18. All heretics, whilst in sacred Revelation they make it viii. their aim to dive into secrets of God beyond what they are capable of, by their hunger become barren. For they do not seek those things, whereby they may train themselves to humility, may order their ways iu tranquillity, keep patience, shew forth long Buffering, but those alone which may prove them learned and talkers; they aim to know those things, by which thej may seem to be in a special manner instructed. For they very often treat with boldness of the nature of the Divine Being, whilst, wretched as they are. they know not their own selv( B. And so they become ' barren by want and hunger,1 because they desire to dive into those things, by which they should not bring forth the buddings of a good life. For the things which they dive into are beyond themselves. And whilst they make for thai which tiny are unable to comprehend, they neglect to acquaint themselves with those tiling, by which they might have been instructed. Which same boldness of theirs the great Preacher rightly checks, saying, not l" think qf himself more highly than he <>wjl<l Rom. to think) but t<> think soberly. Hence Solomom says, ' Set bounds t<> thine own wisdom. Hence again he says, Pror.S3,
46*2 Reverent forbearance needed in high enquiries lest thou be fitted therewith, and vomit it. For the sweetness of sjiiriiii.il meaning he who seeks t> oaf beyond what he contains, even what he had eaten In- ' romiteth;' because whilst he seeks to make out things aboi e, bej ond his powi re, even the things that he had made oul aright, he forfeits. Hence be says again; As for one to eat much honey is not t so he that wouldsearch out Majt tty shall be crushed withgiory. For the glory of the Invisible Creator, which when searched into with moderation lifts as op, being dived into beyond oar powers bears us down. Therefore heretics, because in proportion as they aim to be more completely rilled by Bublime pi rc< ption, so mnch the more entirely they become empty, have it rightly said concerning them, barren by want and hunger. Since bj unbounded attempts the more they go after the knowledge of heavenly acquaintanceship, the more they lose it l!». But, on the other hand, they thai in Holy Church are truly humble, and truly instructed, arc taught touching heavenl) mysteries, both some things when viewed to understand, and Borne things not understood to reverence, that so what they understand thej may hold with reverence, and what they do not as yet understand they may look forward to with humility. Whence it is said to us by.Moses, that in eating the lamb, that which remaineth oj it we Bhould burn with jirc; fur we ' cat the lamb,' when in understanding many particulars of the Lord's human Nature, we deposit them in the belly of th • mind. \Y herefrom there are some things left to us, which cannot be eaten; because many particulars still remain concerning Him, which can by no means he understood. Which same nevertheless are to be ' consumed with fire,' because the things which we art unable to understand conci rning Him, we reserve with humility for the Holj Spirit. Which same humility ver) often reveals even those things to the perceptions of the Hlect, which appear* d to be things impossible to be understood. For the (reward minds of hen tiis. whilst tin v proudly attribute understanding to themselves, as it wen- presume to deliver fixed decisions even touching what is unknown. Whence it comes to pass, that the self-elation itself which lifts them uj> in themselves within, should without drive them off from the truth, and
Heretics but gnaw at lowest and outmost truth. 1<»M thai in the declarations of God they should hardly even Hook comprehend the ontward things, who thought thai they had in an especial manner gone t<> the bottom of spiritual secrete. Whence it is also added here;
Ver. 3, 4. Who gnawed in solitude, being scurvy with calamity and misery, and chewed limb* and the harks of
'20. That is wont to be ■ gnawed,' which cannot be eaten. j\. Now heretics because they apply themselves to make out Scripture by their own power, assuredly never can comprehend it, which same whilst they do not make out, they, as it were, do not eat. And because, not being aided by grace from on high, they are unable to eat it, they as it were ' gnaw1 it with certain efforts. Since they handle it outwardly, when indeed they endeavour but do not attain to the interior parts of it. Which same because they are separated from the society of the Church Universal, are mentioned as gnawing ma any where, but ' in solitude.' To which same ' solitude' that the false teachers draw their followers, Truth long before forewarned, saying, //' they shall say unto you, Mat.2-1, Behold, he is in the desert, go not forth. And these are26* rightly recorded as ' scurvy with affliction and misery,' because the) are despicable at once by the destructiveness of their practices, and the badness of their perceptions. Who do also ' eat herbs and the barks of tre< s,' because being kept off by the bar of self-exaltation, they are unable to perceive in sacred Revelation what is great and interior, but with difficulty discover therein a ivw things that are tender and exterior. Since by ' herbs' the plainer statements, and by ' the barks ot trees' the' exterior declarations of the Fathers are betokened. Those then who seek to know those thi by which they may not at all be learned, but seem to be. whilst in the sacred volumes they do not from the heart's core search out the force of charity towards God and our neighbour, are as it were ' fed by the herb and the bark,' because they are either the lowest or the outer things which nourish tiie souls of those who carry themselves proudly. Or rarely to 'eat herbs' is touching Holy Scripture to observe the least precepts, and to disregard the greater ones. Whom
Truth rightly rebukes, saving, Woe unto you, Scribes anrfMat.23,
), Pharisees, hypocrites t for //<■ pay tithe of mini and anise and cummin, and Imi i omitted the weightier matter* of the
Lute. \\ Tio do also ' i.it the barki of trees,1 because there are tome who in the sacred volumes reaped the outside of tlif letter only, oorkeep in safetj anj thing belonging to die spiritual meaning, whereas they imagine thai there is nothing more in the words of God, bat that which they maj heat "ii the outside. Which persons nevertheless the passion of rain glorj posw Bses in all their errors, and the thirst after honour holds them captives, and generally by the very things thai they speak they seek after nothing else bul earthly profits.
Rom.16, Concerning whom it is said bj Paul, For they that are tuch < not our Lord Jesus Christ, hut their men belly. Whence loo it is rightly subjoined; hi l jii/u/n r roots for their meat. \. 21. For the juniper tree has prickles instead of leaves, for bo bristlj is thai which thej put forth, that like to thorns it is able to prick the person handling it. Now r thorn is all te of suij because whilst it draws into self-gratification, as it were by pricking it wounds the soid. Whence it is spoken bj the voice of one righteous and penitent, / tinned in mi/ calamity, while the thorn is broken, Burely because the mind is turned to lamenting, thai the prick of sin may be broken by repenting. Bul in another translation,
1 • oon- the thorn is described not as ' broken1,' but ' fixed*,1 which same is nol al variance with the same Bense, because the mind of the penitent is brought to Borrow when the sin thai has been committed is retained fixed fast in the recol- 1- ction. What then is there denoted by the ' rool of the jimi]" i'" saving avarice, from which the thorns ol all the sins i Tim. are produced? Concerning which it is said by Paul, For the lme of money is the root of all evil. For thai springs up covertlj in the mind, and brings forth openly the prickles of.ill sin in the practice. Which same prickles arising from this root the gn at preacher immediately implies, a ben he subjoins, ll'/iieh while sown coveted after, they havt erred from
For he who spoke of* many sorrows1 made known a- it wen the prickles arising from this root. So by 'junipers1 we understand sins, bul bj 'the rool of junipers* what else do we understand, but avarice, i. e. the material of sins? So Booi
\ \ then because heretics in their words generally go after ex — —l-l.
ternal gains alone, yel arc nol ignorant thai thej make up what is mrong, hut do nut abandon the preachings of error, whilst tiny wish t<> receive their emoluments as teachers, it is urll s^hi of them now by the voice of the holy man, anil juniper roots for their meat, because whilst they think of avarice with all the faculties <»l their minds, they are as it were led by that nourishment, wherefrom assuredly the prickles of sins ensuing are used to he produced. Which persons if ever in sacred Revelation they seemingly discover things with sagacity, which while they do not understand, they fancy make lor their statements, they directly scatter these vociferating them to their wretched hearers, whom the] covet not the souls of hut the substance. Whence it is fitly brought in next,
\ i r..'). Who carrying these same off from ih< valleys, when they found each of them, ran /<> them with clamour.
•2-2. They ' carry them off from the valleys,' because with \i. a high spirit they gather them from the lowly sayings of the Fathers. Which same whilst they exult to have found making for their cause, they run to them with outcrii s, because every thing that they have a perception of, by the appetite of praise they strive to cry abroad to the ears of men. It goes on;
Ver. (>. 77//'// shall dwell in the desert places of the torn nis, ami in the caves of the earth* or upon the ground.
•2S. We give the name of torrents1 to the brooks, thai are xh. gathered by the winter rains, which likewise al certain seasons are dried up. Thus with justice the framers of wrong doctrines are called 'torrents;' because being cold to the warmth of charity, they grow to a height in the deadness of the winter season; because they do not flow out with perpetual fulness, but by the pleadings of Catholics, as by summer suns, are dried up. And indeed the fabricators of wrong doctrines springing up against Holy Church, are already made an end of by the heat of truth, yet notwithstanding the things which they taught their disciples do not > to maintain and to defend. Thus then they that follow tic errors of those persona ' dwell in the desert places of torrents,1 i. e.
Job so, puft their tru-i in the preaching <>f~ those, whose efraaom already by tin- answering snd reasoning of Catholics dried up. Now \\ 1 i.i i else '1" ire t.1 k< • ' the caves <>i the earth1 for, hut the bidden preachings of heretics? For heretics meel together in secret conclaves in Buch Bort, that the p r< r< ace, which tln\ (:annot invest their erring belief with by n tin \ may by concealment, and that to freak bouIs the 1 of pervert* dnesa maj appear more to be treated with awe in proportion as it is secret. Hence in Solomon the woman as ■.■.a type of heresj persuades. Baying, Stolen waters an
'" and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. Which Belf-sami si cret preachings ' Troth' abhors, saying, Then if any man ' shall say unto you, Lo, hen is Christ, or there, believe it not. And again; Where/ore //' they shall say nnin i/<w, Behold, he is in th<- desert, go not forth; Behold, //<■ is in the secret chambers, believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the East, and shineth even unto the West: so.shall alx<> the coming of the Son of Man be. So thru that is ' in the seen 1 chambers1 there, which here is phrased in 1 caves.1 Thus heretics 'dwell in caves,1 because the} generally conceal their error by preachings in Becret; thai in the degree that tbej forbear t<> Bhew themsi Ives to the mon learned and wiser sort, they may the more irresistibly draw to them the uninstructed. Whence also Lhe words are rightly brought in next; Or u/iim the gravel* For we call by the name of 'gravel1 those rery little stones which the water of the river draws along. Accordingly. the teachers oi pen erted doctrines 'dwell apon the gravel,1 because the} draw after them those minds of men which arc not established with an\ Btedfastness of gravity, which the Btreams ol errors are as ii wren irrying from place to place. And hence the preacher, whereas he desired that his hearers Bhould not be Led by the chances of time, but that they mighl be established ii- be no more like children, tossed to and fro, and carried about by every wind of doctrine. Thus Holj Church, being borne down 1>\ her adversaries t"i a space, w hi n she Bees the bold minds <>f those in 1 rror insulting over her, recalls to remembrance what the behaviour <>f those was, Baying, They shot, dwell in the des< rt places of torrents, an I in tfu f the
/A i, tics rejoice in thai which wounds; are children offbols.467 earth,or upon the gravel. For because their wrong preaching, Boob the fire of charity being gone, gained power by coldness of— — feeling, surely it ' dwelt in the desert places of torrents.1 And because it was not open and at large, it ' lay hid1 in caves. And because it held the people not fixed but lightly moved, it remained not upon the roek but ' upon the gravel.1 Concerning which it is yet further added;
Ver. 7. Who rejoiced in the midst of the like, mid reckoned there were delights under brambles.
24. What do we understand by the name of 'brambles,5 xiii. but those 'piercings1' of sins, which we have already '§• 21. described above. Now because froward minds delight in wickednesses, which they should have bewailed, all heretics uplift themselves with vain joy in proportion as they gain power for worse acts; and they 'reckon there are delights under the brambles,1 because they lift up the froward mind to joy, from the same cause that they bear the thorns of sins. For if ever they have been aide to draw any one to their error, they plume themselves in glee; and by the same act, whereby they are daily heaping to themselves sins, even by ruining others, they exult that they are as it were leaders to righteousness. And so it is well said; Who rejoiced amongst the like, and reckoned that there are delights under brambles. For they drag all that they are able to their own destruction; and to be under sins, or to add offences to offences, they imagine their heaping up a superabundance of virtuous acquirements.
Ver. 8. T/tcy were children of fools, yea, children of base men; and in the earth not appearing at "//.
25. That is to say, the children of those, who were the xjv< masters of errors. So they are called t children,1 nol engendered by the Beed, but by the imitating of th who by teaching what is wrong were 'fools' in respect of ignorance, and by living wicked lives k base men1 in res] of conduct. Who are not allied to our Redeemer by am relationship of wisdom, or by any of life. Concerning which it is said by the voice of Solomon in commendation of Holy Church, Her husband is noble in the gates. So these, p because they followed the froward examples of those going -' <■ astray, were recorded as being ' the children of fools and of k;s Carnal liters. Qreedy gnawers without goodnt m,
Job i". baa mi n.1 Non it is rightly subjoined, and on the earth not
\mi.. "j'i"'"'i'"j nt ail. Because whilst thej aim to appear something here, surely from the land of the li\in,ur they are made outcasts.
26. But this which we have delivered in a type of heretics, nothing is at all in the way, if we understand it as well of persons froward and carnal, though Bet in the right faith. For neither dues Holy Church account those only adversaries to her, wh". as placed without, dissent from her faith, but those also who by living amiss inwardly stifle her life. So then let her, afflicted \\ ith the wofulness of adversity coming down upon her, survey how in the Beason ofhei prosperity, by the wickedness of evil-doers living within her even Bhe was burthened. Le1 her consider thai in due ol the deserts of Borne, the life of all was not unjustly disturbed in her, and let her Bay, Who gnawed in solitude, stun// with affliction and misery. As I before said in the first part <>f this work, the solitude of the interior is sometimes used in be underd in respecl of the excellency of contemplation. But in this place, where 'solitude1 is mentioned in the waj of reproach, what else is there demonstrated but a barrenness >odni bs: And hence, under the t\ pe of Judaea, Jeremiah i. am. i, mourns over the soul <>i the sinner. Baying, //">/• doth the city sit solitary that was full of people! But when it is said by blessed Job respecting tin- evil-doers, they gnawed in solitude, it is well to look at thai also which is delivered by the i'-.:_•,:'. Psalmist, His < netnies shall lick the dust.
•27. For there arc two sorts of men that lend themselvi -i>> their own ambition, i. e. one which always employs the flatteries of the tongue to serve to avarice, another whicdi is hint on robberj 1»\ open force, lor we c gnaw' when we Wear away any thing outwardly with strong effort For there is ' licking1 when that which cannot he eaten with tasted by the lightness of the tongue being pri upon it. All persons then who even under a guise of faith live wickedly, who long after what belongs to another, hut ai« not any wa\ able to seize upon the object that they long alter, but try by flattering speeches, and as it were by the Boru ning of bw< i tness, to carry oil' the things com ted, what else do thej Bave 'lick the ground?1 because the Beveral things of earth, which they cannot by power, they strive to Book make away with b] the Boftness of tin- tongne. But they 1 who are sustained in this world by any degree of power, and whilst coveting the things of others, scorn indeed to cozen by deceit, because they are able even by unjust strength to fulfil what they have a mind for, the thing that they long for these persons do not 'lick' but 'gnaw;' because they demolish the life of their fellow-creatures by the forcible] of power as by the effect of teeth. So then let Holy Church regard the true riches of the Eternal Country, let her behold the throng of the citizens Above, let her discern in her Elect Children the culture of the mind, and the excellencies of countless virtues, and from these let her recall the eve of the mind to the life of the wicked, which is made void of all goodness, and by comparison with them let her see how and in what way that life is destitute of all virtuous attainments, because it has abandoned the thin-son high, and coveted those beneath. Let her see how very often that thin- which he longs for, if perchance he has power, he even seizes by violence. Let her see that she has long been subject to such persons as set within her pale, and that by their offences she has come even to the very jeopardy and hurts of the good too, and let her say, Who gnawed in solitude. As though she complained openly, saying, ' The things of others they would not gnaw, even by seizing them by violence, except they themselves first remained in their own interior solitary, and bare of the culture of virtues.' But she rightly explains the kind and sort of those, saying, Scum/ with affliction and misery. For unhealthy flesh, if it be overlooked to be needfully taken care of, is by foulness.•rowing over it worse pressed with disease, and whilst to the misfortune of sickness the wretchedness of ueglect is superadded, heavier inconvenience is undergone by scurf
28. Therefore Human Nature bavin- been created aright, but bavin- sunk into disease by the demerit of its own will, it fell into atter overthrow, because being pressed by countless nee. BSitieS, it found nought in this life save that whereby it should be beaten down; but whereas those same necessities of our nature we generally minister to beyond what is advisable, and overlook the care of the soul, by the wretched-
>7u Pleatun enticet u* by occasion of our nea tsitu \
; - i!.! we add t" our infirmity tbe foulness "t sin. ssities of natun ar rach as to have this in them fraught with the greatest danger, thai often there i« ao discerning thi n in, what thi re is done relating to them in the aim al usefulness, and whal in the evil of self-gratification. Fot v( rj frequently occasion of b tguilement 1" ing met with, whilst we render the things due to necessity we are doing rice I- the evil of self-gratification, if our self-excusing cloaks itself with the veil of infirmity before th< disci rnment, and us it were hides itself undi r the countenance of discharging the useful. But to let loose tbe frailly of out nature by neglect is nothing else than to add misery t<> affliction, and by that misery to redouble the foulness of the \i..s. Whence holj men, in every thing they do, discriminate with the most earnest aim, thai the frailty of their nature exact not from them more than is owed, and that under the cloak of necessity there grow not up in them the evil of gratification. For they undergo one thing from iulinnitv, and another thing from the prompting of temptation, and being appointed as a Kind of most equitable umpires between necessity and pleasure, they lilt up the one by c tmforting, and bridle the other by keeping down. Whence it conns to ]>as-, that even it they arc exposed to the affliction of their infirmity, yet they never descend from neglect to the foulness of misery. For ihis mere thing, to be in affliction, i- to be subject to the n< cessities of nature from the frailty of ■. flesh still liable to corruption. Which same necessities be longed to get quit of, who Baid, Deliver me from my m ritiee. For he Knew that, for the most pan. the sins of the pleasures break forth by occasion of necessities, and that he might not of his own will commit aught unlawful, he was busy to have that itself plucked up which he was subject to unwillingly in the root.
■ But on the other hand, the evil-minded take delight m those necessity - of their corrupt state, because thej force them back to serve the occasion ol gratifications. For while ih j minister to nature l>\ recruiting their bodies with food, through the gratification of the palate they are swelled out m the glutting of delight When they seek clothing fbi cov< ins tli ■ limbs, they look out not only for things that Be * may cover, but also may uplift, and against the numbness <>i cold not only wliai may defend by thickness, but likewise delight bj Boftness; not only what may Boothe the touch bj Boftn< bs, but aKo beguile the eyes by 1 1 1 « ■ colour. So then, to turn occasion of necessity to the use of pleasure, what other thing is it but to join the foulness of misery to his affliction? Thus let the Church, being borne down in the season o\' adversity, call to mind those by whose deserts she undergoes these things, and let her say, Who gnawed in solitude, scurvy with affliction mid misery. They inde< d would not he made foul by affliction, if they did not superadd to inherent necessities the misery of gratifications. Which same necessities we have earned by the offence of the first parent. But they who add misery to their affliction, from the torture of punishment, break forth into augmentations of guilt, lint would that such persons, whilst they scorn to be changed for the better, did things wrong in such a way as not to proffer them to others as well. Would that their own death only wire enough for them, and that by their baneful persuasions tiny did not hill another's hie likewise. For they grudge others being what they are not, they grieve for others to obtain the thing that they lose; for if by chance they perceive any good points springing up in the acts of others, they directly pluck them up with the hand of mischievous reviling. Whence too it follows. And they did eat herbs a nd //to barks of trees.
30. For what is denoted by * herbs,' but (lie life of those beginning well tender and close to the ground? and what by the barks of trees, but the outward deeds nl' those who In nceforth seek after things aloft r For bad men. when tli v see persons beginning what is right, either by deriding or as if counselling them. offeT opposition. But when tiny now think witli themselves that certain persons are making way to the highest things, because they cannot wholly and entirely scatter to the winds their advancements, they divert those persons from some of their deeds. Thus then to 'eat herbs and the barks of trees,' is by pestilent persuasions as by a kind of teeth of their evil-mindedness to Bcatter to nought, whether the aims,,f those beginning aright, or the doings ol persons now henceforth alter the manner ol trees making — rds that which is above. The children of perdition '<.,t herbs,1 when b) scoffing they consume the beginnings of the frail sort. Likewise they ' eat the bark'- of trees,1 when with the hand of evil counsel the) withdraw from the life of those growing rightly the covering of good deeds. Now these l.uti r the) Btrip like trees in particular actions, but those luse like herbs th \ drag whilst despising them, the) as it were eat what they tread under them. The Btrength of some now rising on high the) in pan make away with, but the tenderness of some even still placed below the) utterlj break in piec< s. So then let him say, they eat herbs and the barks iii' tret i} be:ause by wicked mockings in some they broke np piecemeal external deeds, and in some hearts in 1 1 < > 1 »< ■ grow ing Hi i 1\.
31. Or surely to 'eat herbs1 is to copy some things tight and tender belonging t" the ancient Fathers. Whilst to 'eat the barks of trees' is to practise their deeds so far as the uiilside, but in these same works not to maintain a light intention. For there are some persons who, whereas they.•>t obtain the glory of the present world l>y thai world's courses of conduct, Beek alter a semblance of sanctity, assume the j^.trl* of rev< rence, long to appear imitators of the old Fathers, and some few things indeed, little and light, they do employ themselves upon, but their Btrong things, and such as come forth from the root of charity alone, the) are indifferent to imitate. These truly ' eat herbs,1 because they overlook what is great, and are filled with what is worthless.
\t\ verj often the) put in execution even some deeds
Beeminglj more vigorous, hut they do not hold a right intention in those same deeds. 'I'd which persons sinvh to " l.•! the harks o| trees' is to take to tb in the outward acts of the Elect, and not to have a good intention in good acts.
For whilst lor the sake oi human applause the) search out right deeds, hut are indifferent to imitate the heart of those doing rightly, they are filled ' b) the harks of trees1 alone. 1 "i w iih all the desire the) seek alter the glory or abundance of the pres, in life. Whence too it is rightly subjoined,.//"/ M/- /'.<,/ of junipers was their meat.
I i within b) faith, whilst the) for the most
Roots thai bear Prickles. Running after gains, i/;* part lend themselves to thoughts of avarice, tlicv us it were Booi 'eat that, whereby in the final close "I life the roughnesses of punishments are put forth. Which persons, while they do not long alter the fruitage of divine revelation, but make themselves subservient for the going alter things temporal, arc never filled with the bread of wheal, but with the ' root <>i the juniper.' For the mere things springing up from what is beneath and lowest engross them, that they may prick them afterwards alter the manner of the juniper by the hardness of recompensing, as by the sharpness of leaves. For whilst they despise God here, they are never made si nsible what great evil it is that they do. For still they are k eating the root of the juniper,' but how sharp the branches of this root are they do not give heed; because verily bad conduct now as it were in tin- root gives delight in sin, but afterwards as it were in the branches it pricks in punishment. Where also it is well subjoined; Who, carrying these same off/rom the valleys, when they found each one, did run thereto with clamour.
33. In comparison surely with things above, all the present life is a ' valley.1 But these, because they know not to contemplate the heights of mountains, i. e. the strong deeds of the Saints, are always busied in the lowest gratification as in ' the valleys,' and when they find any gain, even of a slight acquisition, they run with clamouring, because they strive even by wrangling to make oil' with this, for ' upon each being found in the valley to run with clamour, ' is on the occasions of cases arising to wrangle even for small payment. Now it very often happens that him, whom good conduct exhibits as holy, occasion of earthly advantage springing up puts to the proof. For you may see persons already employed on what is lofty, already in the practice ol abstinence, already in the work of instruction, following after the patterns of the fathers that went before; but when they suddenly find the gain of the present lilt', as the fruit of the valley, they "run thereto with clamour;' because the quiet of Overlaid sanctity being broken through they spring forth to that.
3J. It may be too that by ' herbs and the barks of trees' not only the deeds of the good are meant, as has been said before, but consolations and blessings in this life, for oftentimes
Job 80, Almighty God, when He enriches Hi- Bled with interior
. * jii'i-. uplifts tip in with external honours u irell. \nd while I [e renden them objects of honour b] advancing them.1 1 »< >\ c others, He 1 shibits th< m the wider.1- obj< cts "i imitation; ami sometimes ihe evil-minded despise indeed the life of those, but long t" attain their good raccess in this world. \inl bo because the] seek here below the flatterit: transitorj comfort, they c eat herbs;1 because in their thoughts the] dwell on the external glorj of these persons, the] * chew tin barks of trees;' and because in all these they minister to avarice alone with the entire benl <>i their mind, they are filled with the ' root of the juniper.1 All which things they 'carrj off from th<' valleys,1 because from love <>l this low corruptible life tbej are made to burn with boundless lusts. And 'when tins find each one, the] run thereto with clamours,1 because Burely of the holy Fathers, whose m< rits the] never seek to acquire, the] are bus] t<» lay hold of the posts and governments, and when they very frequent]] cannot attain these by <|ui< t means, they even try it by bursting asunder the peaci fulness of concord.
.v>. And for this that these ate widely separated from the conduct • t' the Fathers going before, it is rightly subjoined; They dwelled in the deset < > places 0/ torrente, omi in tlm caves of the earthy or upon the gravel, I'm- on the side of good we rightly take the 'torrents1 rm- the holy preachers, who whilst in thr present life tiny flow into us by dii ine effusions, iM as it were collected bj a concourse of waters in the winter season. W ho also a ithdraw themselves on the summer sun appearing, because when the light n\ the Eternal Country shims forth, they will cease to preach. ' l'he desert places of these torrents1 are the benefits of the lite of time. For these the] abandon, and betake themselves to the obtaining of heavenly gains. Ihit all these that 'torrent1 had forsaken
PbU.8, who said; For whom I have suffered tin1 h>ss qf all tin mill iln count them i>>ii dung. Bui 1" cause the minds of the wicked seek n> obtain those things in this lid', which the righteous abandon despising them, they are related t<> 'dwell in the desert places "I the torrents.1 For those things w bich unworthy <>t the s.unis, those same Long t-» win as great r.ni the* caves of the earth* are wicked thoughts, in which
Hail men unstable <nid downward slipping as on gravel, 47fi they bury themselves from the eyes of their fellow-creatures. Rook For aa they are evil, they slum being Been by men, and whilst they pretend themselves something else than what they are, the) conceal themselves in the Lurking places of theii conscience, as 'in caves of the earth,1 which persons would not ih> all these things, unless they ivere hopeless of an eternal and substantial life, unless they set their mind in this uncertainty »>f the temporal state. Whence it is well added, Or upon the gravel.
■id. For the 'gravel' is the present life, which by the mere failure of mutability, as by the impulse of a river, is unceasingly being brought to its end. Hence to ' dwell upon the gravel' is to attach one's self to the tide of the present life, and there to set the benl of the mind, where it cannot Btablish the Btep by standing firmly. There is another circumstance 'in gravel,' which ought in no wise to he d over in silence, namely, that when the tout is set upon the top of it, it slips by the mere rolling tendency tin reof, and is made to roll down to the bottom. From which circumstance the life of the wicked is in nothing at variance, because whilst for love of the world they set themselves to do some things lawful and respectable, tlnv in a maimer set the foot Hat upon the top, hut suddenly the foot slips to the bottom, because their course of conduct, whilst it e\ i r sei kg after more, descends even to what is wicked and unlawful. So then, when Holy Church meets with the crosses of this period, let her in remembrance have recourse to the life of the carnal, whom even in her prosperity she bore as adversaries to her, and by whose deserts it is that she suffers tin se things let her see and know, saying, They dwelled in the desert places of torrents, and in caves of the earth, ami upon the gravel. For because they are bared of the teaching of the lathers, they are related to • dwell in the desert places of the torrents;1 because they cover themselves up in the hidden thoughts of the heart, they are related to
' dwell in eaves of the earth;' whilst because thi y dt sire to fix their aim in the changeableness of the present Btai being, they are related to 'dwell upon the gravel.' But would that such, seeing that sins when tiny tempt the\ have no mind to do violence to, even after they have been committed, jed them away by creeping: irould thai at all events,
LL when done, they acquainted themselves with their evil deeds,
87t But the mind of man lias for tin- must pari this thing proper t < • it, that as soon as ever it falls into transgression, it is still further removed from the knowledge of self. For this \!:\ evil, that it commits, inserts itself to tin- soul as a bar 1 1 fore tin' eye <>f reason. \\ h d< e it comes to pass, thai the si. ul, being first encompassed by voluntary darkness, afterwards do - H"t any longer ev< □ know the good it should Beek. Foi the more it attaches itself to evil things, the less does it apprehend the good <>ms that it loses. Since the light of truth, because it minutely tries the ofienc* s "I lost sinners, in the same degree that it is neglected when had. -.,, does it, judging rigidly, allow it to be, that not even when losl it should he sought back, and when it is banished from the act, it departs from the perception; that that whereof the face, as it wire, is Blighted in practice, should now no longer have it- rerj hinder parts appear in the remembrance. Thus,
Ik nee it is that losl sinners, whilst subject to sins to be lamented, rejoice; concerning whom it i- said by Solomon, Who rejoice in <!•> evil, a ml delight in the worst things. Hence it is that occasions of lamentations they go through dancing; hence n is that the business of their death they carry on laughing. Whence here also it is litly subjoined,
Ver. 7. 11 lin rejoiced in ih<> midst of the like, and reckom <l /In n n i ii delights under tin1 brambU t. xv. 38. w They rejoice in the midst of the like.' because, Biirelj.
they give heed to the transitory things which thev receive, and neglect to Look at the lasting blessings which thei lose. And whilst the\ are on lire with the love of things temporal, they are willingly ignorant of the true joy. Which same it' they earm Btlj sought to acquaint themselves with, how greatly the delights which they seek alter are to he wept for, they would see. But, while the\ are unconcerned to Know what are hitter, tiny choose those alone for themselves, as the highest, which flatter the eyes in the visible by a fleeting following after the visible, and rejoice so much the more outwardly, in proportion as they are without the remembrance bf themselves inwardly. Yet, generally) there are mixed with their joys calamities, and by the actual things, by which they are filled with pride, they are scourged. For neither can they, without grievous inconveniences of anxieties, either seek when not possessed, or retain when sought, the temporal things that tiny desire; among their equals aim at superior glory; from inferiors exact respect beyond what is meet, and to BUperiors shew forth the same less than they ought; tor the mist part display the mastery by masterfulness; ever do what is wicked, and yet, that they may not have the credit of wickedness, guard themselves with dread. All these things surely sting the wretched persons, hut those same stings they do not feel, from being overcome by the mere love of the things of time. And hence it is rightly said now. And reckoned there neve delights under /Ac brambles; because, being closely encompassed by the enjoyments of sins, t'rom the affecting of the present life, how sharp the things they are that they undergo they are not aware.
89. Therefore they 'rejoice,'' but 'under brambles;' because they delight in earthly things indeed, but yet, whilst they are unable to manage those same things of time without trouble, the wretched persons are stung by that same care which they are pressed by. They continue ' under the brambles,1 and this very thing they account delight, because tiny at once endure hardships indeed from the love of the present life, hut yet, being bound about by the absorption of over-great desire, they account the trouble of that endurance to be pleasure. Hence Jeremiah, rightly taking upon himself tin' likeness of all human conduct, complains in lament, saying, He has made me drunken with Lam. 3, wormwood. For as we have already said before iii a part " above, any one drunk knows nothing what he is undergoing. Hut he that is made ' drunk with wormwood,' both has the thing that he has taken bitter, ami yet does not understand that same bitterness which he is filled with. So the race of man, b< ing by the right judgment of God h it to themselves in their pleasures, and by those same pl< asures consigned to voluntary sufferings, is 'drunk with wormwood;' because both these are bitter things which it endures lor the love of
-. concupiscence, aa h\ tin- insensibility of drunkenm ss, it
All
remains ignorant of. For thirsting after the glory of tinirorldj whilst it finds instead thereof numberless tribulationsi what it drinks is bitter. Hut because it took this too eagerly, from mere drunkenness it is not now aide to discern the evil of that bitterness. For bad nun, for the sake of the glory of this world, love tribulations even, and on account of it willingly lend themselves to all toils, and most devotedly submit their necks to the yoke of heavy labours. Which is well described bj BEosea whilst prophesying, under the Hos. t°» likeness of Bphraim, saying, And Ephraim is a heifer that is taught to love threshing. For a heifer accustomed to tinlabours of threshing, verj often, when Loosed, returns even not forced to the same customariness of labour. So the mind of the wicked being devoted to the services of this world, and accustomed to the wearyings oi temporal things, even if it be allowed to be freely at liberty to itself, yet is eager to laLftom submit itself to earthly pains and toils, and se. ks the usage1
"age Qf a i^jetched waj of life, ' the threshing1 of Labour, that it should not be acceptable, even if it wen- allowable, to give over the yoke of worldly servitude. Which same yoke the Lord loosed from the neck of the disciples, when He said,
LukeSi, And take heed to yourselves, lest <// any time your hearts b\ •l4, overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness; and straightway added,'///// can 8 of this life; and so that day come upon Mat 1 1,//"" unawares. And again, < 'ome unto Me, all ye that labour <ind are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me; for I urn meek and lowly in heart. What is it for the Lord to call 1 rimself * meek and lowly' in preceptorship, save leaving behind the difficulties tor exercising Belf-exaltation, to point out some plain ways oi living well: But because tin- minds of the wicked are more pleased by what i^ harsh in self-exalting than by what is gentle in mildness and humility, thej ' suppose there are delights under brambles.' For from love of the world thej an readj to bear what is bard as things soft and delightful, whilst they try in this life to laj hold ot the topmost pinnacles of affairs.
!•'• The Lord bids ceasing from the labours of the world,
Manna teamed for the haul earthly fruit* oj Egypt. i7!»
]I<- prompts the Bweetness of holy trantfuillity, and vet the '!'""< frenzied mind of ihe wicked is more rejoiced to obtain what is harsh in the carnal way lhaii to hold what i.-> mild ill the spiritual way. It is more fed by the bitterness of wearisomeness than by the Bweetness of tranquillity. A\* 1 lit- li the [sraelitish people openlj Bhews us in itself, which same, whilst it received the refreshment of manna from above, Numb. lusted after the flesh-pots, and the melons, and the leeks, > and the onions, from Egypt. For what is denoted by the ' manna,' but the food of grace, having a sweet savour, given from Above for the refreshment of the interior life t<> persons rightly free? And what by the 'flesh-pots,' saving carnal works, which arc with difficulty to be dressed by the toils of tribulations, as h\ fires? What by 'melons,1 but earthly sweets; What by ' leeks and onions,' which those who I at very often Bhed tears, excepting the hardness of the present life, winch is both gone through by the lovers of it not without mourning, and notwithstanding is loved with tears; Therefore, forsaking 'manna,' together with melons and fleshmeats they sought leeks and onions, surely because bad minds despise the gifts of tranquillity, sweet by grace, and for the sake of carnal pleasures they covet the wearisome ways of this life, even though full of tears; they scorn to have where they may rejoice in a Spiritual manner, and ardently seek where they may even groan in a carnal way. So then, let Job with a truth-telling voice rebuke the madness of these persons, for no other reason than that by a perverted judgment they si t the troubled before th tranquil, the hard before the gentle, the harsh before the mild, the transitory before the eternal, the suspicious before the assured. The madness of such lei Holy Church call to remembrance, when she is encompassed with cruel adversities without, which persons she held within herself as if believers, but for long endured their life opposing the faith, and lei b< r say, \\ ho rejoiced in the midst of the like, anil reckoned there were delights under brambles; surely, because th< evil things that they do, they learnt by the badn< ss of the wicked going before. Whence also it is rightly subjoined;
Ver. 8. They were children of fools, yea children of base men.
j^ii There is n t foolishness ofOodJ thai is n<>t b
II. li is right for us to know that Borne within the pale of 1 [oly Church are styled ' fools,1 l>ut \ el ' noble, whilst others
NV1 are * fools1 and 'base.1 For they are called * fools, but cannot!"■ ' base,1 who contemning the wisdom of the flesh, desire foolishness that shall Btand them in stead, and after the newness of the interior descent are exalted 03 the nobility of virtue, who set at nought the foolish wisdom of the world, and covet the wise foolishn iss of God. Since it
11 r.t,is written, B ■ the foolishness of God is wiser than n
This ' foolishness1 Paul charges ourselves to lay hold of, when he Bays, {ferny man among you seemeth to be wise iii t/tis world) let him become a fool, that he may be wise. This ' foolishness1 thej that perfectly followed obtained to
Mat. is, hear from the voice of Wisdom, Ye which have followed Me in the regenerations when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones jndging the twelve tribes of Israel. Mark how by abandoning temporal things they purchased the glory of eternal power. Accordingly what is there more foolish in this world than to abandon one's own: And what more noble in the eternal world than to come with God as judges? \ < rily the nobility of these judges is made mention ol bj Solomon bearing record, when- this which I have already Bpoken before is
Pi said, Her husband is noble in the gates, when he sitteth among the senators of the land. For noble above measure does he regard those, whom he calls ( senators.1 This ' nobility1 Paul had beheld in himself, when being unit) d bj Aotil7, the spirit to the relationship of the Creator, he said, Forasmuch then as we are the offspring >.>/' God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone graven by art or man's device; i. e. we are styled b the offspring of God,1 not a> being brought forth in His Nature, hut as being by I lis Spirit both created 1>\ I lis Will and made anew h\ Mis adoption. So nineh the more then is each one lifted u]) to this nobility, in proportion as he is rent wed in the image he has received to the likeness of That Being in b copy.
12. But contrariwise they are ' fools and base men,1 who while, in following themselves, they flee from the wisdom Above, are lulled to sleep in their ignorance as in the liml men in the Church nut her tons, nor known ofCfod. 481 rileness of an abject descent. For in proportion as tin \ do Boos not understand thai for which they were made, in the same — — - measure they lose the relationship of high birth vouchsafed then in the Likeness. So they are' fools and base men,1 whom tlif slaver) of the soul withholds from the fellowship of the Eternal Inheritance. As it is written, Whosoever Johns, committeth sin is the servant of sin. Vnd it is Bpoken by the voice of the great preacher, For the wisdom of this • Cor.3, world is foolishness with Qod. They then, who whilst they were wise in earthly things were held back from the interior nobility, were ' fools and base men1 at once. Whose actions while very many imitate they are rendered ' the children of fools and base men,1 and whilst they follow these in notions and practices, they are at once * fools,' because they do not understand true wisdom, and ' base men,' because they are not renewed by any freedom of the Spirit. But these persons though they may practise the arts of the wicked, yet very often in this life occupy the places of the just, and tin \ account themselves the children of those, whose offices from lust of honour they outwardly discharge. Which persons holy correction recals to the knowledge of themselves, i. e. that being settled in bad desires, they should mind whose children they are. For they arc not the children of those whose places they occupy, but whose deeds they execute. Therefore let it be rightly said, The children of fools and base no a. Where it is fitly subjoined;
And on earth utterly not appearing*
43. For as there are very many persons upon earth, and xvii. they are hidden from the knowledge of their fellowcrcatures by the lowness of their vile condition, as by a kind of overlaying of a cloak, so there are some in the Church, who whilst they submit themselves to the degradation of wicked deeds, are not known to the Divine sight. To which persons it is one day to be said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. So, ' to be on earth and appear* is in a right faith through the excellency of practice to display the nobilitv of the soul. ' To be on earth and utterly not appear,' is to be set fast in the Church indeed by faith, but to shew forth nothing worthy of faith in practice. These then being within the pale of Holy Church, to the eyes of job so, the I >i\ iin- Being both ' appear1 in respect of judgment, and vei do ' not appear1 in retpeel of the deserts of ■ good
"life, becanae those tilings, which l>y confessing they hold, by tiring they do not shew forth. Concerning whom Paul
Tit i, snitli. Theyprpfess thai they know Qoa\ but in works they deny
Him. These persons in Holj Church bear down rather than venerate the faith which they protest that they bold, whei as by her name they covet ratheT to secure their own profits than tier's. But the Elect, whilst thej take care to preserve the deservingness of faith by right deeds, are brought near to the knowledge of their Maker even amidst the throngs ol lost sinners. Which is well denoted in the Gospel by the woman suffering from the bloody flux. Concerning whom
-.the Lord says, Who touched V- ' Peter answered reasoning,
Master^ the multitude throng Thee and press Thee,and sayesi
Hunt, Who touched Me? Bin he obtained to hear the
.,s in tru • when the Lord said to him. Somebody mil of Me. Si how the throng ' press d" the Lord, but she "iih 'touched1 Hun. who came to Him in humility, because Burely even many lost Binners in Holy Church by learning ' press1 the truth, which same they neglect to* touch1 by living well. They ' press1 and are far off, becausi 1>\ professions they follow Divine knowledge, by habits flee it. They ' pn -.' I Bay, and are far off, because by acting iln\ contradict that faith, which by Bpeaking they assert.
\- then we are instructed by this testimony, that by touching the Lord, even when they are situ; because tO Hi- • I regards, and for tip' punishment of condemnation, thej do appear, hut tor the claim of Election they do not appear. Therefore lei it he rightly said, And on arth utterly //"/ appearing; because though the Church held them to the extent "t seeming, yet those being within her tie' Ci did not -ee, in that He did not Know them. Who in the seaaon of peace lor this reason maintain the faith to the extent of words, bei tuse they see that that faith flourishes rally, lint when a sudden storm of adversitj rises up ins) that Church, they are directly parted from her 1>\
;i public denial^ and whatever they before held as if vene-
The Okurck in time of trouble a byword to tcomera, is^ rating her, they afterwards light against the same as deriding Booi her. Whence it is fitly added; "
1 k By which Bame words that time of Holy Church is set wiii. forth, when she is openly derided by the lost; when the wicked gaining ground, faith shall be for a reproach, and truth shall be for a ground of accusation. For so much the more contemptible shall each individual be in proportion as he may be more righteous; and the worse object of abhorrence, the more worthy object of praise. Therefore the Holy Church of the Elect in the time of calamity ' becomes a proverb' to the tricked, because when they Bee the good die by torments, they take their likeness of cursing from those. For in proportion as they b< e a passing death, but do not see a lasting life, so much the more in scoffing do thej fle< present ills, in proportion as by the understanding interiorly they do not reach to lasting l' Is. Hut the particulars that are subjoined because they are not involved in obscurer sorts of sentences, we must run through in brief, that we may be able to come the sooner to those parts, wherein we have to labour. It goes on;
Ver. 10. They abhor me, I hey Jlee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
45. All the wricked ' fly tar" from Holy Church, not by the xix.
I a of footsteps, but by the characters of practices; they fly far not in place, but desert, whereas, pride gaining ground, they contemn her with open upbraiding. For ' to spit in his face' is not only to detract from the good in absence, but to give the lie to each one of the just even in presence. And these then whilst the wicked by openly deriding set at nought, thev as it w r iei out in insults upon them loose words, like Btreams of spittle running down. Ibit Holy Church knows how to gain ground in sufferings, and in the midst of reproaches to maintain an honourable life; she i> taught neither to be cast down by adversities, nor to glory in prosperitv. She is instructed, in meeting prosperity, to lay low the mind in downcasting; she i*- taught, in meeting adversitv. to lift up the soul to the hope of the height above. She knows how to ascribe her good things to the mercifulness f the Redeemer, she knows how t" ascribe her evil ihii to ihe justice of tin- Judge, that ln.lli what is ro.nl she has h\ His bestowing, and what ia bad she Buffers by lli— permitting. \ n< 1 hence Be immediately adds touching the Lord, saj ing, \.!. li Becau II- hath opened Hie quiver and afflicted w. 16. What is ill noted by ' the quiver1 of God, but secret counsel? Vow the Lord casta the arrow from the quiver, wh.n from llis sim lit counsel He sends forth an open sentence. For that any man is scourged, we Know, but for what cause the Bcourge conn b, we know not. But when. u t - r the scourge amendment of life follows, the actual power of counsel ia it-ilt' disclosed as well. So the quiver Bhut is hidden counsel. But we are chastened by an open quiver, when l>\ thai which follows after the scourge, we see with what counsel we are stricken. When the Lord beholds -ins.
and Ml do, s not move I he hand to vengeance, lie as it wenholds the quiver shut, but bj striking Me shews, how greatly that displeas id I [im in us, which 1 [e bore long beholding it. Therefore lei the Holj Church of the Elect being pn by tribulations Bay, / i H im/li <>;>< tied Hit quivert and afflicted >»<•. Which same on meeting with the insolent voices of her adversaries, when Bhe sees that her preaching is not received, giving over the hardness of Borne, restrains the words of her preaching. For reflecting that her persecutors are rendered worse at die voice of her exhortation, site rather prefers to hold her peace. \nd when sh( them prisons un worth j to hear, she hinds up her pn aching with silence drawn over. Whence he fitly adds; In d put a In nil'1 intO mi/ mouth.
is, selves1 before certain persons, who said. // woe necessary that t/u' a "ni qf Qod should firet have been spoken i" you, hut seeing ye />m it from you, and Judge yourselves unworthy
■ the bridle' of silence put upon themselves with the hard shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange landf Paul also charged ' a bridle t«» he put." who enjoined the disciple.
toyed in charity. Assaultsby seeming Christians IBS saying, A man t/mt is mi heretic after the Inst and second Boob admonition refect, knou'nvi t/mt Im t/mt is such is subverted,,
'///'/ stnneth condemned of himselj ', For holy teachers very 10. often by lofty ken survej the hearts >>i those iliat opp them, and when tin \ see those hearts forsaken 1>\ God, afflicted and groaning they hold their peace. Doth not Solomon sometimes ' pul a bridle1 upon tin- teachers, who saith,!;■ / rove not a scorner, lest he //<>/>■ thee, but it we hold our peace from rebuking for this reason, because we arc afraid for the scorner's hates to rise up against us, we no longer sees God's profits, but our own. Wherein it requires to he known that sometimes when had men are reproved they become worse. Them therefore we spare, and not ourselves, it' from the love of those we eease from the rebuking of them. Whence it is needful that we sometimes endure keeping to ourselves what they are, in order that they may learn in us by good living1 what they are not. Therefore because Holy'ak'bj Church, who ever gives forth her words in a spirit of charity, sometimes also withholds them on the principle of charity, let her say, He hath /n/t n bridle in my mouth. As though he confessed openly, saying, ' Because in some I did not see the advancement of preaching, from those I refrained assault, that my life at all events by patience they might he taught, whereas my words they would not by the preaching proffered consent to receive.' But very often this grieves us most in trihulations, that we meet with them from those, in whom we trusted with the love of kin. And hence it is added;
Yer. 12. At the right hand of the East my calamities on tin- spot '/rose.
48. For ' calamities' would • rise to the left,' if at the hand xxii. of any persons set without the pale of Religion, and openly denying Christ, she met with the adverse dealings of persecution. But when she undergoes from persons seemingly believers the trial of tormentings, it is as if calamities arose to her at the right hand, because they who are enlisted under Christ's name, assail Christ's name in her. for by the very usage <<\ Bpeech we speak of having as ' on the right' what we account as great, and as on the lelt that which we look down upon, which Xechariah openly teaches, saying, And he shewed me Jesus tin,' high priest standing Zeob. 3,
7 ' >■ the Angel qfthe Lord, and Satan standing at his right
—. I him. Who that he might the more plainly
Bhew this that he Bel idded going on; And the Lord said Satan, The Lord rebuke t/n<-. o Satan; even the
I d tln't hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee. Is not this
gpokeo,. iiii ii ii ments, because though lie was a stranger t<> all sin, yet lie came into the lil the flesh of sin. And to Him on
!!;- coming Satan stood on His right hand. For i Lord appean d to hold the Jewish People as great, and th ■ ( rentilea as nought. But after that He appeared Incarnate, the Gentile world, which had been held as ' on the left' b< lieved, whilst the Jewish People swerved aside to unbelief. Thus ' Satan Btood on the right hand to Him;1 I he carried off from
Him that People, which had been for a long while beloved. But becaua ■ that same Jewish people, being now lost, shall in the end one day believe, as the Prophet testifies, who t* '"■ The remnant shall be saved; the Lord removes Satan from His right hand. Baying, The Lord rebuke thee, <> Satan. And betokening the deliverance of thai same people, he adds, because He hath chosen./- \. Which same people because under the guidance of unbelief it let itself run down to the burnings of hell, hut whilst it is brought back to faith, is set free from that same burning of everlasting fire, has it directly added there concerning it. Is w>i (his <t brand plucked nit <■!' theju lit. So thm as there for ' the right hand' the Jewish people is denoted, so in this place by the term ol ' the right band,1 the faithful people ol Holj Church is denoted. And hence the Judge thai is to COHK ' shall set thecals on Mis left Hand, and the sheep on His right Hand.' But w Ik n these
\ i ■ r \ persons too fret Holy Church in the time of adversity, who seemed to be of the faithful, surely 4 calamities arise to her on the right band.1 Now rightly is this same called
' tin right hand of the Bast;1 SlUCe it is written of the Head z«oh. e, itself of the same, The East is His Name. For seeing thai the light BpringS from the East, He is rightly called ' the
1 i." h\ the li^ht of whose righteousness the night of our unrighteousness is enlightened. So ( calamities arise to the
The weak in Hcli/ elm > i'!i turned aside and overwhelmed. iv< right band of the East;' because these likewise leap forth to Booi cutiou, \\li<> were supposed to be Elect Members of our r. Which Bame calamities he rightly declares' arise on thi because whereas they who persecute were not persons without her pale, evils are brought about by them suddenly and on the spot. But if 4 the right hand1 is a nation of those w ho are truly beliei ere, ' calamities arise to the right of the East,1 because on the crisis of persecution It taking forth, the righteous undergo the cruel assaults of the wicked. It follows;
Ver. L2. They overturned my feet, and "///tressed with their footpaths <i.s with wa
50. What are denoted by the Church's ' feet,' but her xxiii. outermost members? which while they lend themselves to earthly deeds, are able to be the soomr deceived by adversaries in proportion as they do not understand things on high. Therefore these ' feet adversaries overturn,' that is to say, when they draw her outermost members to the error of their doctrine. The ' feet overturned1 cannot keep the way, in that all the weak being either persuaded by the promises of their persecutors, or affrighted by their threats, or broken by their tortures, swerve from the right path. Now ' the paths' of adversaries are rightly likened to waves, when it is said, and they oppressed with their footpaths as with waves; in this way, because the life of the evil-minded, mischievous with wayward restl ssness, comes down as a tempest for the overwhelming the ship of the heart, so to say. ( 'one ruing which same tempest it is said by Solomon, As n t< mpest Prov._ passing, the wicked shall iml he. And when the weak man sees the fro ward flourishing, that man the wave of wretched imitation plunges into the sea of frowardneSS. It follows;
51. Let blessed Job till these things of evil spirits, i. e. of xxiv. secret enemies. Let die Church Universal Bpeak them of bad men persecuting, i. e. <>f open adversaries. For these ' do away with her paths,1 when in tin- souls of certain weak ones they interrupt the ways of truth by crafty persuading. These in ' plotting prevail, when those, whom
. '. th. \ cannot openlj force to evil, they turn aside bj pretendins what is Rood hut that is ven wonderful, which lie subjoins, Ami there was n >/ a ty one to bring help, when the
Pt.9,9 Psalmist exclaims touching the help of God; i helper in know Thy Name, fot Thou, Lord, wilt not forsake those i -. that seek Thee. Ami when it is written again, D ■'"!/
' ' trust in the Lord and was confounded t or did any abide in
His commandments, and was forsakenf Or whom did He despise, that called upon Himf On what principle, then, is it now said; And there was not any to bring help, excepting thai those, whom Almighty God Loves for all eternity, He sometimes leaves for a time? Whence it is
I-..-.I, written; For << small moment have I forsaken thee, and
' with great mercies will I gather thee, In a little wrath I hid My face from thee for <t moment, and with everlasting kindness will I have mercy upon thee. Hence too the th< n knew that he might be left for a little while with advan-
. who prayed that he might not be 'utterly forsaken.1
For the Lord b] coming helps I li-* Saints, by * Leaving1 puts them t«» the proof, by ^iiis hi i stablishes, by tribulations he
I tries. Whence too it i^ rightly said by one of Wisdom, For
' at the first she will walk with him by crooked ways, and bring fear and dread upon him, and torment him with her discipline until she try him in his thoughts. Since the bouI
• of the righteous grace calls, trial puts to the question. And
Umighty God allows the adversaries of I lis Bled to grow t<> a height in time, that the life of the g 1 maj be purified lis the pitilessness Of the had.
52. Smce the Lord would uevi v suiler them to he hostile to the good except lie also saw what great good they did.
lor whilst the Unrighteous deal cruelly, the righteOUS are purified, and the life of the wicked is enlisted to the advantage of the innocent, in that this same both by bearing down it abases, and by abasing ever fashions to better. Hence i • too it is rightly said 1»\ Solomon: the fool shall be servant to the unse of heart. And yet we often see the wise subordinate, and fools occupying the stronghold of dominion, men paying obedience in servitude, and fools Lording it with tyrannical exultation. How then by the marking out of Booi God's sentence is ' th<- fool si rvanl to the wise,' when gene- • • • rall\ speaking he keeps him down by the right of temporal dominion r Hut it is t<> be borne in mind, that whilst against tlic life of the wise man the fool being uppermost enfo the terriblene&s of power, whilst he wearies him out with labours, rends him with insults, such a person surely by burning he purg< s from all the rust of bad habits. Thus the fool even in ruling is 'servant to the wise,' in that by bearing him down he advances him to a better state. In this way it is sometimes the case that over masters underage servants are set foi the tutorage of discipline, they frighten, they bear hard upon them, strike them, yet do n<>t at all cease to be servants, because they are appointed to this very end, that to their masters whilst progressing they should render service even by striking them. Therefore because the ills of the children of perdition purify whilst they torment the good, even the power of the wicked is enlisted to the welfare of the just. But very often the just when seized by tribulation account the hand of Him W 1 1 *> helps them slow, when the barbarity of those persecuting them wrings them somewhat too long. And the remedies of the deliverer indeed are quickened, but that which is done quickly by the deliverer, appears slow to him that is in grief. And when there is sought help to present itself to the supplicating voice, if it does not follow the voice directly, it is reckoned that it is wanting. Whence it is said now;.///'/ there was not a,n/ one tn bring help. In which same utterance we have set forth the actual force of the suffering, because help from Above, though it is there as to the appointed providence of the protector, yet is thought to he wanting as to the quickened wishes of the sufferer. It follows;
Ver. 11. As by <> wall being broken, mul n door being open* i. they rushed in njmn me, and were rolled down tn my miseries.
.")■}. What is in this place designated by the title of ' a xxv. wall," but the Redeemer of the human race, concerning whom it is said by the Prophet for the edifying of Holy Church, There shall be set in //'•/■ '/ unit and a /"'/""/'<4/ is.26 t. For that sam< Redeemer is'a waif to us. Who forbids the i, rushing of evil spirits to reach to our hearts. Who ah ■;i bulwark1 as well to our faith, because before that He shewed Himself in flesh, ll< sent propb is - preachei Mi- mystery. Since thej are rightly entitled by the name
"i •;i bulwark1,1 b cause, whereas they preached the Lord coming alter, they stood as it were before tin- wall, nut it is as if ' the wall w< 1 broki o,1 w In n by the promptings »>l the wicked, faith, which is in our Redeemer, is done awaj in the hi arts "i some. Ami win n power is awarded to the perverse in this life, what else but 'a door1 of error is opened! And so it is as if the wall being burst asunder and the door opem '1 the wicked rush in upon the good, when power being reci ived temporally, the corrupt set themselves to ]»ull down the verv defences ol faith too in the h tarts of Borne. Conceming whom it is fltly said; And "■■ re rolled down for my mis ins; that is to say, 1 d the first instance to their own miseries. For exc pt that by living corruptly they tell before to their own ' miseries,1 they would never afterwards persuade others also to those miserii after their own the children of perdition are • rolled down to our miseries1 also, when to those <\il things wherein they are tin him Ives already involved, they draw persons as well who are linked to ourseb i b.
54. It is possible too that by the title of a wall maj be understood the defence ol discipline, as Solomon bears witiv.iv. ne-s. who Bays, / went by ttie field of the slothful, and by
2i,A<K the vineyard of the man void of understanding. And lot it was all grown over with nettles, and tht rns / d the face thereof and the stone wall town.
I or to * pass h> the held of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding,1 is to look into the life of an\ ( in 1 B8 liver, and to take a view of his deeds. N\ Inch same ' nettles 01 thorns fill up,' because in the hearts of the can 1' Bs, itching earthly desires and the prickles of had
\\\[ that is idle. 'The stone wall was pulled down," i.e. the
Ban. bat discipline ol the lathers was loosened from his heart. For 1" cause ' the stone wall bl ing pulled down' he saw that discipline was loosened, he directly added in that place going on; Then I taw <iu<l laid it up in my heart; and byes ihe Elect a < m brought to nought. Desires of the weak/ail. 491 ample I learned instruction. And therefore as it u< re ihe Booi wall being bars! the enemy enters in, when by the crafty persuading either of evil spirits, or of bad nun. the defenci b of discipline in the heart are scattered away. Hut win n the rigour of thai same discipline is relaxed in the heart of the lost, in their eyes all the deeds of the good are had in contempt, and they account it nothing, whatever they see relating to virtues in the Elect. And hence it is added;
55. For in the reckoning of the wicked we are ' brought xxvi. to nought,1 when those temporal goods, which they themselves love as chief, we do not retain in our hands. Because the promises from Above being disregarded tiny desire the tilings of earth, and if ever aught rises up in tie.' mind of thos< in the way of longing after the Eternal world, it is quickly done away by transitory gratification springing up. And hence it is directly subjoined;
As the wind thou didst take away my desire.
Since the faithful People declares that itself suffers that, wherein those whom it loves it grieves should suffer. Thus ' the wind takes away desire,' when any transitory object docs away the longing after Eternity. And hence it is yet further fitly subjoined; And as a cloud my health hath passed away. Since the cloud towers on high, but the breath of wind drives it into career. Thus, surely, then is it with tin' temporal good things of the wicked. They appear as it were by loftiness of honour to pass their lime as on high, but they are daily driven on to the career of life as by a kind of blasts of their mortality. So ' health passes as a cloud,' because the glory of the wicked, in the degree that it is lofty, is not lixed. Hut after the desires and the courses of persons going weakly have been finished, the discourse is made to turn to the voice of the Elect, when it is forthwith introduced,
Ver. 1(>. But now my soul in mine oien self' is withered, dud the days of affliction hare taken hold upon me.
56. Since ' the soul' of the Eli et ' w ithers now,' because it is xxvii. afterwards made green in that eternal triumphing. ' Xow, the days of affliction take hold upon them,' because the days of joy follow afterwards. As it is written, To him that 1 feareth Hod it shall go well at the last. And again it js1,13-19-
Job ao, delivered touching the Church, And the shall laugh in
-j — tlir his/ ilti//. For now is the time of afflictioD to the good, thai one day exulting may follow them apart from tears. Hi nee it i- elsewhere —aid 1>\ those, Thou hasi i«j, ' humbled us in //"■ place <>f affliction. Since * the place of affliction1 is tin present lift*, so the righteous here below, i. e. ' in the place of affliction,1 arc ' humbled,' because in the eternal life, i. o. in the place of delight, tiny are ele\ ated.
Hut when lie said that ' the SOU] "as withered.' he rightly put before too, in mine nun self; because in our own selves, indeed, our soul is afflicted, l»ut in God refreshed, and it is become far removed from the greenness of joy, in proportion as still being withheld from the light of the Creator, it draws back to itself, lint then it attains to the greenness of true joy, when being lilted up by the grace of eternal contemplation it even transcends its very self. Now these particulars which we have run through by allegorical investigating, it is requisite that we hold in all points alter the history as well. Which particulars however 1 now lor this reason pass Over, because I am not unaware that they are plain to those that read them. Now in the days of final persecution, because there are many that are lost and a small number that are saved, for this reason the holy man, in the time of his suffering, both utters few particulars touching the good, and a great many touching the wicked. And hence he directly turns his words to the person of those who arc brought to the ground, and so conveys his own circumstances, that the things he relates may accord with those that fall. Thus ii follows;
Ver. 17. /// the night season my bone is pierced with pangSj and they thai ail me sleep not. wix. 57. [fwe mark the history by itself, th< case appears plain, because the body of the holy man, through the hollow- of ulcers, a swarming multitude of worms was wounding. But if we dive into the mystery of the allegory, what are denoted \>\ ' ihe bones/ hut tin strong ones severally in the body of
Holy Church; Who, as it wen-, by their solidity hold together the members, while they hear with Btedfastness the practices of those going weakly. Hut when the heal of the last tribulation is grown to a head against her, in flic >ii</li(
Sonet of the Church pierced: her garment wasted. 198 season her bone is pierced nit It pangs; I x1 cause sometimes Book being overcome with torments, even the very persona let! ' themselves run off to faithlessness, who seemed to be keeping fast others to the faith. Therefore she Bays, /// the night season my bone is pierced with pangs. As though she said in plain words," Pressed with the darkness of tribulation, they are so penetrated with affliction, that even the very persons, who had within me the firmness of strength, have now, as it were, a kind of piercing of fear.1 And it is well said, And they that eat me take no sleep; because the evil spirits, that ' eat up' all the carnal out of the Church, know not how to rest from tempting in proportion as they are not burthened with any weight of ilesh. But the persecutors of Holy Church, because they are very corrupt, would that they were few in number! It goes on;
Ver. 18. /// the multitude of them is my garment consinned, <uid they have bound me about as with the collar of mi/ axil.
58. If we give heed to the history, what else do we take xxix. 1 the garment' of blessed Job for, but his body? whose ' garment indeed is consumed' when the flesh is put to torment. But according to the mystery of allegory, ' the garment1 of Holy Church is the life of the faithful. For as the whole Church together is ' the garment' of Christ so the faithful severally are accounted ' garments' of that same Church. For if Holy Church were not Christ's ' garment,' Paul surely would not say, That He might present it /oEph. 5, Himself' a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle; i. e. 27' neither in respect of sin ' having spot,' nor in respect of a double mind ' having wrinkle,' because both by righteousness she is clean, and by a single bent stretched. She then that is washed that she should not ' have spot,' and stretched that she should not ' have wrinkle,' assuredly is a ' garment.' Therefore as the clothing of Christ is the name given to the whole Church in general, so the clothing of the Church are the souls of the several persons which being converted from error, by believing that same Church, encircle her by attaching themselves with faithfulness to her. Concerning which same the Lord saith to that Church by the Prophet, As I live, Is. 49, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely be clothed with them all, 1S' i:>i Enemies would throttle the church; hold her at mire.
Job so, a« with an ornament. But when the storm of cruel persecu- — ^— tion arises, rerj many of the Faithful arc separated from the love thereof, who Beemed to have themselves attached to her heartily. So then let her say, /// the multitude of them is)//)/ garment consumed; because whilst there are many that torment, the greatest Dumber arc brought to an end, who were attached to her by the binding tie of lore.
59. Now it is well added. And have bound me about at with the collar of my com. since ' the collar of a coat' encircles the neck of the wearer, but if the neck is tied up, the use of the voice and the puff of life is done for. Holy Church, then, do the children of perdition ' tie up as with a collar of a coat,' because they endeavour by their persecutions to put out in her the life of faith, and the voice of preaching. Since this thing her persecutors are in a special manner wont to essay, that before all things they may take away from her the word of preaching. And hence these persons who withstood the fust beginnings of the holy faith told the Apostl( s.\. i- 6, beat) d with rods, Baying, Did we not straitly command you that ye should not tench in this namef and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine. So the body of Holy
Church they had as it were girded with ' the collar of a coat/ who, the preachers being tied up, as it were pressing her neck, wished to shut up the way of the voire in her. Hut the several Elect are more ready to (lie in the time of their persecution than to hold their peace. Who whilst they are brought down in death in the body, are accounted despicable and mean by all the foolish and the < arnal, because when the lost are unable to Bee wbal good things the Elect hold in the spirit, these whom they Bee brought to an end in the flesh, they account unhappy. And hence it is added;