rejoice in their own cor- ' correprection ^, the correction itself disturbs their fearful spirits, **° lest the evil, which they are undergoing should not be the merciful stroke of discipline, but the righteous visitation of vengeance. And the Psalmist reflecting thereupon says Ps. 90, with justice, Who knoweth the power of Thine anyer ^ For ^^' the power of God's anger cannot be conceived by our faculties, in that His dispensation, by its undiscerned provisions concerning us, often takes us up in that very point where it is counted to abandon us, and in the very thing wherein it is supposed to take us up, it forsakes us. So that very often that is rendered grace to us, which we call wrath, and that is sometimes wrath, which we account to be grace. For strokes of aflliction are the correction of Power makes some proud, others watchful.

'253 some men, but others they lead to a frenzy of impatience, and Book there are some wliom prosperity, in that it soothes them, ^— calms from a state of madness, while there are others whom, seeing that it u])lifts them, it wholly turns adrift from every hope of conversion. Now vice forces all men down beneath, but some the more easily return from thence, that they take the greater shame to themselves to have fallen thereunto. And attainments in virtue in every case raise men on high, yet sometimes some men, in that swelling thoughts are engendered from their virtues, fall down by the very pathway of their rise. And so forasmuch as the power of God's wrath is little known, under all circumstances it must needs be unceasingly feared. It proceeds ; Ver. 26. Did I not dissemble it? Did I not hold myaoVn\g. peace? Did I not rest quiet? Vet wrath came upon me. ] 7. Though in every situation of life, we sin in thought, word, and deed, the mind is then humed along in all these three ways with the greater freedom from control, when it is lifted up with this world's good fortune. For when it sees that it surpasses other men in power, feeling proudly, it thinks high things of itself, and when no opposition is offered by any to the autliority of its word, the tongue has the more uncontrolled range along precipitous paths ;

and while it is permitted to do all that it likes, it reckons all that it likes to be lawfully permitted it. But good men, when supported by this world's power, bring themselves under severer discipline of the mind, in proportion as they know that, from the intolerance of power, they are persuaded to unlicensed acts, as if they were more licensed to do them'. Thus they i vid. b. refrain their hearts from surveying their own glory, they '^^•^•'^* check their tongues from unrestrained talk, they guard their actions from restless roaming. For it often happens that they that are in ])ower lose the good things that they do, because they entertain high conceits, and while they reckon themselves to be of use for every j)urpose, they blast the merit even of the usefulness tliey have laid out. For in order that a man's deeds may be rendered of greater worth, they must needs always appear worthless in his own esteem, lest the .same good action elevate the heart of the doer, and in elevating overthrow its author by selfelation, more 254 Power and freedom kept hy sparing the use of them. Job 3, effectually than it helps the very persons for whom it may ^—chance to be rendered. For it is hence that the King of Babylon, while he was secretly revolving in his own mind, Dan. 4, in the pride of his heart, saying, Is not this great Babylon which I have builded?

was suddenly turned into an irrational beast. For he lost all that he had been made, because he would not humbly keep back what he had done ; and because in the pride of his heart he lifted himself up above men, he lost that very human faculty, which he had in common with man. And often they that are in power burst out at random into insulting language towards their dependants, and this merit, viz. that they serve their office of authority with vigilance, they lose by reason of their forwardness of speech, plainly considering with overlittle dread the words of the Judge, that Matt. 6, lie ^]iQ shall say to his brother without cause Thou fool, makes himself obnoxious to hell fire. Often they that are in power, whereas they know not how to refrain lawful actions, slide into such as are unlawful, and unquiet. For he alone is never brought down in things unlawful, who is careful to restrain himself at times even from things lawful. It is with the bands of this selfsame restraint that Paul shewed himself 1 Cor. 6, to be bound for good, when he says. All things are laicfid to me, but all things are not expedient ; and in order to shew in what exceeding freedom of mind he was set at large by reason of this very restraint, he thereupon added. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

For when the mind pursues after the desires that it entertains, it is convicted of being enslaved to the things, by the love of which it is subdued. But Paul, * to whom all things are lawful,' is ' brought under the power of none ;' in that by restraining himself even from things lawful, those very objects, which, if enjoyed, would weigh him down, being contemned, he rises above.

Let blessed Job then declare for our better instruction what he was when in power, in these words. Did I not dissemble ? For when we are in possession of power, it is both to be taken account of for purposes of utility, and to be kept out of sight because of pride, in order that he that uses it, on the one hand, that he may render service therewith, may be aware that he has the power, and on the other, that The Elect leave earthly cares at tunes for heaven. 255 he may not be elated, may not be aware that he has the Rook power. Now what he was in word of mouth, let him add in '- — these words, Was I jiot silent ? What in respect of forbidden deeds, let him further subjoin, Did I not rest quiet? But the being silent and quiet admit of being yet more minutely examined into. Thus, to be silent is to withhold the mind from the cry of earthly desires. For all tumult of the breast is a strong and mighty clamouring.

Moreover they rest, that bear themselves well in power, in that they prefer to lay aside, at intervals, the din of earthly business for the love of God, lest whilst the lowest objects incessantly occupy the mind, it should altogether fall away from the highest. For they know that it can never be lifted up to things above, if it be continually busied in those below with tumultuous care and concern; for what should that mind gain concerning God in the midst of business, which, even when at liberty, strives with difficulty to apprehend aught that concerns Ilim ? And it is well said by the Psalmist, Keep Ps. 46, yourselves alooj\ and know that I am God. For he that ^^' neglects to * keep himself aloof to God, by his own judgment upon himself hides the light of God's vision from his eyes. Hence moreover it is declared by Moses, that those fish that Lev. 11, have no fins should not be eaten. For the fish, that have fins, are wont to make leaps above the water. Thus they onlv pass into the bocly^ of the Elect in the manner of food, who, whilst they yield themselves to the lowest charges, can sometimes by the mind's leaps mount up to things on high, that they may not always be buried in the deeps of care, and be reached by no breath of the highest love as of the free air. They, then, who are busied in tcm])oral affairs, then onlv manage external things aright, when they betake them with solicitude to those of the interior, when ihey take no delight in the clamours of disquietudes witliout, but repose within themselves in the bosom of trancjuil rest.

For men of depraved minds never cease to keep on the tumult of earthly business within their own breasts, even when they are unemployed. I'or they retain pictured in imagination the things, which their love is fixed on, and ' in corpore,' but he seems to use arc of doubtful rea<ling. This mav ablative so, though many passages taken, * in the feeding of the bodv.' '256 Quietness and inicard life of good men^ as Jacob. Job 3, though they be employed m no outward work, yet within '■ — themselves they are toiling and labouring under the weight of an unquiet quiet. And if the management of these same things be accorded to them, they wholly go forth from themselves, and follow after these temporal and transient concerns by the path of their purpose of mind, with the unintermitted steps of the thoughts. But pious minds, on the one hand, :| seek not such things when lacking, and on the other, they bear them with difficulty, when present, for they fear lest by the k care of external things they be made to go out of themselves. Which same is well represented in the life of those two Gen. 25, brothers, concerning whom it is written, And Esaii was a Yuig. cunning hunter^ a 7nan of the field ; and Jacob was a plain 1 so Ixx. man dwelling in tents. Or it is said in Uhe other translation, he dwelt at home.

For what is represented by Esau's hunting but the life of those, who, giving a loose to themselves in external pleasures, follow the flesh? and, moreover, he is described to be a man of the field, for the lovers of this world cultivate the external in the same proportion, that they leave uncultivated their internal parts. But Jacob is recorded to be a plain man, dwelling in tents, or dwelling at home, in that, truly, all, that seek to avoid being dissipated in external cares, abide plain men in the interior, and in the dwelling place of their conscience; for to ^ dwell in tents,' or ' in the house,' is to restrain one's self within the secrets of the heart, nor ever to let themselves run loose without in their desires, lest, while men gape after a multitude of objects without, they be led away from themselves by the alienation of their thoughts. So let him, who was tried and trained in prosperity, say. Did I not dissemble it? Did I not hold my peace? Did J not rest quiet? For, as we have said above, when holy men receive the smiles of transitory jDrosperity, they * dissemble' the favour of the world, as though they were ignorant of it, and with a resolute step they inwardly trample upon that, whereby they are outwardly lifted up. And they ' hold their peace,' in that they never clamour with the uproar of wicked doings.

For all iniquity has its voice belonging to it in the secret judgments of God. Hence it is G^en. 18, written, The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great. And ^^' they ' rest quiet,' when they are not only hurried away by Good men fear God's Judgi7ient of their best deeds. 257 no unruly appetite of temporal desires, but over and above Book eschew the busying themselves out of due measure with the 'necessary concerns of this present life.

But while they do this, they are still made to feel the strokes of a Father's hand, that they may come to their inheritance the more perfect, in proportion as the rod, striking in pity, is daily purifying them even fiom the very least sins. Thus they are unceasingly doing righteous acts, yet are pei*petually undergoing severe troubles. For often our \ery righteousness itself, when brought to the test of God's righteous eye, proves unrighteousness, and that which is bright in the estimate of the doer, is foul in the Judge's searching sight. Hence when Paul said. For I know nothing by my- \ Cor. self; he forthwith added. Yet am I not Jiereby justified ; and"^' '*• immediately implying the reason wherefore he was not justified, he says, Ihit he titat judyeth me is the Lord. As though he said, * For this reason I say that I am not justified herein, viz. that / kiioiv nothing by myself, because I know thai I am tested with gi'eater exactness by Him, That judgeth me.' Therefore we must keep out of sight all that favours us outwardly, we must keep under control whatsoever is clamorous within, we must eschew the things that twine themselves about us as necessary, and yet in all of these we must still fear the chastisements of a strict inquisition; since even our xcry perfection itself does not lack sin, did not the severe Judge weigh the same with mercy in the exact balance of His examination.

And it is well added, Yet indignation came upon me. For with wonderful skilfulness of instruction, when about to tell of the chastisements, he premised the good deeds, that each man might hence be led to consider what punishments await sinners hereafter, if the righteous even are cha.stised here with strokes so strong. For it is hence that Peter says, For the time is come that judgment must begin \ Pet.4 at the house of God. And [f the righteous scarcely be saved, ^'^' *^where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear ? Hence Paul, after he said many things in commendation of the Thessalonians, straightway achled, So that ue ourselves glory iThe%n, in you in the churches of God, for your patience and faith '•^•^• in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure; 258 Job's Friends erred injiidghig him and not themselves. Job 3, Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God. llisT~ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^\^, ' Whilst yoii, that act so uprightly, undergo so many hardships, what else is it than that ye are giving examples of the righteous judgment of God, since from your punishment it is to be inferred in what sort He smites those with whom He is wroth, if He suffers you to be thus afflicted, in whom He delights ; or how He will strike those towards whom He shews righteous judgment, if He thus torments your own selves, whom with pitifulness He cherishes in reproving.

The first words, then, of blessed Job being ended, his friends that had come in pity to comfort him, set themselves by turns to the upbraiding of him ; and while they launch out to words of strife, they drop the purpose of pity, which they had come for. And indeed they do this mth no bad intent, but, though they manifest feeling for the stricken man, they supposed him to be no otherwise stricken than for his wickedness ; and whereas guarded speech does not follow that good intention, the very purpose of mercy is turned into the sin of an offence. For it was their duty to consider to whom and on what occasion they spake ; in that he, to whom they had come, was a righteous man, and besieged with the strokes of God's hand; and so they should from his past life have estimated those words of his mouth, which they were unable to understand, and not have convicted him fi'om present strokes, but have entertained fear for their own lives, and not as it were by reasoning have lifted themselves above, but by lamenting joined themselves to that stricken Saint, so that their knowledge might in no wise display itself in words, but that great teacher, grief, might instruct the tongue of the comforters to speak aright. And though they perchance might in any thing be of a different mind, assuredly it was meet that they should express these feelings with humility, lest by words without restraint they should accumulate wounds upon the smitten soul.

For it often happens that, because they cannot be understood, either the doings or the sayings of the better men are displeasing to the worse; but they are not to be rashly censured by them, inasmuch as they cannot be apprehended in their true sense. Often that is done in pursuance Censuring betfcr men a sin like Uzzah\s. 259 of policy' by greater men, which is accounted an eiTor R^ok by their inferiors. Often many things are said by the , < ^|_ strong, which the weak only decide upon, because they know pensatone nothing about them. And this is well represented by thatin ec'oArk of the Testament beins: inclined on one side by the°°?^3^- , . , . , . , 1 T . 1 . . ^ , 2 Sam. kme kickmg, which the Levite desning to set upright, 6, 7. because he thought it would fall, he immediately received sentence of death. For what is the mind of the just man but the Ark of the Testament? which, as it is being carried, is inclined by the kicking of the kine; in that it sometimes happens that even he, who rules well, being shaken by the disorder of the people subject to him, is moved by nought else than love to a condescension in policy. But in this, which is done in ])olicy, that very bending, that is, of strength is accounted a fall by the inexperienced;

and hence there are some of those that are in subjection, who j)ut out the hand of censure against it, yet by that very rashness of theirs they forthwith drop from life. Thus the Levite stretched forth his hand as it were in aid, but he lost his life in being guilty of offence, in that while the weak sort censure the deeds of the strong, they are themselves made outcasts from the lot of the living. Sometimes too holy men say some things condescending to the meanest subjects, while some things they deliver contemplating the highest; and foolish men, because ihey know nothing of the meaning either of such condescension or elevation, presumptuously censure them. And what is it to desire to set a good man right for his condescension, but to lift up the ark that is inclined with the presuming hand of rebuke? what is it to censure a righteous man for unapprehended words, but to take the move he makes in his strength for the downfall of error.'' But he loses his life, who lifts up the ark of God with a high mind; in that no man would ever dare to correct the upright acts of the Saints, unless he first thought better things of himself. And hence this Levite is rightly called Oza, which same is by interpretation * the strong one of the Lord,' in that the presumptuous severally, did they not audaciously conclude themselves * strong in the Lord,' would never condemn as weak the saying and doings of their betters.

Therefore while the friends of blessed Job leap forth against him, as if in 260 He may seek explanation, hut must do it humbly. Job 3, God's defence, they transgress the rule of God's ordinance in -„-^— behaving proudly. Hist. -ve ti i " '2o. But when any of the doings of better men are displeasing to the less good, they are by no means to hold their peace about the considerations which influence their minds, but to give utterance thereto with a great degree of humility, so that the purpose of him, whose feelings are pious, may, in a genuine manner, keep the form of uprightness, in proportion as he goes by the pathway of lowliness. Thus both all that we feel is to be freely expressed, and all that we express is to be uttered with the deepest humility, lest even what we intend aright we make other than right, by putting it forth in a spirit of pride. Paul had spoken many things to his hearers with humility, but it was with still more humility that he busied himself to appease them about that Heb.13 ^ui^ble exhortation itself, saying. And I beseech you, brethren, 22. sujfer the word of exhortation: for I have written a letter unto you in few words. And likewise bidding farewell to the Ephesians at Miletus, who were deeply grieved and loudly lamenting, he recalls his humility to their rememActs brance,in these words, Therefore watch, and remember, that 20, 31.

by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. Again he says to the same Enh 4 P<^^'^ons by letter, / therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, 1. beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. Therefore let him infer from hence, if he ever thinks rightly at all, with what humility the disciple ought to address the Master, if the Master of the Gentiles himself, in the very things which he proclaims with authority, beseeches the disciples so submissively. Let every one collect from hence in what a spirit of humility he should communicate to those, from whom he has received examples of good living, all that he perceives aright, if Paul submitted himself in a humble strain to those, whom he himself raised up to life.

But Eliphaz, who is the first of the fiiends to speak, though he came with pity to console, yet in that he departs from meekness of speech, is ignorant of the rules of consoling; and while he neglects the guarding of his lips, he is guilty of excess, even to offering insult to the afflicted man, saying, JoVs Friettch', though in the U'rony, utter much truth. 261 The tiger hath perished for lack of prey ^ the roaring of the Book Hotly and the voice of the fierce lioness\ and the teeth of the '■— young lions are broken : i. e. by the teeth of a tiger marking lo. ii'. out blessed Job, as it were, with the fault of variedness;*^-*^'" by tJte roaring of the lion, denoting that man's terribleness ; by the voice (f the lioness, the loquacity of his wife ; and by the broken teeth of the young lions, signifying the gkittony of his sons brought to ruin. And hence the sentence of God rightly reproves the feeling of the friends, which had lifted itself up in swelling reproach, saying. Ye have not spoken of-^^^^^j Me the thing that is right, as My servant Job hath.

But I see that we must enquire, wherefore Paul makes use of their sentiments with so much weight of authority, if these sentiments of theirs be nullified by the Lord's rebuke ? For they are the words of Eliphaz which he brought before the Corinthians, saying. For it is written, He taketh the i Cot. 3, nise in their own craftiness. How then do we reject as evil l^Jj what Paul establishes by authority? or how shall we account 13. that to be right by the testimony of Paul, which the Lord by His own li])s determined not to be right } lUit we speedily leani how little the two are at variance together, if we more exactly consider the words of that same Divine sentence, which assuredly having declared, Ye have not spoken of Me the thing that is right; thereupon added, as 3Iy servant Job. It is cleai' then that some things contained in their sayings were right, but they are overcome by comparison with one who was better; for among other things, which they say without reason, there are many forcible sentences they utter in addressing blessed Job ; but when comj)ared with his more forcible sayings ihey lose the power of their forcibleness. And many things that they say are admirable, were they not spoken against the afflicted condition of the holy man. So that in themselves they are great, but because they aim to j)ierce that righteous j)erson, that greatness loses its weight, for with whatever degree of strength, it is in vain that the javelin is sent to strike the hard stones, since it glances off the further with blunted point, the more it comes hurled with strength.

Therefore, though the sayings of Job's friends be very forcible in some points, yet, since they strike the Saint's well-fenced life, they turn back all the point of 262 Heretics, like Job's Frie?ids, mix truth and error. Job 3, their sharpness. And therefore because they are both great : — in themselves, and yet ou^ht never to have been taken up Al.LEG. . ./ o 1. 'against blessed Job, on the one hand let Paul, weighing them by their intrinsic excellence, deliver them as authoritative, and on the other let the Judge, forasmuch as they were delivered without caution, censure them in respect of the quality of the individual. •28. But, as we have said above that these same friends of blessed Job contain a figure of heretics, let us now search ^ out how their words agree with heretics; for some of the opinions which they hold are very right, but in the midst of these they fall away to coriiipt notions ; for heretics have this especial peculiarity, that they mix good and evil, that so they may easily delude the sense of the hearer. For if they always said wrong, soon discovered in their wrongheadediiess, they would be the less able to win a way for that, which they desire. Again, if they always thought right, then, surely, they would never have been heretics. But whilst with artfulness of deceiving they engage themselves with either, both by the evil they vitiate the good, and by the good they conceal the evil, to the end that it may be readily admitted ;

just as he that presents a cup of poison, touches the brim of the cup with honied sweets, and while this that has a sweet flavour is tasted at the first sip, that too wliich brings death is unhesitatingly swallowed. Thus heretics mix right with wrong, that by making a shew of good things, they may draw hearers to themselves, and by setting forth evil they may corrupt them with a secret pestilence. Yet it sometimes happens that being corrected by the preaching and admonitions of Holy Church, they are healed from such a contradiction in views, and hence the friends of blessed Job offer the sacrifice of their reconciliation by the hands of the same holy man, and even under attainder they are restored to the favour of the LukeU Supreme Judge. Of whom we have a fitting representation ^^' in that cleansing of the ten lepers. For in leprosy both a portion of the skin is brought to a bright hue, and a portion remains of a healthy colour. Lepers therefore are a figure of heretics, for in that they blend evil with good, they cover the complexion of health with spots. And hence that they may They begin gently^ but end in violence. 263 be healed, they rightly cry oat, Jesus, MasterK For whereas Book they notify that they have gone \NTong in His words, they '■ — humbly call Him Master when they are to be healed, and so ceptor, soon as they retm-n to acknowledge the Master, they are at once ^^^Sbrought back to the right state ol health. Hut as on the savings of his friends we have carried the preface to our interpretation somewhat far, let us now consider minutely the ver}' words themselves which they spake. The account goes on ; C. iv. 1, 2. Then Eliphaz the Temaniie ansuered and said, If ue assay to commune with thee, uilt thou be grieved ^

It has been already declared above, what there is set forth in the interpretation of these names. Therefore, because we are in haste to reach the unexamined parts, we forbear to imfold again what has been already delivered. Accorfhngly this is to be heedfully observed, that they, that bear the semblance of heretics, begin to speak softly, sapng, If we assay to commune uith thee, uilt thou be grieved? > For heretics dread to incense their hearers at the outset of / their commmiing with them, lest they be listened to with / ears on the watch, and they carefully shun the paining of them, that they may catch their unguardedness, and what I they put forward is almost always mild, while that is harsh which they cunningly introduce in going on. And hence at this time the friends of Job begin with the reverence of a gentle address, but they burst forth even to launching the darts of the bitterest invectives; for the roots of thorns themselves are soft, yet from that ver}' softness of their own they put Ibrth that whereby they pierce. It goes on; JJut who can hold in^ the discourse conceived f 'thusV.

There be three kinds of men, which ditt'er from one another by qualities carried forward in gradation. For there are some, who at the same time that they conceive evil sentiments to speak, restrain themselves in their speech by none of the graveness of silence; and there are others, who, whereas they conceive evil things, withhold themselves with a strong control of silence. And there are some, who being made strong by the exercise of virtue, are advanced even to so great a height, that, as to speaking, they do not even conceive any evil thoughts in the heart, which they should have to restrain by keeping silence. It is shewn 264 Need of self-restraint. Job's zeal in well-doing. Job 4, then to which class Eliphaz belongs, who bears witness that „ '' he cannot * withhold his conceived discourse.' Wherein too he made known this, that he knew that he would give offence by speaking. For he would never be anxious to withhold words that he cannot, unless he were assured beforehand that he would be inflicting wounds by the same; for good men check precipitancy of speech with the reins of counsel, and they take heedful thought, lest, by giving a loose to the wantonness of the tongue, they should by heedlessness of • conspeech pierce their hearer's spirits^; hence it is well said by sci6ntiam Solomon, He that letteth out water is a head of strife. For t'J^'J* ' the water is let out,' when the flowing of the tongue is let loose.

Vulg. And he that ' letteth out water,' is made the ' beginning of strife,' in that by the incontinency of the lips, the commencement of discord is afforded. Thus, as the wicked are light in mind, so they are precipitate in speech, and neglect to keep silence, thoroughly considering w'hat they should 2 consay. And what a light spirit^ conceives, a lighter tongue delivers apace. Hence on this occasion Eliphaz infers from his own experience a thing, which in a feeling of hopelessness he believes concerning all men ; saying, But who can withhold his conceived discourse? It proceeds; Ver. 3, 4. Behold, thou hast instructed many., and thou hast strengtlioicdthe weak hands. Thy words have npholden him thai was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees. xiv. 31. If the text of the historical account be regarded in itself, it is of great service to the reader, that in blessed Job, instead of the ripping up of vices, proclaim is made of his virtues by his reviling friends ; for the testimony to our manner of life is never so strong, as when commendable things are told by him, who aims to fasten guilt upon our head. But let us consider of v/hat a lofty height that man was, who by instructing the ignorant, strengthening the weak, upholding the faltering, amid the cares of his household, amidst the charge of countless concerns, amidst anxious feelings for his children, amidst the pursuit of so many laborious occupations, devoted himself to putting others in the right way.

And being busied indeed, he executed these offices, yet being free, he did service in the master's office of Some praise given to gain credit for calumny. 265 instruction. By exercising superintendence, he disposed of Book temporal tilings, by preaching, he announced eternal truths; — '— uprightness of life, both by practice he shewed to all beholders, and by speech he conveyed to all that heard him. But all that are either heretics or bad men, in recording the excellencies of the good, turn them into grounds of accusation. Hence Eliphaz deduces occasion of reviling against blessed Job from the same quarter, whence he related commendable things of him ; for it goes on, Ver. 5. But now it is come upon thee^ and thou faintest ; it toucheth tJiee, and thou art troubled. 3*2. All men of froward mind assail the life of the righteous in two ways; for either they assert that what they say is wrong, or that what they say aright they never observe ; and hence blessed Job is reproved by his friends further on for his mode of speech, whereas now he is torn in pieces for having spoken right things, but not having observed them. And so at one time the speech, and at another time the practice of the good meets with the disapproval of the wicked, in order that either the tongue being rebuked may hold its peace, or ihe life, being convicted by the testimony of that same tongue of theirs, may give way under the charge.

And mark that first they bring forward commendations of the tongue, and afterwards complain of the weakness of the life. For the wicked, that they may not openly shew themselves to be evil, sometimes say such good things of the just, as they know to be already received concerning them by others also. But as we have said above, these very points they forthwith strain to the increase of guilt, and from hence, that they spoke favourable things also, they point out that credit is to be given them in the reverse, and with more seeming truth they intimate evil things, in proportion as they commended the good witli seeming zeal. Thus they wrest words of favourable im])ort to the service of accusation, in that they afterwards more deeply wound the life of the righteous from the same source, whence a little before in semblance thev vindicated it. But it often happens that their good qualities, which they first condenni when possessed, they afterwards admire, as if departed. And hence Eliphaz, as he declares them to be 266 Fear leads to strenylh, strength to Palioicc. Job 4, departed, subjoins the virtues of the holy man, enumerating — ^ — them, and saying, » V.thus Ver. 6. ^ Where is thy fear, thy strength, thy patience, and the perfectness of thy ways ? xvi. 33. All which same he makes to succeed that sentence which he set before, saying, But note a stroke is come upon thee, and tliou faintest;

ittoucheih thee, and thou art troubled. Thus he declares that they were brought to nought all of them together, in this, that he blames blessed Job's being troubled by the scourge. Yet it is to be well taken notice of, that though he chides unbeiittingly, yet the ranks of virtues he fitly describes; for in enumerating the virtues of blessed Job, he marked out his life in four stages, in that he both added strength to fear, and patience to strength, and to patience, perfection. Since one sets out in the way of the Lord with fear, that he may go on to strength; for as in the world boldness begets strength, so in the way of God boldness engenders weakness ; and as in the way of the world fear gives rise to weakness, so in the way of God fear proProv.14, duces strength; as Solomon witnesses, who says. In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence. For ' strong confidence' is said ' to be in the fear of the Lord,' in that, in truth, our mind so much the more valorously sets at nought all the teiTors of temporal vicissitudes, the more thoroughly that it submits itself in fear to the Author of those same temporal things. And being stablished in the fear of the Lord, it encounters nothing without to fill it with alarm, in that whereas it is united to the Creator of all things by a righteous fear, it is by a certain powerful influence raised high above them all.

For strength is never shewn saving in adversity, and hence patience is immediately made to succeed to strength. For every man proves himself in a much truer sense to have advanced in ' strength,' in proportion as he bears with the bolder heart the wrongs of other men. For he was little strong in himself, who is brought to the ground by the wickedness of another. He, in that he cannot bear to face opposition, lies pierced with the sword of his cowardice. But forasmuch as perfection springs out of patience, immediately after patience we have Eliphaz thinks the righteous perish not here. 267 the perfectness of his ways introduced. For he is really Book perfect, who feels no impatience towards the imperfection of — — his neighbour; since he that goes off, not being able to bear the imperfection of another, is his own witness against himself, that he is not yet perfectly advanced. Hence Truth says in the Gospel, In your patience possess ye yowr Luke2i, souls. For what is it to possess our souls, but to Uve by the ^ ' rule of perfection in all things, to command all the motions of the mind from the citadel of virtue ? He then that maintains patience possesses his soul, in that from hence he is endued with strength to encounter all adversities, whence even by overcoming himself he is made master of himself; and as he quells himself in a manner worthy of all praise, he comes forth unquelled with dauntless front, because by conquering himself in his pleasures, he makes himself invincible to reverses. But as Eliphaz rebuked him ^vith reviling, so now he adds a few words, as if in exhortation, saying, \'er. 7. Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished heiny innocent ? or where were the rigJiteous cut off?

Whether it be heretics, of whom we have said that the friends of blessed Job bore an image, or whether any of the froward ones, they are as blameable in their admonitions, as they are immoderate in their condemnation. For he says, Who ever perished beiny innocent? or where were the riyh- < teous cut off ? Since it otten happens that in this life both ) * the innocent perisli/ and ' the righteous are' utterly * cut ^ off,' yet in perishing they are reserved to glory etenial. For if none that is innocent perished, the Prophet would not say, The riyh teous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart. If Is. 67, God in His providential dealings did not carr>' off the righteous. Wisdom would never have said of the righteous man, Yea, speedily was he taken atvay, lest that wickedness \y\sd. 4, should alter his understand iny. If no visitation ever smote * the righteous, Peter would never foretell it, saying. For /AeiPet.4, time is come that judyment must beyin at the house of God. They then are really righteous, who are furnished forth by the love of the Country above to meet all the ills of the present life. For all that fear to endure ills here, for the sake of eternal blessings, clearly arc not righteous men. But Kliphaz does not t;ike account either that tlir righteous are 268 Evil-doers seldoni recompensed in this life.

Job 4, cut off, or that the inuocent perish here, in that oftentimes ~jj7^^*^^^y ^^^^ serve God, not in the hope of heavenly glory, but for an earthly recompense, make a fiction in their own head of that which they are seeking after, and, taking upon themselves to be instructors, in preaching earthly immunity, they shew by all their pains what is the thing they love. It goes on ; Ver. 8, 9. Even, as I have seen, they that plough iniquity, 1 V. so. and^ sow sorrows, and reap the same, by the blast of God do they perish, and by the breath of His nostrils are they consumed. xviii. 35. To ' sow griefs' is to utter deceits, but to ' reap griefs' is to prevail by so speaking. Or, sui-ely, they * sow griefs,' who do froward actions, they ' reap giiefs,' when they are punished for this frowardness. For the harvest of grief is the recompense of condemnation, and whereas it is immediately introduced that they that ' sow and reap griefs,' ' perish by the blast of God,' and are ^ consumed by the breath of His nostrils,' in this passage the ' reaping of grief is shewn to be not punishment as yet, but the still further perfecting of wickedness, for in * the breath of His nostrils' the punishment of that ' reaping' is made to follow. Here then they ' sow and reap griefs,' in that all that they do is wicked, and they thrive in that very wickedness, as is said of Ps.10,5.

the wicked man by the Psalmist, His ways are always grievous ; Thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he pujfeth at them. And it is soon after ver. 7. added concerning him, under his tongue is labour and grief. So then he ' sows griefs,' when he does wicked things, he ' reaps griefs,' when from the same wickednesses he grows to temporal greatness. How then is it that they ' perish by the blast of God,' who are for the most part permitted to abide long here below, and in greater prosperity than the righteous } For hence it is said of them again by the Ps. 73, Psalmist, TJtcy are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like other folk. Hence Jeremiah saith, Jer. 12, Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper ? For beEcclus. cause, as it is written. For the Lord is"^ a long-suffering \'Jt\ re warder. He oftentimes for \ow^ bears with those, whom ' V ulg. ' " . . He condemns for all eternity. Yet sometimes He strikes quickly, in that He hastens to the succour of the pusillaniEliphaz says of this world what is true of the next. *269 mity of the innocent. Tlierefore Almighty God sometimes Book permits the wicked to have their own way for long, that 1the ways of the righteous may be more purely cleansed. Yet sometimes He slays the unrighteous with speedy destruction, and by their ruin He strengthens the hearts of the innocent.

For if He were now to smite all that do evil, on whom would He yet have to shew forth the final Judgment ? And if He never at any time smote any man, who would ever have believed that God regarded human affairs .'' Sometimes then He strikes the bad, that He may shew that He does not leave wickedness unpunished. But sometimes He bears with the \vicked for long, that He may teach the heedful what judgment they are reserved for.

Thus this sentence of the cutting off of the wicked, if it be not spoken of all men in general at the end of this present state of being, is undoubtedly to a great degree made void of the force of tnuh; but it will then be true, when iniquity shall no longer have reprieve. And perchance it may be more rightly taken in this sense, since neither ^ the innocent perishes' nor ' the u])right is cut off,' in that though here he is worn out in the flesh, yet in the sight of the eternal Judge he is renewed with true health. And they that ^ sow and reap griefs,' * perish by the blast of God,' in that in proportion as they go on here deeper in doing wickedly, they are the more severely stricken with the damnation to follow. But whereas he premises this sentence with the word. Remember, it is clearly evident that something past is recalled to mind, and not any thing future proclaimed. Then therefore Eliphaz would have spoken more truly, if he had believed that these things were wrought on the head of the wicked in general by final vengeance.

But this point, that God is said to ' breathe,' claims to be more particularly made out. For we, when we * breathe,' draw the air from the outside within us, and, tluis drawn within, we give it fortli without. God then is said to ' breathe' in recompensing vengeance, in that from occasions without He conceives the puqiose of judgment within Him, and from the internal pur^iose sends forth the sentence without. When God ' breathes' as it were, somewhat is drawn in iVoni things without, when He sees 270 What is meant by the blast of God's breath. Job 3, our evil ways without, and ordains judgment within. And — -^ — again as if by God ' breathing,' the breath is sent forth from within, when from the internal conception of the purpose, the outward decree of condemnation is delivered. And so it is rightly said that they, that ^ sow griefs,' perish ' by the breath of God,' for wherein they execute wicked deeds outwardly, they are deservedly stricken from within. Or, surely, when God is said to ' breathe,' in that the breath of His wrath is immediately introduced, by the designation of His ' breathing' may be denoted that very visitation of His. For when we are wroth, we kindle '^ with the breath of rage. To shew the Lord then meditating vengeance, He is said to ' breathe' in His indignation, not that in His own Nature He is capable of turning or change, but that after long endurance, when He executes vengeance upon the sinner.

He, Who continueth tranquil in Himself, seems in commotion to them that perish. For whereas the condemned soul sees the Judge ari'ayed against its doings, He is exhibited to it as troubled, in that it is itself troubled by its own guiltiness before His eyes. But after he had in appearance exhorted him with clemency, he openly subjoins language of reproach, saying, Ver. 10. The roaring of the lio?t, and the voice of the ^y. thus ^lioness, and the teeth of the young lions are broken. xix. 38. For what does he call the roaring of the lion but, as we have said a little above, the severe character of that man? what the voice of the lioness^ but his wife's loquacity? what the teeth of the young lions, but the greediness of his children? For because his sons had perished when feasting, they are denoted by the term of ' teeth ;' and while unsparing Eliphaz rejoices that they are all * broken,' he denounces them as deservedly condemned. And he yet further doubles the cruelty of his reproaches, when he adds; sv.thus Ver. 11. ^The tiger perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lions' whelps are scattered abroad. XX. 39. For whom does he denote by the name of ' tiger' but blessed Job, marked with the stamp of chaugeableness or covered with the spots of dissimulation ? For every disIsembler, in that he desires to appear righteous, can never shew himself pure in all things;

for while he assumes ^ Mss. Norm. ap. Ben. and Oxon. ' we are inflated.' Hypocrilefi cannot have all virtues. 271 some virtues in hypocrisy, and secretly gives way to vicious Hooi habits, some concealed vices speedily break out upon the surface, and exhibit the hide of overlaid hypocrisy, like a coat for sight, varied with their admixture, so that it is very often a marvel how one, who is seen to be master of such great virtues, should be at the same time stained with such damnable deeds. But truly every hypocrite is a tiger, in that while he derives a pure colour from pretence, it is striped with the intermediate blackness of vicious habits. For it often hap])ens that while he is extolled for pureness of chastity, he renders himself foul by the stain of avarice. Often while he makes a fair shew by the good quality of bountifulness, he is stained with spots of lust. Often while he is clad in the bright aiTay of bountifulness and chastity, he is blackened by ferociousness in cruelty, as if fi'om a zealous sense of justice. Often he is arrayed in bounty, chastity, piti fulness, in a fair outside, but is marked with the interspersed darkness of pride. And thus it comes to pass, that whereas by the intermixture of vicious habits, the hypocrite does not ])resent an unstained appearance in himself, the tiger, as it were, cannot be of one colour.

And this same ' tiger' seizes the prey, in that he usurps to himself the glory of human applause. For he, that is lifted up by usurped praise, is as it were glutted with the prey. And it is well that the applause that hypocrites have is called * prey.' For it is nought else than a prey, when the things of another are taken away by violence. Now every hypocrite, in that by counterfeiting the life of righteousness he seizes for himself the praise that belongs to the righteous, does in truth carry off what is another's. Thus Kliphaz, who knew that blessed Job had walked in ways worthy to be praised in the period of his wcllbeing, concluded from the stroke that came after that he had maintained these in hypocrisy, saving, 77/r tifjrr pet islteth Jor lack (tf prey. As if he liad said plainly, ' The sliifling of thine hypocrisy is at end, because the homage of applause is also taken from thee, and thine hypocrisy is in * lack of prey,' in that being stricken by the hand of (iod, it lacks the favourable regards of man.'

But in the translation of the Septuagint, it is not said * the tiger,' but * the Myrmicoleon perisheth for lack qf 272 Job, why called Ant'lion ? Our Lord, why a Lion? Job 3, prey.'' For the Myrmicoleon is a very little creature, a foe to ~ — ^— ants, which hides itself under the dust, and kills the ants Hist. ' _ ^ ' laden with grains, and devours them thus destroyed. Now ' Myrmicoleon' is rendered in the Latin tongue either ' the ants' lion,' or indeed more exactly ' an ant and lion at once.' Now it is rightly called ' an ant and lion;' in that with reference to winged creatures, or to any other small-sized animals, it is an ant, but with reference to the ants themselves it is a lion. For it devours these like a lion, yet by the other sort it is devoured like an ant. When then Eliphaz says, the Ajil-lion perisheth, what does he censure in blessed Job under the title of ' Ant-lion' but his fearfulness and audacity? As if he said to him in plain words, ' Thou art not unjustly stricken, in that thou hast shewn thyself a coward towards the lofty, a bully towards those beneath thee.' As though he had said in plain terms, ' Fear made thee crouch towards the crafty sort, hardihood swelled thee full towards the simple folk, but ' the Ant-lion' no longer hath *prey,' in that thy cowardly selfelation, being beaten down with blows, is stayed from doing injury to others.' But forasmuch as we have said that the friends of blessed Job contain a figure of Heretics, there is a pressing necessity to shew how these same words of Eliphaz are to be understood in a typical sense likewise.

Alleo. Ver. 10. The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken. xxi. 41 . Forasmuch as the nature of every thing is compounded of different elements, in Holy Writ different things are allowably represented by any one thing. For the lion has magnanimity, it has also ferocity: by its magnanimity then it represents the Lord, by its ferocity the devil. Hence it is Rev. 5, declared of the Lord, Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Jiidah, the Root of David hath prevailed. Hence it is written of the 1 Pet. devil. Your adversary, the devil, like a roaring lion, walketh about seeking tinhorn he may devour. But by the title of a ' lioness' sometimes Holy Church, sometimes Babylon is represented to us. For on this account, that she is bold to encoimter all that withstand, the Church is called a ' lioness,' as is proved by the words of blessed Job, who in pointing out Judaea forsaken by the Church, says, The sons of the Heretics fancy they conquer Babylon and her children. 27:3 traders have not trodden^ nor the lioness passed by it. And Book sometimes under the title of a lioness is set forth the citv of — this world, which is Babylon, which ravins against the lifes. Vulg. of the innocent witli terribleness of ferocity, which being wedded to our old enemy like the fiercest lion, conceives the seeds of his froward counsel, and produces from her own body reprobate sons, as cruel whelps, after his likeness.

But the * lion's whelps' are reprobate persons, engendered to a life of sin by the misleading of evil spirits, who both all of them together constitute that great city of the world which we have declared before, even Babylon; and yet these same sons of Babylon severally are called not * a lioness' but ' a lioness's whelps.' For as the whole Church together is denominated Sion, but the several individual Saints the sons of Sion, so both the several individuals among the reprobate are called the children of Babylon, and all the reprobate together are designated the same Babylon.

But so long as good men remain in this life, they keep watch over themselves with anxious heed, lest the lion that goeth about surprise them by guile, i. e. lest our old enemy slay them under some shew of virtue; lest the voice of the lioness stun their ears, i. e. lest the glon* of Babylon catch away their minds from the love of the heavenly countiy; lest * the teeth of the young lions' bite them, i. e. lest the promptings of the reprobate gain power in their heart. But, on the other hand, heretics are already as if secured touching holiness, because they fancy that they have surmounted all obstacles by the preeminent merit of their life. And hence it is said here. The roaring of the liony and the voice of the lioness^ and the teeth of the young lions are broken. As though it were expressed in plain words; * We for this reason are never beaten and bruised with any strokes, for that we tread under at once the might of the old enemy, and the lust of earthly gloiy, and the promptings of all the reprobate, overcoming them by the preeminence of our life.' Hence it is further added; Vcr. 11. The tiyrr perishcth for lack of prey ^ and theVulg. lions' whelps are scattered abroad.

By the title of a' tiger' he again represents him, whom •274 Satan^ like the ant-lion^ terrible to the weak. Job 4, he formerly designated by tlie name of a ' lion.' For Satan '- — both for his cruelty is called ' a lion ' and for the variousness Alleg. . . " . of his manifold cunning he is not unsuitably designated ' a tiger.' For one while he presents himself to man's senses lost as he is, one while he exhibits himself as an Angel of light. Now by caressing lie works upon the minds of the foolish sort, now by striking terror he forces them to commit sin. At one time he labours to win men to evil ways without disguise, at another time he cloaks himself in his promptings under the garb of virtue. This beast, then, which is so variously spotted, is rightly called ' a tiger,' being with the LXX called an * Ant-lion,' as we have said above. Which same creature, as we have before shewn, hiding itself in the dust kills the ants can-ying their corn, in that the Apostate Angel, being cast out of heaven upon the earth, in the very pathway of their practice besets the minds of the righteous, providing for themselves the provender of good works, and whilst he overcomes them by his snares, he as it were kills by surprise the ants canying their grains. And he is rightly called ' Ant-lion,' i.

e. ' a lion and ant.' For as we have said, to the ants he is ' a lion,' but to the birds of the air, * an ant,' in that our old enemy, as he is strong to encounter those that yield to him, is weak against such as resist him. For if consent be yielded to his persuasions, like a lion he can never be sustained, but if resistance be offered, like an ant he is ground in the dust. Therefore to some he is * a lion,' to others ' an ant,' in that carnal minds sustain his cruel assaults with difficulty, but spiritual minds trample upon his weakness with virtue's foot. Heretics then, because they are full of pride by pretension to sanctity, say as it were in exultation, TJie Ant-lion^ or probably, the tiger perisheth for lack of prey. As though the words were plainly expressed, ' The old foe has no prey in us, in that, as far as regards our purposes, he already lies defeated.' Now it is for this reason that he is again mentioned under the title of * an Ant lion,' or of * a tiger,' who had been already set forth by the ' roaring of the lion broken,' because whatever is said in joy, is repeated over and over. For when the mind is full of exultation, it redoubles the expressions. And hence the Psalmist, from true joy, frequently repeats this, that he was The Prmidfear not. Heretics pretend secret knoicledge. 275 assured that he had been lieard, saying, The Lord hath Book lieard the voice of my iceepiug. The Lord hath heard my P». 6, 8. supplications. The Lord hath received my prayer. 9.

But when holy men are glad of heart that they have been rescued from some evil habits, they possess* themselves' I-it. ' shake ' with great fear even in that very gladness. For though they be now rescued from the commotion of any single storm, yet they call to mind that they are still tossing in tlie treacherous waves of an uncertain sea, and they so exult in hope that they tremble in fear, and so tremble in fear that they exult in confidence of hope. Whence it is said by the same Psalmist, Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with P^. 2, trembling. But on the other hand, they, whom a specious shew of sanctity fills with big thoughts, when they get the better of any one evil habit, immediately erect their heart in pride, and as it were glory in the perfection of their lives, and for this, that perchance they have been once snatched from the perils of the storm, they already forget that they are still at sea, they look upon themselves as great in all things, and imagine that they have wholly overcome their old adversary; they regard all men below them, in that they believe that their wisdom places them above all. Whence it is added ; Now a secret irord was spoken to me. Vulg. 45. * A secret word,' heretics pretend to hear, that they may bring a certain reverence for their preaching over their hearers' minds.

And hence they preach with a secret meaning, that their preaching may seem to be holy, in proportion as it is at the same time hidden. Now they are loath to have a common sort of knowledge, lest they should be placed on a par with the rest of their fellowcreatures, and they are ever making out new things, which whilst others know nothing of, they plume their own selves on the preeminence of their knowledge before inexperienced minds. And this knowledge, as we have said, they teach is occult; for, that they may be able to shew it to be wonderfiil, they aflirni that they obt;iined it by secret means. Hence with Solomon the woman, bearing the semblance of heretics, says, Stolen waters are ' sweeter^ and bread eaten in secret P^ov. 9, is more pleasant. Whence in this place too it is added ; i Vulg. '276 Ileal door of Truth^ the Church's public tencJiing. Job 4, And mine ear as it ii'ere by stealth received the veins^ of -r—^ — tJte ichispering thereof I Vulg. They ' receive the veins of whispers by stealth,' in that abandoning the grace of knowledge in fellowship, they do not enter thereinto by the door, as the Lord witnesses, Who John saith, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, ' * but climbeth up some other icay, the same is a thief and a robber; But lie that enteretli in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

Therefore he ' receives the veins of divine whispers by stealth,' who, whilst the door of public preaching for receiving the knowledge of His excellency is forsaken, searches out the gaps and chinks of a froward understanding. But because the thief and robber, who enters by another way, both loves the darkness, and abhors the clearness of the light, it is properly added; Ver. 13. In the horror of a vision of the nighty when deep sleep falleth on men, xxiv. 46. It often happens, that while heretics are bent to discourse of things above them, they become their own witnesses against themselves, that what they deliver is not true. For in a vision of the night the sight is uncertain. ^ rimas Therefore they declare that they received * the inklings^ of whispers' in ' the terror of a vision of the night,' for, that the things, which they teach, may be made to appear sublime to others, they declare that they themselves can scarcely comprehend them. But it may be inferred from hence how far that can be rendered certain to their hearers, which they themselves beheld but dubiously. And so is it marvellously ordered, that while they run on speaking of sublime things, in the exposure of folly, they are entangled in the very words of their sublimity. Now to what height they rear themselves for singtdarity of wisdom, is shewn, when he adds in the same breath, when deep sleep falleth upon men.

As if it were openly said by heretics, * When men are asleep beneath, we wake to receive heavenly truths, in that to us all that is known, to. the knowledge whereof the dull hearts of men cannot arise.' As if they said in plain words, * In things, wherein our understanding rises erect, the faculties of the rest of the world lie asleep.' But sometimes, when they see that this is disregarded by the hearer, they feign Pretended awe in Heretics. Sensible notions of God, 277 that they are themselves in fear of what they say. Whence Book it is added ; '— Ver. 14. Fear came upon me and trembling, which made all my boftes to shake.

For because they desire to appear objects of wonder for the loftiness of tlieir instructions, they affect to be awed at the accounts which they make up. And whilst it is a less difficulty to hear than to speak, they are bold enough to put forth that, which, forsooth, they feign that they the very same persons were scai'cely able to hear. Whence it is added yet further; Ver. 15, 16. And when a spirit passed be/ore mij face, the hair of nnj flesh stood up. Tliere stood one, but I knew twt the face of him.

That they may shew that they have been made acquainted with incomprehensible mysteries, they relate, not that * a spirit' stood still, but that it * passed by before their face.' And they pretend that they beheld a countenance they knew not, that they may prove themselves to bo known to Him, Wliom the human mind is not equal to know. And here it is further added; An image teas before mine eyes, and 1 heard the voice as it were of a light breath of air.

Heretics often picture God to themselves by a sensible form*, seeing that they are unable to behold Him spiritually.' imagiAnd they tell that they hear His ' voice as of a light breath °^^ ^^ of air,' in that for the obtaining the knowledge of His secret things, they delight to have as if a ])articu]ar freedom of intercourse with Him. Tor they never teach the things, which God reveals openly, but such as are breathed into their ears in a secret manner. All this, then, we have said, to indicate what we are to look for in the words of Eliphaz, as be bears the semblance of heretics. But forasmuch as tlie friends of blessed Job would never have been the friends of one so great, unless they had evidently learned something of tnith, which same, while they go wrong in uttering sentences of rebuke, yet do not altogether totter in the knowledge of the truth, let us return upon these same words a little way back, that we may make out more exactly how the, things which are said concerning the perception of 278 Knowledge of Eliphaz. The Hidden Word. Job 4, truth, may be delivered in a true sense by persons viewing Y— — things aright. Now sometimes heretics utter things both true and lofty, not that they themselves receive them from above, but because they have learnt them in the controversy of Holy Church, nor do they apply them to the furtherance of conscientious living, but to the display of scientific skill.

Whence it very commonly happens, that by knowing they tell high truths, yet in living they know nothing what they tell. Therefore, whether as they represent heretics, who hold, not the life, but the words of knowledge, or whether in the person of the friends of blessed Job, who, doubtless, with regard to their knowledge of the truth, might in seeing realize what they aimed in teaching to give utterance to, let us more minutely examine these sayings which we have gone through, that, while the words of EHphaz are carefully gone into, it may be shewn what knowledge he possessed, though in that knowledge he failed to retain humiUty, who appropriated to himself peculiarly a benefit common to all. For he says, Ver. 12. Now a hidden word was spoken to me. xxviii. 50. For the invisible Son is called ' the hidden Word,' John 1, concerning Whom John saith, In the beginning was the ^' Word. Which he the same person teaches to be ' hidden' in that he adds, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. But this ' hidden Word' is delivered to the minds of the Elect, when the power of the Only-Begotten Son is made manifest to believers. By ' the hidden word' we may also understand the communication of inward Inspiration, I John concerning which it is said by John, His anointing teacheth ' ' you of all things.

Which same inspiration on being communicated to the mind of man lifts it up, and putting down all temporal interests inflames it with eternal desires, that nothing may any longer yield it satisfaction but the things that are above, and that it may look down upon all, that, from human corruption, is in a state of uproar below. And so to hear * the hidden word' is to receive in the heart the utterance of the Holy Spirit. Which same indeed can never be known save by him, by whom it may be possessed. And hence it is said by the voice of Truth concerning Johiiiijthis hidden utterance. And I will pray the Father, and He Real secret teaching of the Holy Spirit. 279 shall give you another Comforter^ that He may abide icith B«)ok you for ever; even The Spirit of Truth, whom the irorld '— cannot receive. For as that ' Comforter,' after the Ascension of the Mediator, being another Consoler of mankind, is in Himself invisible, so He inflames each one that He has filled to long after the invisible things. And because worldly heeirts are set upon the things that are seen alone, the wo^ld receiveth Him not, because it doth not rise up to the love of the things that are unseen. For worldly minds, in proportion as they spread themselves out in interests without, contract the bosom of the heart against the admission of Him.

And because out of mankind there are few indeed, who, being purified from the pollution of earthly desires, are opened by that purification to the receiving of the Holy Spirit, this word is called ' a hidden word,' since, surely, there are particular persons that receive th'at in the heart, which the generality of men know nothing of. Or tiiily this same inspiration of the Holy Spirit is * a hidden word,' in that it may be felt, but cannot be expressed by the noise of speech. Wlien, then, the inspiration of God lifts up the soul without noise, * a hidden word' is heard, in that the utterance of the Spirit sounds silently in the ear of the heart. And hence it is added ; And mine ear as it were stealthily received the veins of the whispering thereof

The ear of the heart * receives stealthily tlie veins of heavenly whispering,' in that both in a moment and in secret the inspired soul is made to know the subtle quality of the inward utter.ince. For except it bury itself Irom external objects of desire, it fails to enter into the intemal things. It is both hidden that it may hear, and it hears that it may be hidden ; in that at one and the same time being withdrawn from the visible world its eyes are upon the invisible, and being replenished with the unseen, it entertains a |>erfect contempt for what is visible. Hut it is to be observed that he does not say. Mine ear received as it were by stealth the whispering thereof y but the veins of the whispering thereof; for * the whispering of the hidden word' is the very utterance of inward Inspiration itself; but * the veins of the whispering' is the name for the sources of the occasions whereby that 280 Our knoioledge of God hut dark and imperfect. Job 4, inspii'atioii itself is conveyed to the mind. For it is as if It '- — opened ' the veins of its whispering,' when God secretly communicates to us in what ways He enters into the ear of our understandings. Thus at one time He pierces us with love, at another time with terror. Sometimes He shews us how little the present scene of things is, and lifts up our hearts to desire the eternal world, sometimes He first points to the things of eternity, that these of time may after that grow worthless in our eyes.

Sometimes He discloses to us our own evil deeds, and thence draws us on even to the point of feeling sorrow for the evil deeds of others also. Sometimes He presents to our eyes the evil deeds of others, and reforms us from our own wickedness, pierced with a wonderful feeling of compunction. And so to ' hear the veins of Divine whisperinf^ by stealth,'' is to be made to know the secret methods of divine Inspiration, at once gently and secretly.

Though we may interpret whether ' the whispering' or ' the veins of whispering' in another way yet. For he that ' whispers' is speaking in secret, and he does not give out, but imitates a voice. We, therefore, so long as we are beset by the corruptions of the flesh, in no wise behold the brightness of the Divine Power, as it abides unchangeable in itself, in that the eye of our weakness cannot endure that which shines above us with intolerable lustre from the ray of His Eternal Being. And so when the Almighty shews Himself to us by the chinks of contemplation, He does not speak to us, but whispers, in that though He does not fully develope Himself, yet something of Himself He does reveal to the mind of man. But then He no longer whispers at all, but speaks, when His appearance is manifested to us in certainty. It is hence that Truth saith in the Gospel, Johnie, J ^j^^^ii fififJiQ you plainly of the Father. Hence John saith, 1 John For we shall see Him as He is. Hence Paul saith, Then I'cor. f^^i^ill I know even as also I am known. Now in this present 13, 12. time, the Divine whispering has as many veins lor our ears as the works of creation, which the Divine Being Himself is Lord of; for while we view all things that are created, we are lifted up in admiration of the Creator.

For as water that flows in a slender stream is sought by being bored for through veins, with a view to increase it, and as it pours JVfiiht we have sin. Divine Lijht is terrible. -281 forth the more copiously, in proportion as it finds the veins Book more open, so we, whilst we heedfully gather the knowledge '— of the Divine Being from the contemplation of His creation, as it were open to ourselves the ' veins of His whispering,' in that by the things that we see have been made, we are led to marvel at the excellency of the Maker, and by the objects that are in public view, that issues forth to us, which is hidden in concealment. For He bursts out to us in a kind of sound as it were, whilst He displays His works to be considered by us, wherein He betokens Himself in a measure, in that He shews how Incomprehensible He is. Therefore, because we cannot take thought of Him as He deserves, we hear not His voice, yea, scarcely His whispering. For because we are not equal to form a full and perfect estimate of the very things that are created, it is rightly said, Mine ear as it were by stealth received the veins of whispering; in that being cast forth from the delights of paradise, and visited with the punishment of blindness, we scarcely take in * the veins of whispering;' since His very marvellous works themselves we consider but hastily and slightly.

But we must bear in mind, that in proportion as the soul being lifted up contemplates His excellency, so being held back it shrinks from His righteous perfectness'. 'rectitaAnd hence it is rightly added ; Ver. 13. In the horror of a vision qf the night. 53. The horroi' of a vision of the niyht is the shuddering of secret contemplation. For the higher the elevation, whereat the mind of man contemplates the things that are eternal, so nuich the more, terror-struck at her temporal deeds, she shrinks with dread, in that she thoroughly discovers herself guilty, in proportion as she sees herselt to have been out of harmony with that light, which shines in the midst of darkness* above her, and then it happens that the mind being -interenlightened entertains the greater fear, as it more clearly sees™*^** by how much it is at variance with the rule of truth. And she, that before seemed as it were more secure in seeing nothing, trembles with sore afl'right from her very own proficiency itself. Though, whatever her ])rogress in virtue, she does not as yet compass any clear insight into eternity, but still sees with the indistinctness of a certain shadowy imagining. And hence this same is called a vision of the niyht. For as 282 Contemplation. Sleep used for bodily deatk^for Job 4, we have also said above, in the night we see doubtfully, but — — — in the day we see steadily.

Therefore because, as regards the contemplating the ray of the interior Sun, the cloud of our corruption interposes itself, nor does the unchangeable Light burst forth such as It is to the weak eyes of our mind, we as it were still behold God ' in a vision of the night,' since most surely we go darkling under a doubtful sight. Yet though the mind may have conceived but a distant idea concerning Him, yet in contemplation of His Greatness, she recoils with dread, amd is filled with a greater awe, in that she feels herself unequal even to the very skirts of the view of Him. And falling back upon herself, she is drawn to Him with closer bonds of love. Whose marvellous sweetness, being unable to bear, she has but just tasted of under an indistinct vision. But, because she never attains to such an height of elevation, unless the importunate and clamorous throng of carnal desires be first brought under governance, it is rightly added. When deep sleep falleth upon men. xxxi. ^4. Whoever is bent to do the things which are of the world, is, as it were, awake, but he, that seeking inward rest eschews the riot of this world, sleeps as it were. But first we must know that, in holy Scripture, sleep, when put figuratively, is understood in three senses. For sometimes we have expressed by sleep the death of the flesh, sometimes the stupefaction of neglect, and sometimes tranquillity of life, upon the earthly desires being trodden underfoot.

Thus, by the designation of sleep or slumbering the death of the iThess. flesh is implied; as when Paul says, And I would not ' * have you to he ignorant^ brethren, concerning them which ver. 14. are asleep. And soon after. Even so them also ivhich sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. Again, by sleep is designated the stupefaction of neglect; as where it is said Bom. 13, by that same Paul, Now it is high time to awake out i^Cor ^ sleep. And again. Awake, ye righteous^, and sin not. 15, 34. By sleep too is represented tranquillity of life, when the "^" caraal desires are trodden down; as where these words are uttered by the voice of the spouse in the Song of CanU5,Songs, 1 sleep, but my heart waketh. For, in truth, in proportion as the holy mind withholds itself from the turmoil of mental quiet, for listless inactivity. 283 temporal desire, the more ihorouglily it attains to know the Book things of the interior, and is the more quick and awake to inward concerns, the more it withdraws itself out of sight from external disquietude. And this is well represented by Jacob sleeping on his journey. He put a stone to his head and slept. He beheld a ladder from the earth fixed in heaven, the Lord resting upon the ladder, Angels also ascending and descending. For to ' sleep on a journey' is, in the passage of this present life, to rest from the love of things temporal.

To sleep on a journey is, in the course of our passing days, to close those eyes of the mind to the desire of visible objects, which the seducer opened to the first of mankind, saying. For God doth knoic iJiat in the day ye eat Gen. 3, thereof, then your eyes shall be opened. And hence it is soon altenvards added. She took of the fruit thereof ^and <iiV/ver.6,7. eat J and ga re also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes qf them both were opened. For sin opened the eyes of concupiscence, which innocence kept shut. But to * see Angels ascending and descending,' is to mark the citizens of the land above, either with what love they cleave to their Creator above them, or ^nth what fellow-feeling in charity they condescend to aid our infirmities.

And it is very deserving of observation, that he that * lays his head upon a stone,' is he who sees the Angels in his sleep, surely because that same person by resting from external works penetrates internal truths, who with mind intent, which is the governing principle of man, looks to the imitating of his Redeemer. For to ' lay the head upon a stone' is to cleave to Christ in mind. Since they that are withdrawn from this life's sphere of action, yet whom no love transports above, may have sleep, but can never see the Angels, because they despise to keep their head upon a stone. For there are some, who fly indeed the business of the world, but exercise themselves in no virtues. These, indeed, sleep from stujiefaction, not from serious design, and therefore they never behold the things of the interior, becau.se they have laid their head, not upon a stone, but upon the earth. Whose lot it most frequently is, that in proportion as they rest more secure from outward actions, tiie more amply they are gathering in themselves from idleness an uproar of unclean thoughts. And thus under the like284 Effort of abstraction needed for contemplation. Job 4, ness of Judaea the Prophet bewails the soul stupefied by - — ^indolence, where he says, TJie adversaries saw her, and did 7. mock at her sabbaths. For by the precept of the Law there is a cessation from outward work upon the Sabbath Day.

Thus her ' enemies looking on mock at her sabbaths,' when evil spirits pervert the very waste hours of vacancy to unlawful thoughts. So that every soul, in proportion as it is supposed to be devoted to the service of God, by being removed from external action, the more it drudges to their tyranny, by entertaining unlawful thoughts. But good men, who sleep to the works of the world, not from inertness, but from virtue, are more laborious in their sleep than they would be awake. For herein, that by abandoning they are made superior to this world's doings, they daily fight against themselves, maintaining a brave conflict, that the mind be not rendered dull by neglect, nor, subdued by indolence, cool down to the harbouring of impure desires, nor in good desires themselves be more full of fervour than is right, nor by sparing itself under the pretext of discretion, may slacken its endeavour after perfection. These are the things she is employed withal : she both wholly withdraws herself from the restless appetite of this world, and gives over the turmoil of earthly actions, and in pursuit of tranquillity, bent on virtuous attainments, she sleeps waking. For she is never led on to contemplate internal things, unless she be heedfully withdrawn from those, which entwine themselves about her without. And it is hence that Truth declares by His Matt. 6, own mouth. No man can serve two masters.

Hence Paul 2%im ^^^^'^^ ^^ man that warreth entanfjleth himself with the 2, 4. affairs of this life, that he may please him that hath chosen him to he a soldier. Hence the Lord charges us by the Ps. 46, Prophet, saying, Be still^, and know that f am the Lord, \y\Q^^Q'TheYeioi'e, because inward knowledge is not cognisable by ie at ^is except there be a rest from outward embarrasments, the leisure m season of the hidden word, and of the whisperings of God, is in this place rightly set forth, when it is said. In the horror of a vision of the night, when deep deep falleth upon men, in that truly our mind is never caught away after the force and power of inward contcm})lation, unless it be first carefully lulled to rest from all agitation of earthly desires. But the Inmian mind, lilted on high by the engine as it were of its H7iat is strongest in us fails hcfore God. -285 contemplation, in proportion as it sees things higlier above Book itself, the more terribly it trembles in itself. And hence it is — fitly added, Ver. 14. Fear came upon me and trembling, which made all my hones to shake.

What is denoted by ^bones' but strong deeds? Ofxxxii. which also it is said by the Prophet, He keepeth all fheir^s. 34, bones. And it often happens that the things which men do, they reckon to be of some account, because they know not, how keen is the discernment of His inward sifting; but when, transported on the wings of contemplation, they behold things above, in some sort they melt away from the security they felt in tlieir presumption, and quake in sight of God the more, in ])roportion as lliey do not even reckon their excellences fit for the searching eye of Ilim, Whom they behold. For it is hence that he, who had gained ground in doing strong deeds, being lifted up by the Spirit, exclaimed, All mg bones Ps. 35, shall sag. Lord, who is like utiio TItee? As though he said, ' My rtesh is without words, in that my infirmities are wholly silent before Thee, but my bones sing the praises of Thy greatness. In that the very things, which I thought to be strong in me, tremble at the view of Thee.' It is hence that Manoah shrinking al the vision of the Angel, says, l^Ve shall surely die, Judg. for we have seen The Lord. Whom his wife immediately com23.' forts, witli these words, If the Lord were pleased to kill us. He would not have received a burnt-offering, and a meat-offering al our hand.

But how is it that the man becomes fearful at the vision of the Angel, and the woman bold; but that as often as heavenly things are shewn us, the spirit indeed is shaken with affright, yet hope has confidence ? For hope lifts itself to dare greater feats from the same cause, whereby the spirit is troubled, in that it sees the first the things that are above. '^I'herefore because, when the mind, being lifted on high, beholds the higher depths of the secrets of heaven, all that is most solid of human strength trembles, it is well said here, Fear came upon me and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. As though it were expressed in plain words; * When I perceived the secrets of inmost .subtlety, in that quarter where I thought myself in my own eyes strong, I faltered in the siglit of the Judge/ For contemplating 286 fVe know not ourselves. High visions stay not. Job ^, the strictness of Divine Justice, we justly fear even for the very works themselves, which we flattered ourselves we had so done that they were strong. For our uprightness, when drawn parallel to the inward rule, if it meets with strict judgment, comes cross, with many sinuosities of its windings, to the inward uprightness. And hence, when Paul both perceived that he had the bones of the several virtues, and yet that these same bones trembled under the searching 1 Cor.

scnitiny, he saith. But iciih me it is a verij small thing ' * that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment ; yea, I judge not mine own self; for I know nothing against myself. Yet because, when the ' veins' of the divine ' whispering' were heard, these same bones quaked, he thereupon added, For I am not hereby justified; hut he that judgeth me is the Lord. As though he were to say, ^ I remember that I have done right things, yet I presume not on my merits; for our life is brought to the scrutiny of Him, under Whom even the bones of our strength are dismayed.

But when the mind is suspended in contemplation, when, exceeding the narrow limits of the flesh, with all the power of her ken, she strains to find something of the freedom of interior security, she cannot for long rest standing above herself, because though the spirit carries her on high, yet the flesh sinks her down below by the yet remaining weight of her corruption. And hence it is added, Ver. 15. And as a spirit passed before my face, the hair of my flesh stood up. xxxiii 58. ■* A spirit passes before our face,' when we are brought to the knowledge of invisible things, and yet see these same not stedfastly, but with a hasty glance. For not even in the sweetness of inward contemplation does the mind remain fixed for long, in that being made to recoil by the very immensity of the light it is called back to itself. And when it tastes that inward sweetness, it is on fire with love, it longs to mount above itself, yet it falls back in broken state to the darkness of its frailty. And advancing in high perfection, it sees that it cannot yet see that which it ardently loves, wliich yet it would not love ardently did it not in some sort see the same. Thus the spirit is not stationary, but * passes by;' because our contemplation both discloses to Hairs of the fleshy superfluous thoughts. 287 us, that pant thereafter, the heavenly light, and forthwith Book conceals the same from us failing from weakness. And because in this life, whatever degree of virtue a man may have advanced to, he still feels the sting of corruption, i^or Wisd. the corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the earthy ' tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things; therefore it is rightly added. The hair of my flesh stood up.

For * the hairs of the flesh' are all the superfluities of human corruption. * The hairs of the flesh' are the imaginations of the former life, which we so cut away from the mind, that we let no grief for the loss of them disturb our peace. And it is well said by Moses, Let the Levites shave f^nmh. ^all the hairs of their flesh. For a * Levite' is rendered ,y' J j^^^ ^ taken.' And thus it behoves the ' Levites' to shave all * the hairs of the flesh,' in that he who is * taken' into the divine ministrations, ought to shew himself clear of all imaginations of the flesh before the eyes of God, that the mind never put forth unlawful thoughts, and so defonn the fair appearance of the soul as it were by sprouting hairs. But whatever perfection of holy living may have raised the condition of any man, yet there still springs up to him from his old state of life somewhat to bear. And hence the same hairs of the Levites are commanded to be shaven, not to be plucked out, for the roots still remain in the flesh to the shaven hairs, and grow again to be again cut off*, in that while we are to use great diligence in cutting off' all rank thoughts, yet they never can be wholly and entirely cut off". For the flesh is ever engendering a rank produce, which the spirit should ever be cutting away with the knife of heedfulness. Yet it is then that we see these things with more exactness, when we j)enetrate into the heights of contemplation ; and hence it is rightly said. Whilst a spirit passed before my facey the hair of my Jlesh stood up.

For when the human mind is lifted up on the tower of contemplation, it the more cruelly torments itself for its superfluities, in proj)ortion as it ])erceivcs that which it loves to be infinitely refined; and when it beholds that beautiful Being, which it longs for, above its own height, it ?ieverely judges every thing infirm in itself, which it bore 288 Carnal nature sees only the visible. Job 4, with tranquillity before. Therefore when ' the Spirit passeth '— by,' ' the hairs quake,' in that before the power of compunction, all rank thoughts flee away, that nought that is loose, nought that is dissipated, any longer gives pleasure, for severity of inward visitings kindles the inspired soul even against its own self; and when that which riseth up in the heart of an unlawful kind, is cut away with unintermitted strictness, it very often happens that the invigorated soul enters into its ray of contemplation with a somewhat larger range, and almost arrests the spirit which was ' passing by.' Yet does not this same lingering of contemplation fully discover the force of the Divine nature, for its vastness transcends all human powers thus enlarged and elevated. And hence it is well added ; iv.thus Yer. 16. ^ There stood a certain one, hut I could not discern the form tJiereof. xxxiv. 61. For we do not speak oi a certain one, saving surely in the case of him, whom we are either unwilling or unable to express.

Now with what feeling it is here said a certain one, is clearly set forth, in that it immediately comes in, but I could not discern the form thereof. For the human soul, being by the vsin of the first of mankind banished from the joys of paradise, lost the light of the invisible, and poured itself out entire in the love of the visible, and was darkened in the interior sight, in proportion as it was dissipated without, to the deformment of itself. Whence it comes to pass that it knows nothing, saving the things that it acquaints itself with by the palpable touch, so to say, of the bodily eyes. For man, who, had he been willing to have kept the commandment, would even in his flesh have been a spiritual being, by sinning was rendered even in soul carnal, so as to imagine such things only as he derives to the soul through the images of bodily substances. For body is the property of heaven, earth, water, animals, and all the visible things, which he unceasingly beholds; and while the delighted mind wholly precipitates itself into these, it waxes gross, loses the fineness of the inward sense; and whereas it is now no longer able to erect itself to things on high, it willingly lies prostrate in its weakness in things below. But when with marvellous efforts it strives to rise up from the same, it Man learns soinetchat of God from his oum soul. '289 is great indeed, il' the soul, thrusting aside the bodily fonn, Book be brought to the knowledge of itself, so as to think of itself — '- — without a bodily figure, and by thus thinking of itself to prepare itself a pathway to contemplate the substance of Eternity \

Now in this way it shews itself to its own eyes as a kind of ladder, whereby in ascending from outward things to pass into itself, and from itself to tend unto its Maker. For when the mind quits bodily images, entering into itself, it mounts up to no mean height; for though the soul be incorporeal, yet because she is incorporate with the body, she is known by that property of hers, which is confined within the local bounds of the flesh. And whereas she forgets things known, acquaints herself with such as are unknown, remembers what has been consigned to oblivion, entertains mirth after sadness, is adjudged to j)unishir.ent ^ after joy; she herself > addicishews by her own diversity in herself, how widely she is*"^ removed from the Substance of eteraal Unchangeableness, Which is always the same, even as It Is; Which every where present, every where invisible, ever}' where whole and entire, every where incomprehensible, is by the longing mind discerned without seeing, heard without uncertainty, taken in without motion, touched without bodily substance, held without locality. Now when the mind that is used to cor])oreal objects represents to itself this same Substance, it is loaded with the phantasms of divers images. And whilst it banishes these from the eyes of its attention with the hand of discernment, making every thing give place thereto, it at last beholds It in some degree. And if it does not as yet apprehend what It is, it has surely learnt what It is not. And so because the mind is carried away into unaccustomed ground, when it pries into the Es.sence of the Deity, it is rightly said here, A certnin one stood, hut I could not discerii the form thereof.

And it is well said, // stood still; for every created thing, in that it is made out of nothing, and of itself tends to nothing, has not the property to stand, but to run to an end. But a creature endowed with reason, by this very circumstance, that it is created after the image of its Maker, is fixed * It will hare been observed, that he uses this expression for ' The Eternal One.' •290 God stands ever still, hut is seen as in passing. Job 4, that it should not pass into nothing. Now no irrational '- — creature is ever fixed, but only, so long as, by the service of its appearing, it is completing the form and fashion of the universe, it is delayed in passing away. For though heaven and earth abide henceforth and for ever, still they are at this present time of themselves hastening on to nought; yet for the use of those, whom they serve, they remain to be changed for the better. To ' stand' then is the attribute of the Creator alone, through Whom all things pass away. Himself never passing away, and in Whom some things are held fast, that they should not pass away. Hence our Redeemer, because the fixed state of His Divine Nature could not be comprehended by the human mind, shewed this to us as it were in passing, by coming to us, by being created, born, dead, buried, by rising again, and returning to the heavenly Matt, realms.

Which He well shadowed out in the Gospel by the Luke enlightening the blind man, to vvhom when passing on He 18, 40. vouchsafed a hearing, but it was standing still that He healed his eyes. For by the economy of His Human Nature He had His passing on, but the standing by the power of His Divine Nature, in that He is every where present. Thus the Lord is said to hear the complaints of our blind condition in passing, in that being made Man He has compassion on human misery; but He restores light to the eyes standing still, in that He enlightens the darkness of our frail state by the efficacv of His Divine Nature. It is well then that, after it has been said. Then a spirit passed before my face ^ it should be added, hut I could not discern the form thereof. As if it were in plain words, ' Him, Whom 1 perceived in passing, I discovered never to pass.' He then that * passes' is the same as He that ' stands still.' He 'passes,' in that when known He cannot be detained. He ' stands still,' in that, so far as He is known, He is seen to be unchangeable. Therefore, because He, That is ever the Same, is seen by a hasty glance, God at the same time appears both passing and standing still. Or surely His * standing' is His never varying with Ex.