Morals on the Book of Job (Moralia)

43. What is this sea, except our heart, agitated by fury, xix. embittered by strife, swelling with the haughtiness of pride, darkened by the deceit of wickedness? And how mightily this sea rages, any one observes, who understands in himself the secret temptations of thoughts. For behold we arc now abandoning our perversities, we are adhering to proper desires, we are now cutting off, outwardly, our wicked works. But yet we are secretly harassed within, by that tempest of our former life, with which we have come thus far; and unless the barriers of unbounded fear were confining it, with the thought of the judgment, and dread of eternal torment, all the foundations of the work which has been raised up in us would have utterly fallen. For if that which rages within in suggestion, were to burst forth in deliberate act, the whole fabric of our life would have lain utterly overthrown- For being conceived in iniquity and born in sin, we bring with us into this world a contest, through the plague of innate corruptions, which we must strive hard to overcome. Whence it is rightly said also of the sea; When it was breaking forth, as if proceeding from the icomb.

Job 38, For youth is the womb of evil thought. Of which the Lord says by Moses, For the sense and thought of the human heart is prone to evil from its youth. For the evil of corruption which each one of us has acquired from the springing up of his carnal desires, he exercises as he advances in years; and unless the hand of Divine fear speedily repress it, sin quickly swallows up all the goodness of created nature. Let no one then attribute the victory over his thought to himself, since the Truth says. Who shut up the sea icith doors, when it was breaking forth, as if it was proceeding from the womb? For did not Divine grace restrain the waves of our heart, from the very first beginning of our thoughts, the sea, raging with the storms of temptations, would doubtless have overwhelmed the land of the human heart, so that, washed by the briny waves, it would have become barren; that is, it would have been charmed by the fatal pleasures of the flesh, and have perished. The Lord then alone shuts up the sea with doors, Who opposes to the evil motions of our hearts the barriers of inspired fear. But because we are prohibited following those things which we behold, because we are debarred from the enjoyment of bodily pursuits, we delight to raise the eyes of our mind even to things invisible, and to behold those very things we are ordered to follow. But what do we? These things are not yet open to our feeble sight. Behold we are invited to their love, and yet are restrained from their sight, because even if we ever see them by stealth and partially, we are in darkness from our still too imperfect sight. Whence it is filly subjoined;

Ver. 9. When I was laying the cloud as the garment thereof, and was covering it with darkness as with swaddling clothes. XX. 44. This tumultuous sea, (our heart, namely, agitated by thoughts,) is covered with a cloud; because it is so obscured by the confusion of its own restlessness, as not clearly to behold inward peace. This sea is covered with darkness as with swaddling clothes, because it is still kept from the contemplation of sublime truths, by its weak and tender senses. Let us behold Paul covered as it were with a kind of dark- 1 Cor. ness, as with swaddling clothes, when he says. We now see

Man's strength limited. Sin restrained hy inspired Virtues. 999 ihroiKih a qlass darklu: but ilien face to face. Noiv I know Book in part, hut then shall I know even as also I am known. For did he not perceive that he was a child in the understanding of heavenly things, he would not have first mentioned, on this point, a comparison of his age, saying, 1Vhen\ Cor. / was a child, I spake as a child, I wnderstood as a cliild,^^^ ^^^ I thought as a child. We therefore then attain to the strength of youth, when we behold with strong sight that life to which we are tending. But now, since the keenness of our sight is dazzled, through its infirmity, by the light within, our mind is, as it were, held bound by swaddling clothes. Where it is fitly subjoined;

45. For the Lord surrounds this sea with His boundaries, xxi. because He keeps low within the limits of contemplation our heart which is still agitated by the plague and trouble of its corruption; that (though it desires more) it may not ascend higher than the limit assigned to it. Or certainly the Lord surrounds this sea with His boundaries; because He calms by the secret distributions of His gifts our heart swelling with temptations: at one time keeping a wicked suggestion from arriving at pleasure, and at another a wicked pleasure from breaking out into consent. He then, Who watches the unlawful motions of the heart, and in some cases keeps them from coming as far as to consent, but in others restrains them even from delight, doubtless imposes l)oundaries on the raging sea, that it burst not forth in act, but that the gently murmuring wave of temptation may dash itself within the secret recesses of the mind. But because it is then mightily restrained, when it is opposed by deliglit in God and by inspired virtues, it is rightly subjoined;

Ver. 10, 11. And I set a bar and doors, and said, Hi- Uicrto shall thou come, and thou shall not proceed further, and here shall thou break thy swelling ivaves.

46. For what do we understand by ' doors,' in a moral xxii, sense, but virtues, and what by a ' bar,' but the strengtli of charity.'' These doors, therefore, that is, these virtuous deeds, the raging sea rends asunder, unless charity of mind, secretly ])laced against them, holds them together. But all the goodness of virtues is easily destroyed by a temptation

Job 38, of the heart rushing upon them, iniless it be kept firm by ■ charity rooted within. Whence also when Paul was, in his preaching, opposing certain doors of virtues to the sea of temptation, he immediately added to them, as it were, Col. 3, the strength of a bar, saying, But above all these things having charity, tvhich is the hand of perfectness. For charity is called the bond of perfectness, because every good deed which is done, is doubtless fastened thereby, so as not to perish. For any work is speedily plucked up by the tempter, if it is found free from the bond of charity. But if a mind is constrained by the love of God and of its neighbour, when the motions of temptations have suggested to it any wicked thoughts, this very love opposes itself to their progress, and breaks the waves of sinful persuasion by the gates of virtues, and the bar of inmost love. Because therefore the Lord restrains the sins which spring up in the heart, by the sti'ength of inspired charity, He checks the onset of the rising sea, by barriers barred against it. Anger, it may be, exasperates within, but, that heavenly peace may not be lost, the aid of the tongue is not lent to the agitation of the mind, so that that which sounds tumultuously in the recesses of the heai't does not vent itself in words. Lust is kindled in the secret thoughts, but, that it lose not its heavenly purity, thy mind chastens those limbs, which could help to further the uncleanness conceived within; lest the filthiness of the heart should exhale to the corruption of the body. Avarice excites; but, that it lose not the kingdom of heaven, the mind, contented with its own lot, confines itself within the bounds of parsimony, lest it should break out in wicked deeds, and lest the heat of inward desire should ooze forth into outward acts. Pride puffs up a man; but, that he lose not his true dignity, by considering that he is dust, he brings himself down from the loftiness of his conceived pride; striving, doubtless, that that which he endures in the suggestion of thought, may not burst forth into outward exercise. It is well said, therefore, / set a bar and doors, and said. Hitherto shall thou come, and thou shalt not proceed further, and here shalt thou break thy swelling waves, because while each of the Elect is both assaulted by sin. and yet refuses to act upon evil suggestions, the sea is kept, as it were, within job warned not to attribute this to himself. 301 bounds. And tboush it lashes the nnnd \vithin, with the Book tumultuous waves of thoughts, yet it passes not over the appointed bounds of holy living. This sea indeed swells itself up, but when it is dashed against the firm deliberation of the heart, it is broken and retires. That blessed Job, then, may not ascribe it to himself that he stands firmly against the storms of his heart, let him hear by the voice of God; Wlio shut up the sea with doors, when it was breaking forth as if proceeding from the ivomb? and the rest: as if it were plainly said to him; In vain thou regardest thyself in thy good deeds without, if thou dost not consider Me within, Who calm in thee the waves of temptation. Toy that thou art able to withstand the waves in act, is of My might, Who break the waves of temptation in the heart.

i, 1. Our Lord Jesus Christ, in that He is the Power and

Wisdom of God, is born of the Father before all times, or rather, because He neither began, nor ceased to be born, let

1 natus."us say more truly that He was ever born*. Yet we cannot

2nasci- say. He is ever being born -, lest He should seem imperfect.

But in order that He may be designated both eternal and perfect, let us say that He was even ever born, so that ' born' may relate to His perfection, and ' ever' to His eternity. In order that, in some way or another, that Essence which is without time may be able to be described in words of time.

Although in calling Him perfect, we deviate much from the

3 factum expression of His truth, since that which has not been made'',

*perfec- cannot be called perfect*. And yet the Lord says, con-

M™tt 5 descending to our words of infirmity, Be ye perfect, even as

48. your heavenly Father is perfect. In that Divine Sonship therefore He could not be discerned by the human race, wherefore He came in human nature, to be seen; He wished to be seen, in order to be imitated. Which birth of the flesh appeared contemptible to the wise ones of the world; for they despised the weaknesses of His humanity, judging them unworthy of God. And man was the more His debtor, 1 Cor. 1, the more God took on Himself indignities for his sake. For since the ivorld by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. As if

He were saying, When the world by its wisdom found not

God, Who is Wisdom itself, it seemed good that it should behold God made Man throu<^h ihe foolishness of humanity. Book in order that His Wisdom might come down to our folly, and that our dail<ness, when enlightened by means of the clay John 9, of its own flesh, might behold the light of heavenly Wisdom. Born therefore of the Father, before all time, He deigned to be born of His Mother in time, in order that by confining His birth between a beginning and an end, He might disclose to eyes of the human mind that birth, which neither rises from a beginning, nor is bounded by an end. Whence it is now well said to blessed Job,

Ver, 12. Hast thou commanded the morning since thy birth, and hast thou sheivn to the day-spring its j)lfice?

2. Thou understandest, as I. For the origin of His ii. Divinity has no before and after. And while Its ever being is through all eternity, while It circumscribes eveiy thing which passes away. It bounds vv-ithin Itself the ebbings and Sowings of times. But because the origin of His Humanity began and ended, It received from time a before and after. But because, when He took on Himself the shadows of our temporal being, He shed on us the light of His eternity, after this beginning which the Creator made for Himself in time, the day-spring rightly learned its own place without time. For because the dawn, or day-spring, is turned from darkness into light, the whole Church of the Elect is, not improperly, designated by the name of dawn, or day-spring. For whilst it is brought from the night of unbelief to the light of faith, it is laid open to the splendour of heavenly brightness, as the dawn bursts into day after the darkness. Whence it is also well said in the Song of Songs, Who isshe^ol. that Cometh forth as the rising dawn? For Holy Church, io°^ ' seeking for the rewards of the heavenly life, is called the dawn, because, while it leaves the darkness of sin, it shines with the light of righteousness.

3. But we have a deeper point to examine, on considering the nature of the dawn, or day-spring. For the day-spring, or dawn, announces that night has already passed, but yet does not present to us the full brightness of day: but whilst they dispel the one, and take up the other, they keep the light intermingled with darkness. What then are all we who follow the truth in this life, but day-spring, or dawn?

Job 38, Because we now both do some tilings which are of the light,

'-— and yet are hitherto not fiee from some remains of the dark- Ps. 143, i^ggs For it is said to God by the Prophet, In Thy sight

James shall no man living he justijied. And it is written again,

23. ' law in my members, ivarring against the law of my mind, and leading me captive to the law of sin which is in my members. Where then the law of sin is contending with the law of the mind, there is surely still day-break; because the light, which has already shone forth, has not yet entirely overpowered the passing darkness. It is yet day-break; because while the law of the flesh assails the law of the mind, and the law of the mind that of the flesh, light and darkness are contending one against the other. Whence, when Paul

Rom. was saying again, TIte night is far spent; he did not subjoin, ' The day has come,' bnt. The day is at hand. For he who says, after the departure of night, not that the day

* has arrived,' but that it is ' at hand,' doubtless proves that he is still in twilight before the sun, and after the darkness.

4. But the Church of the Elect will then be fully day, when the shade of sin will be no longer blended with it. Tt will then be fully day, when it has been brightened with the perfect warmth of the inward light. It will be then fully day, when tolerating no longer the seducing remembrance of its sins, it will conceal from itself even all the remains of darkness. Whence also this dawn is well pointed out as still only in progress, when it is said, And hast thou shewn to the day-spring its place? For that, whose place is pointed out, is certainly being called from one condition to another. For what is the place of dawn but the perfect brightness of the eternal vision? And when it has been conducted and has arrived thither, it has no longer any of the darkness of the past night. But now, when it is still enduring the annoyances of temptations, because the Church is in intention of heart hastening to another condition, the dawn is proceeding to its place. But if it did not behold this spot with its mind, it would still remain in the night of this life. But when it is daily striving to be perfected, and daily to be increased in light, it already beholds its place, and seeks for the sun to shine fully upon it. The dawn considers its place, when a holy soul is burning to contemplate the sight Book of its Creator. The dawn was busily engaged in reaching — '. — '— its place, when David was saying, My soul ihirsteth for i]ie'PsA2,2. lifing God; when shall I come and appear before the face of God? The Truth was pointing out its place to the dawn, when It was saying by Solomon, i^or ultat hath the vise Ecdes. more than the fool? and uJiat the poor ^ except to go thither ' ' ichere there is life? And this place our Lord after His birth doubtless manifested even to the Patriarchs who preceded His Incarnation; because unless they knew, by the spirit of Prophecy, that the King of their heavenly country was to become Incarnate, they would not see how desirable are the goods of this same country. The Truth made known its place to the dawn, when in the presence of His disciples He asked His Father, saying, Father, I ivill that tliey also John\7, whom Thou hast given 31e, he with Me uhere I am. He ' pointed out its place to the dawn, when saying, W]ieresoeierls\?A.ii, the carcase is, there iviU also the eagles he gathered tngelher. ' The dawn was hastening to arrive at this place, which it had known, when Paul was saying that he had a desire to iePhil. i, dissolved, and to he with Christ. And again. To vie to live.?', is Christ, and to die is gain. And again. We knoiv that if 2 Cor. our earthly house of this habitation ivere dissolved, we^' ^' have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. But He well says that He shewed its place to the dawn after His birth, because before He Himself made known the blessedness of future retribution by His own Body, He confined it in the knowledge of a k\v. But when He took the infirmities of a human birth, He extended the knowledge of coming glory in the love of a countless multitude. But because compassion so carries on the mystery of the Divine work, that anger still attends it, in order that the secret Judge may look favourably on and ransom some, and pass over and ruin others, since we have learnt how He enlightens the Elect by His Incarnation, let us now hear how He condemns the reprobate. It follows;

Ver. 13. Hast Thou held and shaken the ends of the earth, and hast TIiou shaJcen the wicked out of it?

5. The Lord ' held the ends of the earth,' because He iii. came in the end of the world to the synagogue which was

Job 38, now fbrsaken and subject to foreign kings: and He shook \^~^^' the wicked out of it, because He cast out even from the glory of the carnal sacrifice, those who denied the spnitual preaching of the failli. Or He certainly held the ends of the earth, because He chose out of Judaea a few abject and humble men. He held the ends of the earth, because He forsook the doctors of the law, and chose fishermen. And while He holds the ends of the earth, He shakes the wicked out of it, because while He strengthens weak believers, He condemns the sturdy unbelievers therein. But the word ' shaking,' He also rightly added: because by His coming He stirred up even the hearts of the reprobates with immeasurable fear. Johni2,For they in truth were shaken who were saying, We prevail viothmg, hehold, the ivhole world is gone after Him. But a thing which is shaken is wearied out by being drawn hither and thither. Judaea therefore had been shaken, which was John 7, saying of Christ by some, That He is a good Man, and- was resisting Him by others, saying. Nay; but He deceiveih the John 9, people. It was saying by some, If this Man were not of ^^' God, He could do nothing. And at last it exclaims by- John 1 8, others, //' this Man were not a malefactor, tee would not \ have delivered Him up unto thee. The reprobate were shaken indeed but not prostrated, when at one time they beheld the miracles with wonder, and at another despised and derided the disgraces of His weakness. Had not they been Johnio, shaken, vvlio were saying, How long dost Thou hold our soul in suspense Y If Thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Or He certainly shook and held the ends of the earth, because when, He terrified the feeble hearts of the humble with pious fear,! He did not abandon them to strict judgment. For the multitude of the believers in God stood more firmly, from the same reason that it was alarmed when humbled in itself. For that God holds firm the person whom He shakes, Is. 66, He teaches by the Prophet, saying, On tchom shall My LXX. Spirit rest, but on the humble and quiet, and Hii?i who trembleth at My words? That He holds the person whom He shakes, is intimated by the testimony of Solomon, who Prov. says, Happy is the man who feareih alway, but he that is 28)^4. Qj^ Q^ jffiyd jigdYi shall fall into mischief. Because therefore the Lord held the ends of Judaea in the Apostles, and reiecled therefrom the Scribes, and Pharisees, and llit'h Book

Priests, as the merit of their iniquity demanded, let us hear- what is still added respecting their condemnation. It follows; Ver. 14. The seal shall be restored as clay^aud shall stand as a garment.

6. Whot else but ' clay' did the Lord find the people of iv. Israel, whom He came unto when given up to the practices of the Gentiles, and toiling at bricks in Egypt? And whilst

He led it forth by so many miracles to the land of promise, and filled it, when brought thither, with the knowledge of His wisdom, whilst He conferred on it so many secret mystei-ies by means of Prophecy, what else did He make it but a * seal' for presen-ing His mystery? For Divine Prophecy itself kept secret, whatever the Truth revealed of Itself at the end. But when, after so many Divine secrets, after the many miracles which it witnessed at the coming of our Redeemer, it loved its land, in preference to the truth, (saying by the Priests, If ne let Him thus alone, all mcnJohwU, will believe on Him, and the Romans tcill come, and take away our place and nation;) it returned, as it were, to those bricks, which it had left in Egypt: and that which had been made the seal of God, turned back again to that which it had abandoned. And, having been a ' seal,' it appeared as ' clay' in the eyes of the Truth, when it lost, through the wickedness of impiety, the mysteries of the word, which it had received, and chose to savour only of the things of earth, which pollute.

7. Where it is fitly subjoined, And shall stand as a garment. For because garments which are unfinished and of thicker texture, even when put on, do not adhere, nor are well fitted to the limbs of the wearer, they are said to stand. Judaea therefore, even when it seemed to be labouring in the knowledge of the truth, stood as a garment; because it professed to serve God in external commands, but refused to cling to Him by the understanding of love. While it observed the letter only, in the precepts of God, and did not through the Spirit unite itself to their inmost meanings, it did not cling, so to speak, to Him Who had put it on. Where it is also fitly subjoined,

Ver. 15. From the wicked their light shall be taken away.

Job 38, 8. Because, while they refuse to believe the truth, they —^ — lose for ever the knowledge of the Law, and while they boast All'eg. o^ having received the Law, they are, doubtless, blinded Ps. 69, by boasting of their knowledge. For it is written, Let their eyes be darkened that they see not. And again it is written, Is. 6,10. Blind the hearts of this people, and make their ears heavy. John 9, And again it is written, For judgment I have come into this world, that they which see not might see, and that they tchich see might he made blind. And because they boasted themselves in the works of the Law against the Giver of the

Law, it is fitly subjoined;

And the high arm shall be broken. vi. 9. For the high arm is broken, when the proud works of the Law are reproved, by preaching the grace of faith, when Eom. 3, it is said, By the deeds of the Law there shall no jlesh be

10. But all these words can be understood in another sense also. For Holy Scripture is wont to call the Church * earth.' The Lord therefore holds and shakes the ends of the earth, because He allows the ends of His Church to be agitated by most cruel persecution through the coming of Antichrist, and yet forsakes her not, by permitting it. Sometimes the Lord holds this earth, and shakes it not; sometimes He holds and shakes it; because He possesses it at one time with the tranquil peace of faith, at another orders it to be disturbed with the assault of persecution.

11. But when saying. Hast thou held and shaken the ends of the earth, He rightly added immediately. And hast thou shaken the nicked out of it? For as Paul bears

Tit. ], witness, there are many therein, who profess tJiat they know God, but in works deny Him. The Lord therefore shakes the wicked out of it, because those, whom deep-seated sins possess, will then fall into the gulph of open unbelief, and pass over to the heap of chaff, when moved by the breath of that temptation. And though they now conceal themselves within the bosom of the threshing floor, under the semblance of iailh, they will then, doubtless, bound forth from the heap of grain, by the fan of strict judgment.

12. Whence it is also fitly subjoined. The seal shall be restored, as clay. As if he were openly saying; They who now appear in the Ijosoni of the Chmxh as a * seal,' will then Book in the sight of all men be restored as ' clay:' that is, they ^^^^; deceive not the judgments of men concerning their profession of religion, but it is proved that they savour of earthly things. For Holy Scripture is wont to use the word ' seal' for faith, and ' clay' for iniquity. For the younger son, who returned to his father, having consumed his substance, received aLukei5, ring as a yjresent. For the Gentile people, which returns to * God, by penitence, having lost ils immortality, is defended by the seal of faith. Whence also it is said to the Church by its Bridegroom, Set Me as a seal upon thine heart. ForSul. a seal is placed on things for the very purpose that they may g°"^ ^' not be violated by any boldness of plunderers. The Bridegroom therefore is placed as a seal on the heart, when the mystery of His faith is imprinted for the safe keeping of our thought; in order that that unfaithful servant, namely our adversary, observing our hearts sealed by faith, may not presume to bi'eak in upon them with temptation. But by ' clay' worldly infection is set forth, as the Psalmist bears witness, who says, He brought me up out of the pit of misery, Ps.40 2. and the deepest clay. Because many then who are found in worldly infection, are sealed, when brought to the Chui'cb, with the sacrament of heavenly faith, and yet depart not from their wicked deeds, and conceal themselves now under the cloke of faith, and yet shew what they really are, when they have found an opportunity, it is rightly said. The seal shall he restored as clay. For those whom we now believe to be faithful, we shall then find to be the very enemies of the faith; and though, when not tempted, they appear to be a ' seal,' they will doubtless, when lempted, be ' clay.' Whence also it is rightly said, Shall be restored: for their reprobate life proves them afterwards to be such, as their conscience could have done before their faith. Of whom it is fitly subjoined. And shall stand as a garment.

1 3. For Holy Church is now clothed as i-t were with garments, as many in number as the faithful, by whose veneration she is honoured. Whence also when the Gentiles were shewn to her, it is said by the Lord through the Prophet; As I live, Is. 49. saith the Lord, thou shall surely be clothed with all these,^^' as irifh an ornament. But she is now arrayed, in ap-

Job 38, peavance only, with many who seem to be faithful, but when

'- — the assault of persecution strikes them, she will be stripped of them and laid bare; of whose fate it is said, And it sliall stand as a garment. But to ' stand' is put in this place

Ps. 1,1. for persisting in sin. Whence it is written, And stood not in the tray a/' sinners. Or certainly every reprobate is said to ' stand as a garment,' to shew that he cannot stand at all.

Because, as a garment, when put on, is stretched by the body, in displaying its appearance, but when taken off is bent and folded together; so every one, who has fallen back from the stability of Holy Church, was stretched out, as it were, and beautiful, while being worn, but will lie alterwards, when stripped off, broken down and cast aside. But if by

' standing' we understand ' continuance,' every reprobate person who endures a short time in this life, which he loves, stands as a garment. Whence also it is said by the Prophet, Ps. 102, ^// shall ivax old as a qctrnietit., and as a covering shalt 26.

thoa change them, and the;/ shall be changed. These points therefore, which he introduced veiled in a cloud of allegory, he now makes known in plainer words, adding, From the wicked their light shall be taken aivay.

vii. 14. For neither does the light of God now^ illumine those, who veil the malice of their iniquity with the name of faith.

For while they neglect to live according to the preaching of faith, and yet in aj^pearance reverence it, they seek for the honour of this present life under the name of religion; and they gain this light from faith, as faith cherishes them in the sight of men. But there are some who sincerely believe the eternal truths which they hear, and yet contradict by evil living the very faith which they profess. These also have their light in darkness, for while they act perversely and yet think rightly about God, they are illumined in a measure by the shining of a light, so as not to be quite in darkness.

And while they love the things of earth more than those of heaven, those that they see more than those they hear of, when the season of persecution assaults them, they lose that sound belief they seemed to possess. And this is specially the case, in a greater degree, at that time, when the head of the wicked himself arising, in the last persecution, against

Holy Church, his boldness attacks it with unrestrained strength. Then is the heart of each one laid open, when Bock whatever lay concealed is exposed, and they who are now ' holy in words, but unholy in heart, fall headlong, on their wickedness being made public, and lose the light of faith which they had in appearance possessed. But it is necessary, amidst all this, for each of us to return to the hidden recess of his heart, and to fear at the fatal results of his doings, lest he fall, as his merits demand, into the number of such men, by the strict justice of the judgments of God.

15. But let no one inconsiderately flatter himself, and believe that he therefore is exempt from such a fall, because he thinks that lie does not reach to the storm of this tempest. O how many have beheld not the times of that temptation, and yet are involved in the storm of his temptation. Cain saw not the time of Antichrist, and yet vvas deservedly a limb of Antichrist. - Judas knew not the fierceness of that persecution, and yet yielded to the might of his cruelty, by the persuasion of avarice. Simon uas far removed from the Acts 8, times of Antichrist, and yet joined himself to his pride, by ' perversely seeking for the power of miracles. Thus a wicked body is united to its head, thus limbs to limbs, when they both know not each other in acquaintance, and yet are joined together by wicked doings. For neither had Pergamos known the books or the words of llalaam, and yet, following his wickedness, it heard in a voice of reproof from above; Thou Rev.2, hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, uho taught Balac to cast a stumblim/ block before the children of Israel, to eat and to com tn it fornication. Both times and places separated the Church of Thyatira from the knowledge of Jezebel;. but because equal guilt of life had enthralled it, Jezebel is said to dwell therein, and to persist in perverse doings, as the Angel bears witness, who says; / have a tew things against ih. 20. thee, because thou sufferest that icoman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce 3Iij servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. Behold, because they could be found, who followed the conduct of Jezebel in their reprobate deeds, Jezebel is said to have been found there: because an agreement of habits makes a corrupt body one, even if times or places sever it asunder. Whence it is that every wicked person, who has already gone

Job 38, by, survives in his perverse imitators, and that the author of iniquity, who has not yet come, is ah'eady visible in those who

1 John do his works. Hence John says; Now are there become many

' ' Antichrists, because all wicked ])ersuns are even now his members, which being in truth born in wickedness, have

2 Tlie?s. prevented their head, by evil living. Hence Paul savs. That

' ' ' he might he repealed in his time; for the mystery of iniquity doth already work. As if he were saying; Then Antichrist will be manifestly seen; for he now secretly works his hidden works in the hearts of the unrighteous. For, to say nothing of more open crimes, behold one man secretly envies his brother in his heart, and if he find an opportunity, strives to supplant him. Of what olher is he a member, but of him,

AVisd.2, of whom it is written. Through envy of the devil came death info the icorld? Another, thinking himself a person of gi'eat desert, preferring himself to all, through swelling of heart, believes all to be inferior to him. Of what other is he a Job 41, member, but of him of whom it is written, He heholdeth every high thing, and is a king over all the children of pride '^ Another seeks for the power of this world, not that he may profit others, but that he may not be subject to another. Of what other is he a member, than of him, of whom it Is. 14, is written, Wlio said, I tcill sit in the mount of the testament, in the sides of the north: I tcill ascend above the height of the clouds, I trill be like the 3Iosl High? For the Most High alone so rules over all things, as to be unable to be subject to another. Whom the devil perversely wished to imitate, when seeking dominion of his own, he refused to be subject to Him. Whoever therefore seeks for power of his own, imitates the devil, because he loathes to submit to him who is placed over him by Divine ordinance.

16, There are many things besides, to proclaim certain persons to be faithless, though established in the peace of the Church. For I see that some persons so accept the person of the powerful, as not to hesitate, when requested by him, to deny, for his good will, the truth in the cause of a

John neighbour. And who is 'J'ruth, but He who said, / am the Way, the Truth, and the Life? For John the Baptist died not, when questioned about his confession of Christ, but about the truth of justice; but because Christ js the 'J ruth, he therefore went even to death for Christ, because namely Book for the truth. Let us suppose that a person has, when ques ' tioned, accepted the person of the powerful, and has denied • the truth, that he might not suffer the wrong even of a word. What, I pray you, would he do in the pain of punishments, who was ashamed of Christ among the scourges of words? Behold, even after this he is still a Christian before the eyes of men, and yet if God resolved to judge him strictly, he is one no longer.

17. But I see others, to whom are assigned, through their position as teachers, the duties of exhorting and rej^roviug, who behold some unlawfulness committed, and who yet, when afraid of losing the good will of certain powerful persons, presume not to reprove it. What else doth he, whoever he be, but see the wolf coming, and flee away? He flies, because he was silent; he was silent, because he despised eternal grace, and preferred temporal glory. Behold he hid himself within the concealments of his silence before the face of a powerful man, and gave way as to open persecution, so also to secret fear. It is well said of such; They loved the praise of men more than the praise john of God. If these things are strictly judged, whoever is such, ^^' ^^' even though public persecution was wanting, yet denied Christ by his silence. There are not wanting then, even in the peace of the Church, the temptations of Antichrist. Let no one then dread those times of the last persecution, as though the only ones. For the cause of Antichrist is continually promoted among the ungodly, because he is even now secretly working his mystery in their hearts. And even if many, now seemingly established within the Church, pretend to be what they are not, they will yet at the coming of the Judge be exposed, as they are. Of whom Solomon well says, I saw the wicked buried, who even when they lived Ecdes. here, were in the holy place, and were praised in the city, as^' ^^• men of Just works. A^er it was said then of the wicked; The seal shall be restored as clay, and shall stand as a garment, and their light shall be taken away from the wicked, (which is certainly to take place in that persecution of Antichrist,) he presently, consoling us concerning the destruction of the same Antichrist, says;

Job 38, And the high arm shall he broken.

— i^ 18. For, for what else is the high arm taken, but the proud AiLEG loftiness of Antichrist, who is so exalted over the reprobate minds of men with the pride of worldly glory, that though a sinful man, and yet scorning to be counted a man, he pretends falsely that he is God above men? Whence the 2 Thess. Apostle Paul says; So that he sitteth in the temple of God, ^> ^' shewing himself, as if he were God. And to shew his pride more fully, he stated before, Who ojiposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped. For even a man can sometimes be called God, according to Exod. that which is said to Moses, See, I have made thee a god to '^'^' Pharaoh. But a mere man cannot be worshipped as God. But because Antichrist sets himself up over all holy men, and over the power of the Godhead Itself, he endeavours to sui-pass that which is called God, and that which is worshipped as God, by demanding for himself the name of glory. But we must observe into what a depth of pride he has fallen, who remained not in that degree of ruin, in which he fell. For both the devil and man fell, by pride, from the state of Is. 14, their own creation, either for him to say, / will ascend above ^^' the height of the clouds, I will be like the 3Iost High, or for Gen. 3, the Other to hear and to believe. Your eyes shall be opened, ^' and ye shall be as gods. They fell, therefore, both of them, because they desired to be like God, not by righteousness, but by power. But man who had fallen, by perversely aiming at the likeness of God, discerning, when freed by grace, that he was very different from God, through the guilt Ph.89,8. of sin, exclaims, O Lord, ivho is like unto Thee? But the devil, having been justly cast aside in his sinful lapse, continued not in his own degree of ruin; but the longer he was deprived of the grace of the Ahnighty, the more did he add to the guilt of his sins. For he who fell, because he wished, inverting the order of things, to be like God, was brought so far, that entering into Antichrist, huB scorned to seem like God, and, when condemned, coimts Him as his inferior, Whom he could not in his pride regard as his equal. For when this, which we have stated before, is said of him; 2The'is. Exalti7ig himself above all that is called God, or that is ^> *° worshipped; it is openly shewn, that by seeking at first the

GocVs mercij in convei'ting vicn from sin at the last. 315 likeness of God, ho wished, as it were,- to exalt himself Book against God, but that increasing in the sin of pride, he now —■ sets himself up above all that is called God, or that is worship]jed. Because then this his pride will be smitten by the coming of the strict Judge, (as it is written, Whom the 2Thess. Lord Jesus shall slay icith the spirit of His mouth, andshall'^' ^' destroy v:ith the brightness of His coming,) it is rightly said, And the high arm shall be broken.

19. But all these expressions, which have been twice dis- Mor. cussed, can be still understood in another sense. For the words of God are conserves ^ as it were, to give us strength. ' pig- And just as, the more a conserve is ground, the more does™^"** its virtue increase in the cup; so the more we bruise the Divine words by expounding them, the more, when we hear them, are we benefited, as if by the draught. Because therefore the merciful God long bears with the sins of men, and frequently converts the minds of sinners, when He sees the end now approaching. He rightly says of Himself, as suggesting the might of so great affection,

Ver. 13. Hast thou held and shaken the ends of the earth, and hast thou shaken the nicked out of it?

20. For by 'earth' is designated man, who savours of ix. things below; to whom it was said in his sin; Earth ihouGea.3, art, and. to earth shall thou go. But because the merci-^^' fill Creator forsakes not His own work, He both bears with the sins of men, by His wisdom, and at last remits them by their conversion. But, when He beholds hard and insensible minds, He scares them at one time with threats, at another with blows, at another with revelations: in order that those which had become hardened by most fatal security may be softened by wholesome fear, so that they may, though at last, return, and blush at least at this, that they have long been waited for. For thus the Lord, because He judges more severely the ends of our life, therefore purges also His Elect more carefully at the close. For it is written; «

God shall judge the ends of the earth. He therefore watches i Sam. more anxiously over our closing deeds, the more He con- ' * siders that the beginnings of our coming life depend upon them. And because He does this of His mercy; by bringing forward His tenderness, with which He receives even those sinners who have been converted at the last. He instructs

Job 38, the righteousness of blessed Job, saying; Hast t/iou held i^' il'_ and shaken the ends of the earth, and hast thou shaken the wicked out of it? Thou unclerstandest, As T, Who frequently arouse sinners by alarming them at their last moments, hold them fast by converting them, and pluck from their hearts the wicked motions of their thoughts. And the Lord rightly teaches blessed Job, how He converts sinners at the end. As if He openly said, Observe the power of My mercy, and bring down the pride of thy righteousness. But, that that punisliment of former sin accompanies these closing hours of a man, through the death of the flesh, even when he is converted, He immediately teaches, saying;

Ver. 14. The seal shall he restored as clay, and shall stand as a garment. X. 21. For the Lord made man, whom He fashioned after His own likeness, as a kind of seal of His power. But yet it shall be restored as clay; because, though he may by conversion escape eternal sufferings, yet he is condemned by the death of the flesh, in punishment of the pride he has committed. For man, who has been formed from clay, and adorned with the likeness of the Divine image, having received the gift of reason, forgets, when swelling with pride of heart, that he was formed of the basest materials. Whence it hath betm ordered by the marvellous justice of the Creator, that, because he became proud in consequence of that reasonable sense which he received, he should again by death become earth, which he was unwilling humbly to regard himself. And because he lost the likeness of God by sin, but returns by death to the substance of his own clay, it is rightly said; The seal shall be restored as clay. And because, when the spirit is summoned from the body, it is stripped, as it were, of its kind of covering of flesh, it is fitly subjoined of the same clay; and shall stand as a garment. For, for our clay to stand as a garment is for it to remain * empty and stripped off, even till the time of the resurrection.

But because even they do not escape this punishment of pride, who overcome this very pride by living humbly. He subjoins what is the special punishment of the proud, saying;

Ver. \b. From the wicked their light shall be taken away, and the high arm -shall be broken.

22. For the deatli of the flesh, wliich restores the Elect to Book their light, takes away their light from the reprobate. For ". ■ the light of the proud is the glory of this present life. And ^^' that light is then withdrawn from it, when it is called by the ckath of the flesh, to the darkness of its own retributions.

Vox then is the high arm there broken, because loftiness of heart, which has been violently seized on, beyond the order of nature, is scattered by the weight of Divine justice which overwhelms it, in order that how' wickedly it had'Oxf.

exalted itself for a while, it may learn when it is crushed for ever by the weight of judgment. But none of us would know what was to follow after death, did not the Creator of our life come even to the punishment of our death. For did He not of His own mercy seek the lowest condition, Ho could not justly bring back to the highest, us, who were lost after we had received His likeness. Whence it is rightly subjoined;

Ver. 16. Hast thou entered into the depth of the sea, and hast thou walked in the loivest parts of the abyss ^

23. As if He said, As I, Who not only sought the sea, that xii. is this world, by assuming the flesh and soul of a man, but also descended by that flesh voluntarily subjected to death, to the bottom of the pit, as if to the depths of the sea. For. if the ' sea' must be understood to mean the world after the manner of Scripture language, nothing hinders the ' depths of the sea' from meaning the bars of the pit. But the Lord sought this depth of the sea, when He entered the lowest parts of the pit, in order to rescue the souls of His Elect. Whence also it is said by the Prophet, Thou hast made the Is. 5], depths of the sea a nay, for the ransomed to pass over. For this depth of the sea was, before the coming of the Redeemer, not a way, but a prison, because it confined within it even the souls of the good, though not in places of punishment. But the Lord made this depth a way, because He, by coming thither, granted His Elect to pass over from the bars of the pit to heavenly places. Whence it is there fitly said, for the ransomed to pass over. But that which He had called the depths of the sea, repeating in other words He calls the lowest parts of the abyss: because as the abyss of waters is not comprehended by our sight, so are the secrets

Job 38, of the pit not penetrated by us with any sense of our

L^ understanding. For we behold who are withdrawn hence, but we see not what retribution of punishments awaits them according to their desert.

24. But we must carefully notice, that He says that He had walked in the lowest parts of the abyss. For to walk belongs not to one who is bound, but to one who is free.

For fetters impede to a like extent the steps of him whom they bind. Because then the Lord endured no bonds of sin,

He walked in the pit. For He came unfettered to those Ps. 88, who were bound. Whence it is written, / am become as a

^' ' man without help, free among the dead. For the Lord then to walk in the lowest parts of the abyss is for Him to find nothing to detain Him in the place of damnation, as Peter Acts 2, bears witness, who says, Having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible for Him to he holden of it. Or certainly, (because, when we are led in walldng from place to place, we are found present here and there,) the Lord is said to have walked in the pit, in order to shew that He was present to Elect souls in their several places, by the power

■Wiscl.7, of His Godhead, Whence also the spirit of wisdom is

^*' described as full of motion, that by means of that which is no where absent, He might be described as meeting us every where. And this descent of His, our Lord regards as more marvellous the more frequently He makes mention of it to ransomed man. For repeating it again. He subjoins;

Ver. 17. Hare the gates of death been opened unto thee, and hast thou seen the gloomy doors? xiii. 25. For the ' gates of death' are the adverse powers. Which the Lord descended and opened, because by dying He overcame their strength. Which are by another appellation called the ' gloomy doors,' because while they are not seen, by reason of their crafty concealment, they open to deceived minds the way of death. V/hich gloomy doors the Lord beholds; because He both observes and represses the crafty malice of unclean spirits. And did He not, by beholding, restrain them, while we know them not, our mind would both know nothing of their snares, and would be taken and perish by them. But even we behold these gloomy gates, when we are illumined with rays of heavenly light. Whence also it is said by the Prophet, The Lord is my helper, and I shall see Book mine enemies. He therefore Himself beholds our enemies,— -

Who by His gift makes our enemies visible to us. Or 7.' certainly, the Lord then beheld the gloomy gates, when penetrating the barriers of the pit, He smote the cruel spirits, and by His death condemned them that presided over death. Which is here spoken of no longer as of a future, but as of a past event; for this reason, because that which He intended to do in deed. He had already done in predestination. But because the Church increased after His death and resurrection, and was extended in all nations, it is fitly subjoined;

26. For whilst the Lord sought the narrowness of death, xiv. He spread abroad His faith in the nations, and extended Holy Church to numberless hearts of believers. To whom it is said by the Prophet, Enlarge the place (if thy ient,ls.54, and extend the curtains of thy tabernacles; spare not, lengthen thy cord^, and strengthen thy stakes: for thou shall penetrate to the right hand and to the left, and thy seed shall inherit tJie Gentiles. But this breadth of the earth would surely not exist, had He not first despised, in djdng, the life which we know, and pointed out by His rising again, the life which we know not. For He opened by His death the eyes of our minds, and shewed us what was the life which was to follow. Whence also, observing this order in the Gospel, He says to His disciples. Thus it behoved Christ to Luke24, suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should he preached in His Name through all nations. For few of the people of Israel believed at His preaching, but numberless peoples of the Gentiles followed the way of life, on His death. For He endured the proud, while He was still living in a suffering condition, but He overthrew them when dead to a life of suffering. Which Samson long before well typified in himself, for he slew but few during his life; but on the Judges destruction of the temple he slew^ a host of enemies, at his ' death. Because the Lord doubtless killed but few from their pride and haughtiness' when alive, but more, when the ' as we Temple of His body was broken in pieces: and the Elect < (fg^ri from the Gentiles, whom He endured in His life. He "°to

Job 30, subdued all at once by His death. After then He had 1^* taught us that He had penetrated the regions below, He rightly subjoined immediately the breadth of the earth to be considered. Hast thou considered the breadth, of the earth? As if He were saying to man when scourged. Think on what I have endured, and consider what I have purchased; and complain not thyself of the rod, when thou art ignorant what rewards await thee, in retribution. In the midst then of these words of the Creator, 1 think it worth while for us to turn away our eyes for a while from the common and public good, and to observe what He secretly does wilh each of ourselves. For He says;

Ver. 16. Hast thou entered the depth of the sea? XV. 27. For the ' sea' is the mind of man, and God enters its MoR. depths, when it is roused from its inmost thoughts to lamentations of penitence through its knowledge of itself, when He calls to its memory the wickednesses of its former life, and rouses the mind which is agitated by its own confusion. God penetrates the depth of the sea, when He changes hearts, which are even despaired of. For He goes into the sea, when He humbles a worldly heart; He enters the depth of the sea, when He disdains not to visit minds which are even overwhelmed with sins. Whence it is rightly added in a question; And hast thou walked in the lowest parts of the abyss? For what abyss is there, but the human mind, which while unable to comprehend itself, is like an obscure abyss, hid from itself, in every thing that it is. Whence it is well Hab. 3, said by the Prophet, The abyss uttered its voice from the depth of its thought. For whilst the human mind does not dive into itself, it praises more humbly, by comparison with itself, the power of the Divine nature, which it is unable to comprehend.

28. For God then to walk in the lowest parts of the abyss, is for Him to convert the hearts even of the wickedest men, and, by touching minds which are despaired of, with traces of His visitation, wonderfully to refashion them. For when any one feels compunction after enormous sins, what else is beheld but God walking in the lowest parts of the "abyss? For God walks, as it were, in the abyss, when He penetrates the gloomy heart, and tramples down the invisible waves of sins. For we frequently lament some sins past, and are Book being assaulted by others present; so tluit we are harassed^ - at one time by pride, at another by anger, at another by lust, and at another by avarice tempting us. But when the Lord suppresses all these in our heart by the fear of His secret visitation, what else doth He but place His steps in the abyss? Which steps we behold with the mind, when we consider how the gifts of His fear stand up to oppose these rebellious sins. For the Prophet had beheld these steps, when He was saying, Thy goings ivere seen, O Ps. 08, God, (he goings of my God, my King, IVJio is in His holy'^' place. For He who beholds the inordinate motions of his mind restrained. within him by the memory of the Divine judgments, beholds, as it were, the steps of God walking within him. Let it be said, therefore, to blessed Job; Hast thou entered the depth of the sea, and hast thou walked in the lotcest parts of the abyss? Thou understandest, as I, Who with wondrous pity trample down in the hearts of sinners, at one time anger, at another lust, at another avarice, at another rising pride. As if it were plainly said to him, If thou seest that I alone suppress the lurking vices of the heart, thou wilt cease to be puffed up with self-justification. And because when we are visited by God, we are led to confession concerning even the secret and unlawful motions of our mind, it is rightly subjoined;

Ver. 17. Hare the gates of death been opened unto thee?

29. For the gates of death are wicked thoughts: which xvi. we open to God, when we confess them with weeping in penitence. For He beholds them even when not confessed; but enters into them, when confessed. For He then in truth opens a way for Himself in the gates of death, when we have put aside evil thoughts, and He comes to us after confession. And they are called the gates of death for this reason, because the way to death is always opened through evil thoughts. Which is again repeated, Mhen it is subjoined; And hast thou seen the gloomy doors?

30. For the gloomy doors are the lurking evils of the mind, which can both exist within, and yet not be observed by another. Which yet the Lord beholds, when He destroys them by the secret look of grace. For it is written. The

Job 38, King Who sitteth in the throne of judgment, scattereth away

-^ — 'all evil with His siqlit. And because every vice contracts, Moil. "^..

Prov. and every virtue enlarges the mind, after the destruction of

^^' * vices it is rightly subjoined, Hast thou considered the breadth of the earth? For did not virtue enlarge the mind,

2Cor.6,pg^„i would not say to the Corinthians, Be ye also enlarged, and he not yoked ivith nnhelievers. But we must observe carefully that which is said;

Ver. 18. Hast thou considered the breadth of the earth? xvii. 31. For the extent of the inwardly good is not at all comj^rehended, unless it is carefully considered. For poverty frequently humbles them outwardly, the torture of punishment straitens them; but yet, in the midst of these things, their inward resolution expands itself ever to hope for heavenly rewards. The Apostles had outwardly been straitened, when they were enduring scourges; but they were standing at liberty in great width within, who had turned, in themselves, Acts 5, these very scourges into joy. For it is written, The Apostles departed from the presence of the council; rejoicing that they were counted tvorthy to suffer shame for the Name of Jesus. Paul had found this width, in his straits, who

Phil. l,said, But I wish you to know, brethren, that the things

' which happened unto me, have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel, so that my bonds in Christ tcere made manifest in all the palace. David was possessing this

Ps. 4, 1. width, in the midst of narrowness, when saying, Tliou hast enlarged me in tribulation. This earth, therefore, that is the conscience of holy men, is then enlarged when it is pressed outwardly with the adversities of this world. For when it is driven away from security in this life, it is beaten inwardly on itself, so as to stretch toward the hope of heavenly things. And when it is not allowed to wander abroad, being brought back, as it were, into its own bosom, it is enlarged. We however behold what misfortunes good men endure, but see not how much they rejoice within. We learn, on consideration, the breadth of their mind, sometimes in their words, sometimes in their deeds: but yet we know not how great is the range of that breadth in them. Let human wisdom hear then. Hast thou considered the breadth of the earth? and let it learn its own folly. As if he said. As I, Who alone

} Vays of light and darkness, the passing of good and ill. 323 fully consider the secret rejoicing of the holy, when sur- Book rounded with scourges, because I alone mercifully fashion - — i-' them. Or certainly, blessed Job is asked whether he has considered the breadth of the earth, in order that he might be humbled by the example of another's enlargement. As if it were oj^enly said to him, Consider those whom the countless evils of this world cannot confine, and cease to boast, amid thy blows, of the state of tliy own lieart. It follows;

Ver. 18 — 20. Tell Me. if tlioii knou-esl all things, in what path the light dioelleth, and what is the place of darkness? that thou mayest take each of them to the hounds iliereof and understand the paths to the house thereof.

32. Blessed Job is tried with a weighty question, in that xviii. he is examined as to the way of light and the place of darkness, whether he should bring them eacli to their boundaries, and should understand the paths to the house thereof For what is understood by the word ' light' but righteousness? and what is designated by ' darkness' but iniquity? Whence it is said to some who had been converted from the wickedness of sins, Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye Eph. 5, light in the Lord. And it is stated of some who continue " in sin. They that sleep, sleep in the night. It is said there- 1 Thess. fore to blessed Job, Tell Me, if thou knowest all things, in ' ichat path the light dMelleth, and what is the place of darkness? As if it were said to him. If thou imaginest that thou hast perfect wisdom, tell Me, either into whose heart that innocency, which is now wanting, is coming, or in whose heart that wickedness, which now exists, remains. /// what, path the light dwelleth: that is, whose mind righteousness comes and fills. And ivhat is the place of darkness, that is, in whom does blind iniquity remain. That thou mayest take each of them to the hounds thereof, that is, that thou mayest decide whether he who is now seen to be wicked, finishes his life in iniquity, and whether he who is now seen to be righteous, terminates the conclusion of his life with the perfection of righteousness. And understand the paths to the house thereof: that is, that thou mayest consider and discern, either for whom perseverance in good deeds secures an eternal mansion in the Kingdom, or whom evil habits,

324 * House^ the abiding condition, llaii's ignorance. Job sSjbiiidino- to the end, condemn to eternal punishment. For path therefore leads to a house, because our doings lead on to our resting place. But what man could speak when questioned on these points? who could hear them at least without fear? For we daily see many who shine forth u ith the light of righteousness, and who are yet at their close obscured with the darkness of wickedness. And we behold many involved in the darkness of sins, and yet at the end of their life suddenly set free and restored to the light of righteousness. We also know that many have preserved entire, even to the end, the path of righteousness which they have once found, and we have beheld that most men have heaped up without ceasing, even to the end, their wickedness which they have once begun.

33. But who, amid these clouds of secret judgments, can so dart forth the light of his mind, as to distinguish with any discernment, either who continues in sin, or who perseveres in righteousness, or who is converted from the highest to the lowest condition, or who relapses from the highest to the lowest? These points are hid from men's senses, nor is aught known of the end of any one, because the abyss of the divine judgments is not at all penetrated by the eye of the human mind. For we see that that Gentile world which was opposed to God was overspread with the light of righteousness, and that Judaea, long beloved, was darkened with the night of unbelief. We know also that the thief passed from the cross to the kingdom, and that Judas sank into hell from the glory of the Apostleship. And again, because destinies once commenced are sometimes not changed, we know that the other thief arrived at punishment, and that the Apostles enjoyed the appointed kingdom, which they had longed for. Who then can examine in what path light dwells, and what is the place of darkness, to bring each of them to its own bounds, and to understand the paths to the house thereof? I see Paul called from that cruelty of persecution to the grace of Apostleship; and yet he is so alarmed in the midst of secret judgments, as to fear that he be cast a'-ay, even after he had been called. For he says, chance, having preached to others, I myself should become Book a cast-away. And again, I count not myself to have appre- ^~-~ hended; but one thing I do, forgetting tho^e things tvhich 13. liJ ore behind, and stretching forth myself vnto those tilings tvhich are before, I follow the destined mark, to the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. I follow o/'/e/-, ibid. 12. if that I may apprehend that, for lohich also I am apprehended. And it certainly had been already said of him by the voice of the Lord, He is a chosen vessel to Me; and yet Acts 9, he still chastens his body, and is fearful of being rejected.

84. Alas for our wretched selves, who have known as yet no voice of God concerning our election, and are still slumbering in ease, as if from security. But there ought, there ought doubtless to be not only security in our hope, but also fear in our convei'sation, that the one may encourage us in the contest, the other sting us when listless. Whence it is rightly said by the Prophet, Let them that fear the Lord^Y's. 115, trust in the Lord. As if he were openly saying; He presumes in vain on his hope, who refuses to fear God in his doings. But why is blessed Job questioned on so mighty an enquiry, which is utterly unknown by men, how he understands the end of the just and of the unjust, except that he should turn to his own end, from being miable to understand that of others; and that from being ignorant of his own end, as well as others', he might be afraid at his ignorance, be humbled through his fear; from being humbled might not be elated at his own doings; and from not being elated, might remain stedfast in the citadel of grace? Let it be said then to him. Tell 3fe, if thou hast understanding, in what path the light dicelleth, and what is the place of darkness, that thou mayest take each of them to the bounds thereof. As if it were said; As thou knowest not who are converted from sin to goodness, nor who turn back from goodness to sin; so also thou dost not understand what is doing towards thyself, as thy merits deserve. And as thou dost not at all comprehend another's end, so art thou also unable to foresee thine own. For thou knowest now what progress thou hast made tliyself, but what I still think of thee in secret, thou knowest not. Thou now thinkest on thy deeds of righteousness; but thou knowest not how strictly they are weighed by Me. Woe

Job 38, even to the praiseworthy life of men, if it be judged without '— mercy, because when strictly examined, it is overwhelmed ill the presence of the Judge, by the very conduct with which it imagines that it pleases Him. Whence it is rightly said Ps. 143 to God by the Prophet, Enter not into judgment with Thy 2- servant, for in Thy sight shall no man living he just ijied.

Eccles. Whence it is well said by Solomon, There are righteous ''> ^- and trise men, and their icorks are in the hand of God: and yet no man knoweth ichether he is deserving of love, or of hatred; hut all things are kept uncertain for the time to Piov. come. Hence again it is said by the same Solomon, What 20,24. ^^idYi r^f^iii Iq (ijjif^ ffj understand his own tcay? And any one doing good or evil is doubtless known by the testimony of his conscience. But it is said that their own way is not known (o men, for this reason, because even if a man understands that he is acting rightly, yet he knows not, under the strict enquiry, whither he is going. After He has alarmed him then with this consideration of his end, He goes back to examine his beginning: and, that he may not complain wherefore knows he not his end, He mentions also that he does not even understand with what beginning he came hither. For it follows;

Ver. 21. Didst thou know then that thou uast about to he horn, and didst thou know the number of thy days? -jj_jx. '"^S. As if He were openly saying, What wonder if thou understandest not thine end, since thou dost not comprehend thy beginning? And since thou knowest not with what beginning thou camest hither, what wonder, if thou canst not tell with what end thou art taken away? If therefore it was My work to bring thee forward from secresy to sight at thy beginning, it will be Mine also to bring thee back from sight to secresy. Why complainest thou aught of the dispensation of thy life, who, ignorant of thyself, art supported by the hand of thy Creator? Thou oughtest therefore to boast thyself the less in what thou dost, the more thou art confined within the bosom of eternity, and knowest not either in what order thou camest hither, nor when, or how thou art taken hence.

3G. But these words can yet be understood in another sense also; Didst thou know then that thou uast about to be born, and didst thou know the number of thy days? Thou Book understandest, As I, Who knew that I was about to be born,^ ' because, even before the birth of My Manhood, I always existed substantially in the Godhead. For men begin then to exist, when they are born in the womb of their mothers. For even the very conception is called nativity, according to that which is written, That which is born in her is of theMeitt.i, Holy Ghost. And they therefore know not that they are about ' to be born, because they do not exist, before they are created. But God, Who ever existed without beginning, foresaw this of Himself, that He assumed a beginning in the womb of the Virgin; and because He foreknew. He ordained it; and because He ordained, He doubtless endured nothing in human form, except of His own free will. Let man then, who could not foresee his own birth, be reproved for complaining of his scourges, if even He, Who foresaw and ordained His own birth, prepared Himself for scourges amongst men. It follows, Ver. 22, 23. Hast thou entered into the treasures of snow, cr hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, ivhich I have prepared against the time of the enemy, against the day of battle and war?

37. What else must be understood by the ' snow' or ' hail,* xx. but the cold and hard hearts of the wicked? [For as charity is designated by warmth, so also in Holy Scripture wickedness is wont to be designated by cold.i For it is written, As a cistern maketh its tcater cold, so doth its oivn wicked- jer. 6, ness make cold the soul. And again, Iniquity shall abound, I' and the love of many shall wax cold. What then can 12. be more fitly understood by the cold of snow, or the hardness,' of hail, than the life of the wicked, which both waxes cold! by torpor, and strikes with the malice of hardness? Whose | life the Lord yet tolerates, because He keeps them for the probation of His just ones. Whence also He rightly subjoined. Which I have prepared against the time of the enemy, against the day of battle and war. In order that, when our adversary the devil endeavours to tempt us, he may make use of their habits as his weapons against us. For by them he tortures us in his rage, but unwittingly purges us. For they become scourges to our sins, and when we are

Job 38, smitten by their life, which is such, we are freed from

— '- — ^eternal death. Whence it is so ordered, that even the abandoned life of the reprobate benefits the life of the Elect, and that whilst their ruin furthers our interest, it is thus marvellously ordained, in order that even every thing which is lost, may not be lost to the Elect of God.

38. This also can be understood in another way, so as not to differ from the exposition of the former verse, since it seems connected with the words that precede it. For because

He had pointed out that either the good can be changed to sin, or the wicked to goodness, He immediately proceeded to add. Hast tliou entered into the treasures of snoto, or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, ichich I have prepared against the time of the enemy, against the dag of battle and,

! as has been said, the hearts of the wicked. But because

' Almighty God has chosen His Saints from such, and knows how many of the Elect He has still stored up amongst the life of the wicked, He fitly says, that He has His treasures in snow or hail. For ' thesaurus' (treasure) is so called from

6eo-»j, that is, from its being placed away. And He beholds many long concealed in a life of coldness, whom He brings out, when He orders it, and exhibits glittering with the brightness of righteousness, through grace from on high.

Ps.5i,7.For it is written. Thou shall wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. And He hides them for a long while beneath the seal of His foreknowledge, prepared against the day of war and of battle, but the moment He brings them out. He strikes the opposing breast of the adversaries, with their words and refutations, as if with hailstones. Whence it is Ps. 18, written elsewhere, Through the brightness in His presence

^' the clouds jjassed awag, hails/ ones and coals of fire. For

Aug. ad coals pass away through brightness, because holy preachers

^°^' traverse the whole compass of the world with the brightness of their miracles. And they are called, moreover, hailstones, and coals of fire; because they both strike with their reproof, and kindle with the flame of charity. The bold reproof of the Saints is also fitly represented by the nature of hail.

For hail strikes as it falls, and waters when it melts. But holy men both strike the hearts of their hearers with dread,

Many chosen ones yet stored in the cold of sin. 3-29 and bedew them with comfort. For the Prophet bears wit- Hook iiess how they strike, saying, They shall speak of the might^^^^' of Thy terrible acts, and they shall tell of Thy greatness, g^' °' And he has proceeded to sul)join, how they bedew with gentleness; They shall utter the memory of the abundance of Thy ih. 7. sweetness, and shall e.vult in Thy righteousness. Treasures, therefore, are kept in the snow or hail, because many who were frozen in the toipor of iniquity, when taken up unto heavenly grace, shine forth in Holy Church with tiie light of righteousness, and smite with the blows of their doctrine the evil wisdom of their adversaries. Whence also it is fitly subjoined, Which I have prepared against the time of the enemy, against the day of battle and war. For Saul in Inilh had been snow or hail through cold insensibility; but he became snow and hail against the breasts of his adversaries, either by the brightness of righteousness, or by the reproof of his keen eloquence. O what a treasure did the Lord keep him, stored up in snow or hail, when He already secretly beheld him as His own Elect, though placed among the life of the wicked. And to smite how many breasts of His adversaries did He grasp in His hand this hailstone, by which He laid prostrate so many hearts which resisted Him. 39. Let no one then boast himself of his own deeds; let no one despair of those, whom he sees still cold. For he sees not the treasures of God in snow and hail. For who could believe that that very person, who at his death kept Acts 7, the raiment of all those who stoned, could go before the^^' martyred Stephen through the grace of apostleship? If therefore we refer to these secret gifts, or judgments, while not despaiing utterly of any, we do not prefer ourselves in our hearts to those, to whom for a time we have been preferred. For though we now observe how much we have outstripped them, yet we know not how much we may be surpassed ourselves, when they begin the race. It is well, therefore, said to blessed Job, Hast thou entered the treasures of snow, or hast thou beheld the treasures of the hail, which I hare prepared against the time of the enemy, against the day of battle and war? As if it were openly said. Prefer not thyself to any one, by reason of thy doings; for of these, whom thou beholdest still frozen in sin, thou knowest not

Job 38, what iiiighfy workers of righteousness, and ^defenders of

— Hl^ — sound faith 1 intend to create. But because this is effected by the coining of the Mediator, it is rightly subjoined; Ver. 24. By ichat way is the light scattered? xxi. 40. For He in truth is the way, Who says, / am the Way, John 14, fj^Q Truth, and the Life. The light is, therefore, scattered by this way, because all the Gentile world is enlightened by His presence. But He rightly said. Is scattered, because the light of preaching was not contracted or confined, but shone forth wilh its brightness far and wide by the voices of the Apostles. But because the power of love glows within, when the light of conversion has been received, in order that either our past sins may be anxiously lamented, or future blessings be most ardently sought for, it is suitably added. The heat is divided over the earth. xxii. 41. For when the light is spread abroad the heat is divided over the earth; because when righteousness is openly preached, the anxious desire of the heart to seek God is spread forth in the practice of virtues; so that one person shines forth in the word of wisdom, another in the word of knowledge; one is mighty in the grace of healing, another in the working of mighty deeds; and that thus, while they severally receive unequally the gifts of the Spirit, they are all necessarily united to each other, and unanimously inflamed. But after the light is said to be spread abroad, it can readily be understood that persecution is designated by ' heat:' because as the light of preaching shone brightly, so the heat of persecution immediately blazed forth from the hearts of the unbelievers. For, that persecution is described by ' heat,' the discourse of the Lord bears witness, speaking of the seeds which had been cast on the rocky Matt, ground, When the sun arose they were all scorched, and

13j 6. hecause they had not root, they withered away. And when He expounded it a little after. He called ' heat,' persecution. The heat therefore is divided over the earth, when the light is spi'ead abroad, because, as the life of the faithful became bright, the cruelty of the faithless was kindled. For the heat was divided, when persecution was raging, now at Jerusalem, now at Damascus, and now in other countries far away.

Acts 8, For it is written. At that time there arose a great 2wr sedition in the Church, which was at Jerusalem, and theu were all ^fx^K scattered abroad throughout the regions ofJudcea and Samaria. ~ — —'■ And it is written again; SauU yet breathing out threatenings Acta 9, and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto ^' ^• the higli priest, and desired of him letters for him to take to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he had found any of this way, men andicomen, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Because then persecution had increased, now here, now there, they who had known the hght of truth, were panting, as it were, under the burning of tlie divided heat.

42. But because we have heard blessed Job questioned in the former words, respecting the secret judgment; it now behoves us to examine more accurately this which is said of the scattered light, or divided heat. For he is still examined with lofty questioning, in order that he may at least learn that he is ignorant, and that it may be said to him, By what way is the light spread, the heat divided over the earth? For what is designated by the word ' light' but righteousness? Of which it is written; The people which was sitting Is. 9, 3. in darkness, saw a great light. But every thing which is scattered, is thrown, not continuously, but with a kind of intermission. And light is therefore said to be ' scattered,' because, though we already behokl some things as they really are, yet some things we see not, as thej- are to be seen.

For scattered light had possessed the heart of Peter, who had shone forth with such great brightness of faith, and of miracles, and yet, while he was imjjosing the weight of Gal. 2, circumcision on the converted Gentiles, he knew not what^^~^^' to say aright. Light, therefore, is ' scattered' in this life, because it is not continuously possessed, to the understanding of every thing. For whilst we comprehend one thing as it is, and are ignorant of another, we both see as it were partially in scattered light, and remain partially in darkness. But our light will then no longer be scattered, when our mind, caught up entirely to God, will shine forth.

43. And because it is not known in what ways this light is insinuated into the heart of man, it is rightly said in a question; By what way is the light scattered? As if it were openly said; Tell Me, in what order I pour My righteousness into the secret recesses of the hearts, when I am not

Job 38, seen, even in My approach, and yet I invisibly change tlie '- — visible doings of men, when I irradiate one and the same mind, at one time vvilh this, and at another with that virtue, and yet I permit it, through scattered light, still to remain, in a measure, in the darl<ness of temptation. Let ignorant man be asked, by what way the light is scattered. As if it were openly said, While I soften the hard hearts, bend the rigid, smooth the rough, warm the cold, strengthen the weak, establish the wandering, confirm the wavering, come, if thou canst, incorporeally, and behold, on what minds I shed this light. For all these things we behold when done; for we know not how tliey are wrought within. The Truth shews in the Gospel, that this way of light is invisible to us, say- John 3, ing; The icind bloiceth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, and knowest not whence it cometh, and ichither it goeth.

44. But because, when the light is scattered, temptations presently spring up from the hidden adversary against the enlightened mind, it is rightly subjoined; The heat is divided over the earth. For the crafty Ibe strives to inflame with unlawful desires the minds of those whom he sees shining forth with the light of righteousness; so that they frequently feel themselves more assaulted with temptations, than at the time when they beheld not the rays of inward light. Whence also the Israelites, after they had been called, complain against Moses and Aaron of their increasing labour, saying;

Exod. Let the Lord see and Judge, because ye have made our ' ' savour to stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have given him a sword to slay tis. For when they wished to depart from Egypt, Pharaoh had taken away the straw, and yet required works of the same amount. The mind, therefore, secretly murmurs, as it were, against the law, after the knowledge of which it endures sharper stings of temptations, and when it beholds its labours increasing, because it is displeasing to its adversary, it grieves that it stinks, as it were, in the eyes of Pharaoh. Heat, therefore, follow^s after light; because after the illumination of the heavenly gift, the contest of temptation is increased.

45. But the heat is rightly said also to be ' divided:"' doubtless, because separate persons are not assailed by all vices, but by certain ones which are near, and placed close ^"^^ to them. For the ancient enemy first beholds the character' of r^;^^' each person, and then applies the snares of temptations. For spersioone person is of a cheerful, another of a morose, another of a timid, another of a proud disposition. Our secret adversary, in order then to catch us easily, prepares deceptions closely connected with our several characters. For because pleasure borders on mirth, he holds out lust as a bait to cheerful dispositions. And because moroseness easily slides into anger, he oifers the cup of discord for the morose. Because the timid dread punishments, he threatens terrors to the fearful. And because he beholds the proud elated with praises, he draws them on to whatever he pleases, by flattering applause. He lays snares therefore against men one by one, by vices adapted to them. For he would not easily lead them captive, if he were either to offer bribes to the lustful, or bodily pleasures to the covetous, or if he were to assail the greedy by the pride of abstinence, or the abstinent by gluttonousness, or if he were to seek to seize the gentle by eagerness for the contest, or the angry by the dread of fear. Because then, when in the heat of temptation, he craftily lurks in ambush against each one by himself, and secretly lays the snares which are akin to their habits, it is rightly said; The heat is divided over the earth.

' A6. But when it is first stated, By what way the light is scattered: and is there immediately subjoined. The heat is divided over the earth, it is doubtless indicated that the heat is also divided by the same way, by which the light is scattered. For when the lofty and incomprehensible grace of the Holy Spirit irradiates our minds with its light, it also so disposes and modifies the temptations of the adversary, that either they do not come upon us many together, or else that those only which can be endured, assail the mind already illuminated by Godj so that they do not bum us with the fire of their full strength, when they torture us with the heat of their touch. As Paul bears witness, who says. But (xoc? j Cor^ is faithful. Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. This heat then our crafty supplanter divides in one way, and our merciful

834 God opens the ivaij for the Preaching of His Word.

Job 38, Creator in another. The one divides, in order thereby (o — ^ — slay more speedily; the other, to make it more tolerable. And, because, when we are harassed with temptation, we are not only instructed with the Spirit of God within, but are also assisted with the words of preachers without, after the divided heat, it is rightly added,

Ver. 25. Who hath given a course for the most molent shoiver? xxiii. 47. But if, as we said before, that persecution in the regions of Judaea is designated by the name of divided heat, because this very fierceness of persecution kept not from their oflSce of preaching, through any fear, the holy preachers, who were assisted by the gift from on high. He fitly subjoins; Who hath given a course for the most violent showers? As if He were saying, Except Myself For to have given a course to the most violent showers, when the heat was divided, is to have strengthened the force of preaching, amid the very difficulties of persecution, in order that the power of preachers might the more increase, the more the cruelty of persecutors stood in their way, so that they might bedew the thirsty hearts of their hearers with drops of rain, and water more abundantly the drought of unbelief; and that though the heat of cruelly was glowing against them, yet the voice of grace might not through them be silent. Paul was both enduring and watering this heat of persecu- 2 Tim. tion, when saying, / labour even to bonds, as an evil doer, ^' but the word of God is not bound. Of this shower it is said

Is. 5, 6. elsewhere; / will command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. Of this course of the shower which is going on in the hearts of the Elect, the Psalmist witnesses, saying; Ps. 147, His word runneth swiftly. But it is generally a shower only, and has no course; because preaching comes to the ears, but inward grace not acting, it passes not through to the hearts of the hearers. And of the w^ords of this preaching it Ps- 77, is said, on account of the Elect; For thine arrows jyassed '' through. For the arrows of God pass through, when the words of His preaching descend from the ears to the hearts. And because this is effected solely by Divine grace, the Lord witnesses that He has given a course to the shower. A9. But I see it must be obser\ed, that He calls this same

Most violent, in hic/h precepts; thundering in terrors. 33o shower not ' violent,' but ' most violent.' A violent shower Book