Morals on the Book of Job (Moralia)

usually taken for the secret depth of the heart. For it is —■ xxiv. hence that under the likeness of each separate soul, the

Spouse, urged by the piercing darts of holy love, says in the

Song of Songs, By night on my bed I sought him, whom, my Cant. 3, soul loveih. For ' by night and on the bed is the beloved ' sought,' in that the appearance of the Invisible Creator, apart from every image of a bodily appearing, is found in the chamber of the heart. And hence ' Truth' saith to those same lovers of Him, The kingdom of God is within you. And Luke again, If I go not away, the Comforter will not come. As if johnie it were in plain words; ' If 1 do not withdraw My Body 7.

from the eyes of your fixed regard, I lead you not by the

Comforter, the Spirit, to the perception of the unseen.'

Hence it is said by the Psalmist of the just, l^he Saints Ps- 149, shall be joyful in glory, they shall rejoice upon their beds; in that when they flee the mischiefs from things without, they exult in safety within the recesses of their hearts. But the joy of the heart will then be complete, when the fight of the flesh shall have ceased without. For so long as the flesh allures, because as it were the wall of our house is shaken, even the very bed is disturbed. And hence it is rightly said by that Psalmist, Thou hast made all his bed in his sickness. Ps.4i,3.

For when temptation of the flesh moves us, our infirmity being made to tremble disturbs even the bed of the soul.

But what do we understand in this place by ' dreams' and

* visions' saving the representations of the last searching

Judgment? What we already have some slight glimpse of through fear, but do not see it as it really is. I'hus holy men, as we have said, ever turn back to the secret recesses of the heart, when from the world without, they either meet with successes beyond their wishes, or with adversities beyond their strength, and, wearied with their toils without, they seek as a bed, or litter, the resting-places of the heart.

But whilst by certain pictures of their imagination they see how searching the judgments of God are, they are as it were disturbed in their very repose on their beds by the vision of a dream. For they behold after what sort the strict Judge

Cometh, Who while with the power of infinite Majesty He lights up the secret recesses of the heart, will bring back

Job 7, every sin before our eyes. They bethink themselves what Vj— — - the shame of that is, to be confounded in the sight of the whole human race, of all the Angels and the Archangels. They reflect what agony is in store after that confounding, when at one and tlie same time guilt shall prey upon the soul imperishably perishing, and hell lire upon the flesh unfailingly failing. When, then, the mind is shaken by so terrific a conception, what else is this but that a sad dream is presented upon the bed? Therefore let him say, When I say, My bed shall comfort me, and I shall he eased talking icith myself on my couch; then Thou scar est me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions. As if he confessed openly, saying, ' If fleeing from external things, I turn back into the interior, and am anxious in some sort to rest upon the bed

•A.B.D. of my heart, there, whilst Thou dost set me to ' the contemjjjg^f'' plation of Thy severity, Thou makest me to fear horribly by the mere images my foresight raises up.' Now it is well said, And I shall be eased, talking icith myself in my bed, in that when we return wearied to the silence of our hearts, as it were holding converse on our beds, we handle the secret words of thought within ourselves. But this very converse of ours is turned into dread, in that thereby there is more forcibly presented to us in imagination the view, which holds out the terrors of the Judge.

^^''- 42. But lest any one should be at pains to make out these words after the literal sense, it is of great importance to find out in how many ways the mind is aff'ected by images from dreams. For sometimes dreams are engendered of fulness or emptiness of the belly, sometimes of illusion, sometimes of illusion and thought combined, sometimes of revelation, while sometimes they are engendered of imagination, thought, and revelation together. Now the two which we have named first, we all know by experience, while the four subjoined we find in the pages of Holy Writ. For except dreams were very frequently caused to come in illusion by our secret enemy, the

Ecclus. Wise Man would never have pointed this out by saying, For ' dreams and vain illusions" have deceived many, or indeed,

Lev.i9, iVor shall ye use enchantments, nor observe dreams. By

Vul?. which words it is shewn us how great an abomination they are, in that they are joined with 'auguries.' Again, excepting Book they sometimes came of thought and illusion together, Solomon would never have said, For a dream cometh through the Ecci. 5, multitude of business. And unless dreams sometimes had^' their origin in a mystery of a revelation, Joseph would never have seen himself in a dream appointed to be advanced above his brethren, nor would the espoused of Mary have been warned by the Angel in a dream to take the Child and to fly into Egypt. Again, unless dreams sometimes proceeded from thought and revelation together, the Prophet Daniel, in making out the vision of Nebuchadnezzar, would never have set out with thought as the root; As for thee., 0 king, thy Dan. 2, thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter, and He That revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. And soon afterwards, Thou, 0 king, sawest and beheld a great image, yer. si. This great image, that was great, and its stature lofty, stood before thee, ^c. Thus while Daniel declares in awful tenus the dream about to be fulfilled, and shews in what thoughts it had its rise, it is made plain and manifest that the thing very frequently proceeds from thought and revelation combined.

43. Now it is clear, that since dreams shift about in such a variety of cases, they ought to be the less easily believed, in proportion as it less easily appears from what influencing cause they spring. For it often happens that to those, whom the Evil Spirit cuts off" when awake through the love of the present life, he promises the successes of fortune even whilst they sleep, and those, whom he sees to be in dread of misfortunes, he threatens with them the more cruelly by the representations of dreams, that he may work upon the incautious soul by a different kind of influence, and either by elevating it with hope or sinking it with dread, may disturb its balance. Often too he sets himself to work upon the souls of the Saints themselves by dreams, that at least for a passing moment they may be thrown off the line of steady thought, though by their own act they straightway shake the mind clear of the delusive phantasy. And our designing foe, in proportion as he is utterly unable to get the better of them when awake, makes the deadlier assault upon them asleep. Whom yet the dispensation of the Highest iu

4-SO Good men choose death to the tvorld.

Job 7, lovinff-kindness alone allows to do so in his malevolence,

=1 — ^— lest in the souls of the Elect their mere sleep, though nothing- Moral. ' ' *="

else, should go without the meed of suffering. Therefore it is well spoken to Him that ruleth over all. When I say, mi/ bed shall comfort me, I shall he eased talking with myself on my couch; then Thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions. Surely in that God ordereth all things wonderfully, even He Himself doth that thing, which the Evil Spirit seeks to do unjustly, whilst He letteth it not be done saving justly. Now forasmuch as the life of the righteous is at once assaulted on watch by temptation, and harassed in dreaming by illusion; undergoes without the mischiefs of its corruption, and within painfully carries in itself unlawful thoughts; what may it do in order to pluck the foot of the heart out of the mazes of such numberless entanglements? Yea, thou blessed man, with what dismay and trouble thou art every way compassed about we ha\e learnt; now let us be informed, what plan thou dost devise to encounter the same. It goes on,

Ver. 15. So that my soul chooseth hanging and my bones death. XXV. 44. What is then represented by the soul but the bent of the soul, and by the bones, the strength of the flesh? Now every thing that is hung is assuredly lifted up from things beneath; therefore ' the soul chooseth hanging that the bones, may die,' in that whilst the mind's intent lifts itself on high, it extinguishes all the strength of the exterior life in itself For the Saints know it for a most certain truth, that they can never enjoy rest in the present life, and so they ' choose hanging,' in that quitting earthly objects of desire, they raise the mind on high. But whilst hung on high they inflict death on their bones, in that for love of the land above having their loins girt in press and pursuit after virtuous attainments, all wherein they were aforetime strong in the world, they load with the chain of self-abasement. It if well to mark how Paul had his soul suspended aloft, whc Gal. 2, said, Nevertheless I live: yet not I, but Christ liveth in me\ Phil. 1, And again; Having a desire to depart and to be witl ver 21 ^'^'■^•^^- And, For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain Who recalling to mind the achievements of earthly strength reckoned up as it were so inany bones in himself, saying, An Book Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the haw a Pharisee;

concern infj zeal, persecntiny the Church of God. But by 5. 6. that ' hanging' of his soul, how that he does to death these bones in himself, he immediately declares, in that he adds, But what things were gain to me, these I counted loss forver.7. Christ. Which same bones he implies were still more mercilessly dealt with to destruction in himself, when he adds. For whom I have made all things loss, and do count them ver. 8. hut dung. But in what manner he hung without life and his bones all dead, he shews, in that he adds in that place, saying, Tliat I may win Christ, and he found in Him,?wtyeT.9. having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, hut that which is through the faith of Jesus Christ. But whereas by bringing together his declarations we have avouched Paul to have been suspended aloft dead to the world, let us now shew whether blessed Job, being filled with the same Spirit, eschews the concupiscence of the exterior life. It goes on,

Ver. 16. / have given over hope, I will not live any longer.

45. There be some of the righteous, who so entertain the xxvi. desire of heavenly things, that, notwithstanding this, they are not broken off from the hope of things earthly. The inheritance bestowed on them by God they keep for the supply of necessities, the honours awarded them on a temporal footing they retain; they do not covet the things of others, they make a lawful use of their own. Yet these are strangers to those same things that they have, in that they are not bound in affection to those very goods which they keep in their possession. And there are some of the righteous, who bracing themselves up to lay hold of the very height of perfection, whilst they aim at higher objects within, abandon all things without, who bare themselves of the goods possessed by them, strip themselves of the pride of honours, who by continuance in a grateful sorrow affect their hearts with longing for the things of the interior, refuse to receive consolation from those that are exterior, who whilst in spirit they drink of the inward joys, wholly extinguish in themselves the life of corporeal enjoyment. For it is said by Paul to such as these. For ye are dead, and your life is hid Col.3,3.

45*2 Lonying for Eternity excludes hope in 'I'ime.

Job 7, with Christ in God. The Psalmist spoke in their voice, when he said, My soul longetli, yea, even fainteth for the

Vs.M,2.courts of the Lord. For Ihcy ' long' but do not ' faint, who are already imbued indeed with heavenly desires, but notwithstanding are still not tired of the enjoyments of earthly objects, But he ' longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord,' who whilst he desires the eternal world, doth not hold on in the love of the temporal. Hence the Psalmist Ps. 119, saith again, My soul fainteth for Thy salvation. Hence Liike 9, ' Truth' bids us by His own lips, saying, //" any man will l'^- come after Me, let him deny himself. And again; Whoso- 14, 33. ever he he of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple. Thus the holy man, his soul parted from earthly objects of desire, sets himself in the number of such as those, when he saith, / have given over hope, I will not live any longer. Since for a righteous man ' to give over hope' is to quit the good things of the present life, in making choice of eternity, and to put no trust in temporal possessions. And whilst doing this, he declares that he * will not live any longer,' in that by a quickening death he is daily killing himself to the life of passion ^ For be it far from us to think that the holy man should despair of the bountifulness of God's mercy, that he should withdraw the step of the heart from advancing in the interior way, that forsaking the love of the Creator he should as it were stop on the road lacking a guide, and pierced with the sword of rifling despair, be brought to ruin. But lest we seem violently to wrest his sayings according to the caprice of our own view, we ought to form our estimate of what is promised by that which follows after. For in what sense he said this, he does himself immediately point out, in that he adds, Spare me, O Lord^,for my days are nothing. xxvii. 46. For neither do the two words agree together, 1 have given over hope, and, spare me. For he that ' gives ovei hope,' no longer begs to be spared; and he who is stil anxious to be spared, is surely far from ' giving over hope It is on one sort of grounds then that he ' gives over hope.

and on another that the holy man prays to be spared; in Book that whilst he abandons the good things of this transitory '- life in ' giving over the hope' thereof, he rises more vigorous in hope for the securing of those that shall endure. So that in ' giving over hope,' he is the more effectually brought to the hope of pardon, who seeks the things to come so much the more determinately, in proportion as he more thoroughly forsakes those of the present time in giving up hope. And we are to take notice, that when teaching us the strength of his heart, he delivered indeed but one sentiment about himself, but in teaching it to us he has repeated it a third time. For what he had said above, My soul chooseth hanging, it was in repealing this, that he added the words, / have given over hope, and in aiming at the blessings of eternity, and putting behind those of time, he last of all brought in this. Spare me. And what he said above. And my bones death, this same it was that he added, / will not lite longer, and this he delivered to end with, for my days are nothing. But he rightly considers that his ' days are nothing,' because as we have often remarked already a little above, holy men, the more thoroughly they are acquainted with things above, in the same proportion they look down upon the things of earth from a loftier height. And therefore they see that the days of the present life are ' nothing,' because they have the eyes of their illumined soul fixed in the contemplation of eternity. And when they return thence to themselves, what do they find themselves to be but dust? And being conscious of their frailty, they are in dread of being judged with severity; and when they regard the force of that vast Energy, they tremble to have it put to the test what they are. And hence it is further added with propriety,

Ver. 17. What is man, that Thou shouldest magnify him '^ and that TJtou shouldest set Thine heart tipon him?

47. God magnifieth man, in that He enriches him with the xxviii. bountiful gift of reason, visits him with the inspiration of grace, exalts him with the greatness of imparled virtue; and whereas he is nothing in himself, yet through the bounty of His lovingkindness He vouchsafes to him to be a partaker of the knowledge of Himself, And the Lord ' settelh His heart upon man' so magnified, in that after His gifts He

Job /, brings forth judgment, weighs merits with exactness, rigidly -r—^ — tries the weights of life, and exacts punishment from him afterwards the more strictly, in pro}30rtion as He prevents him here more bounteously by ihc benefit bestowed. So then let the holy man view the immensity of the Supreme Majesty, and recall the eye of reflection to his own frailty. Let him see that flesh cannot compi-ehend that which Truth through the Spirit teaches concerning Himself. Let him see that man's spirit, even when it is lifted up, is not able to bear the Judgment, which God holds over it, on a trial of strict recompensing, and let him say, What is man, that Thou shouldest magnify him? and that Thou shouldest set Thine heart upon liim? As though he cried out in plain words, saying, ' Man is magnified with a spiritual gift, but yet he is flesh, and after Thy gifts, Thou takest strict account of his ways; yet if he be judged with pity set aside, the weight that rests over him from Thine exactness, not even the spirit that is raised to righteousness has strength to sustain, seeing that though Thy gifts draw him out beyond his own compass, yet at the inquest of Thy strict scrutiny his own frailty contracts him.' And hence it is fitly added still further; A-^er. 18. And that Thou shouldest visit him in the dawn^ and try him suddenly? xxix. 48. Which is there of us that does not know that it is called the ' dawn,' when the night season is now changing into the brightness of light? so we too are closed in by the darkness of night, when we aie dimmed by the practice of wickedness; but the night is turned into light, when the darkness of our erring state is illuminated by knowledge of the Truth. The night is turned into light, when the splendour of righteousness lights up our hearts, which the blindness of sin lay heavy upon. This dawn Paul saw rise in the minds Rom. of the disciples, when he said, TJte night is far spent, the ^^' '^' day is at hand. And so the Lord ' visits us at the dawn,' in that He illumines the darkness of our state of error with the light of the knowledge of Himself, uplifts us with the gift of contemplation, exalts us to the stronghold of virtue. But it is to be observed, that after God ' visits him at the dawn,* He ' tries man suddenly,' in that both in drawing near He advances our souls to virtuous heights, and in withdrawing

Himself He suffers them to be assaulted with temptation. Book For if after the bestowal of the gifts of virtue, she is never moved by any assault of temptation, the soul boasts that she has these of herself. Therefore that she may at one and the same time enjoy the gifts of a firm state, and humbly acknowledge her own state of infirmity, by the visitation of grace she is lifted up on high, and by the withdrawal of the same, it is proved what she is in herself Which is well intimated to us in the history of the book of sacred reading, wherein Solomon is recorded both to have received wisdom from on high, and yet directly after that very wisdom was ^ Kings received, to have been assailed by the disputing of the ' ' harlots. For immediately after he had received the grace of that great enlightenment, he was exposed to the strife of base women; for that oftentimes when the visiting of the interior bounty illuminates our mind with virtues vouchsafed it, even filthy imaginations forthwith disorder it, that the soul, which being lifted up exults in the immensity of the gift, being at the same time struck by temptation, may discover what she is. So Elijah both being visited at the dawn, opened the doors of heaven by a word, and yet being ' tried suddenly,' fleeing helpless through the desert, was in dread of a single woman. Thus Paul is carried to the third heaven, and i Kings

19 3 penetrating into the secrets of Paradise, he is held in con- 2 cor.

against the assaults of the flesh, and is subject to another law in his members, by whose rebelUon within him he grieves to see the law of the Spirit hard bestead. Therefore God

* visits at the dawn,' but, after this visiting. He ' tries suddenly,' in that He both lifts up by the gift vouchsafed, and by the same being for a while withdrawn, shews unaided' 'psum man to himself Which doubtless we are so long subject to, until the time, when the pollution of sin being clean taken away, we be renewed to the substance of promised incorruption. Hence it is fitly added yet further,

Ver. 19. How long wilt Thou not depart from me, nor let me alone until I swallow down my spittle.

49. The spittle runs into the mouth from the head, but xxx. from the mouth it is carried into the belly by being swallowed. And what is our head saving the Deity, through Whom we

Job 7, derive the original of our being, so as to be ' creature,' as — ^-^^— Paul bears witness, who declares, The head of every man is 1 Cor.* Christ, and the head of Christ is God; and what is our ^^'^' belly, saving the mind, which, whilst it takes its food, i. e. heavenly perception, being invigorated, doth surely rule the members of the several actions. For except Holy Writ did sometimes describe the mind by the name of ' the belly,' Prov. Solomon surely would never have said. The spirit of man is ' * the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly; forasmuch as whilst the grace of heavenly visitation illumines us, it discloses even all the depths of the mind that are hidden from our sight. What then is meant by the term ' spittle,' but the savour of interior contemplation, which runs down from the head to the mouth, in that issuing from the brightness of the Creator, whilst we are still set in this life, it but just touches us with a taste of revelation. John 9, And hence the Redeemer at His coming mixed the spittle with clay, and restored the eyes of him that was born blind, in that heavenly grace enlightens the carnal bent of our hearts, by a mixture of the contemplation of Itself, and from his original blindness restores man anew to perception. For whereas nature henceforth brought him forth in this place of exile, since he was banished from all the joys of Paradise, man was produced from his birth, as it were, without eyes. But, as the holy man teaches, this spittle runs into the mouth indeed, but that it should not reach into the belly, it is not swallowed down, in that the contemplation of the Divine Being grazes the sense, but does not perfectly refresh the mind, because the soul is unable perfectly to behold what as yet, the mist of corruption impeding the view, it sees by a hasty glimpse.

50. For see how the soul of the Elect already bears down all earthly desires beneath itself, already mounts above all the objects that it sees are of a nature to pass away, is already lifted up from the enjoyment of external delights, and closely searches what are the invisible good things, and in doing the same is carried away into the sweetness of heavenly contemplation; already very often it sees something of the interior world as it were through the mist, and with burning desire strives to the utmost to be admitted to the spiritual ministries of the Angels, feeds on the taste of the Light Incompre- Book hensible, and being carried out of self disdains to sink back ^^ v again into self; for forasmuch as the body, which is in the way to corruption, still weigha down the soul, it has not power wisd.9 to attach itself to the Light for long, which it sees in a mo- ^5. mentary glimpse. For the mere infirmity of the flesh by itself drags down the soul, as it mounts above itself, and brings it down, as it aspires, to provide for low cares and wants. And so spittle flowing from the head touches the mouth, but never reaches to the belly; in that our understanding indeed is henceforth watered with the dews of heavenly contemplation, but the soul is not at all fully satisfied. For in the mouth is the taste, but fulness in the belly; and so we cannot ' swallow down our spittle,' in that we are not suffered to fill ourselves with the excellency of heavenly brightness, which we taste as yet but in a sip. But whereas this very same that we are already in some slight degree made acquainted with above us, comes from the pitifulness of One that spareth, wliile that we cannot as yet obtain a perfect perception of it is of the punishment of the old curse still, it is rightly said now. How long dost Tliou not spare me, nor let me alone, till I swallow down my spittle? As if it were in plain words; ' Then Thou dost perfectly spare man, when Thou admittest Him to the perfect measure of the contemplation of Thee; that being transported he may behold Thy brightness in the interior, and no corruption of his flesh without should hold him back. Then ' thou lettest me alone till I swallow down my spittle, when Thou replenishest me with the savour of Thy brightness even to the very overflow of fulness, that I should never henceforth go a hungered, with but a taste of the mouth, through lack of food, but be stedfastly stayed in Thee, the belly of ray interior being watered.' But whoso would obtain the good that he desires must acknowledge the evil that he has done. The account goes on.

Ver. 20. / hace sinned; what shall I do unto Thee, O Thou Preserver of men?

5L Observe how he confesses the ill that he has done, but xvxi the good that he should present to God in compensation, he no where can find, in that all virtue whatever of human joH 7 practice is without power to wash out the guilt of sin, except ^2i- His mercifulness in sparing foster it, and not His justice in judging press hard upon it. Whence it is well said by the P8.63,3. Psalmist, Becanse Thy mercy is better than the life; in that howsoever innocent it may seem to be, yet with tlie strict Judge our life doth not set us free, if the lovingkindncss of His mercy loose not to it the debt of its guilt. Or indeed when it is said, What shall I do unto Thee? it is plainly shewn us tliat those verj good things, which we are commanded to practise, are not a gain to Him that imposes the command, but to ourselves. Whence it is said again by the Ps.16,2. Psalmist, 3Iy yoodness extendeth not unto Thee. Now the abjectness of our destitution is set forth, when God is called the * Preserver of men,' in that if His preserving hand defend us not in the face of the snares of the secret adversary, the eye of our heedfulness sleeps on watch, as the Psalmist again Ps. 127, bears record, who saith, Except the Lord keep the city, the *• watchman icakelh hut in vain. For it is through ourselves that we have been brought to the ground, but to rise again by our own strength is beyond our ability. The fault of our own will laidus low once, but the punishment of ourfault sinks us worse day by day. We strive by the efforts of our earnest endeavours, to lift ourselves to the uprightness we have lost, but we ai'e kept down by the weight of our just dues. And hence it is fitly added, Why hast Thou set me opposite to Thee, so that I am a burthen to myself? xxxii. 52. Then did God ' set man opposite to Him,' when man forsook God by sinning. For being taken captive by the persuasions of the Serpent, he became the enemy of Him, Whose precepts he despised. But the righteous Creator ' set man opposite to Himself,' in that He accounted him an enemy by pride. And this very oppositeness of sin is itself made a weight of punishment to man, that he being wrongly free, might serve his own cormption, who while serving rightly exulted in the freedom of incorruption. For quitting the healthful stronghold of humility, he was brought by growing proud to the yoke of infirmity, and in erecting only bowed down the neck of the heart, in that he who refused to submit to the behests of God, prostrated himself beneath his own necessities; which we shall shew the better, if we set forth those burthens, first of the flesh and afterwards of the Book spirit, which he is made subject to after being cast down to-ZJ_Hl. the ground.

5'3. For to say nothing of this, that he is hable to pains, that he gasps with fever; the very state of our body, which is called health, is straitened by its own sickness. For it wastes with idleness, it faints with work; failing with not eating, it is refreshed by food so as to hold up; going heavily with sustenance, it is relieved by abstinence, so as to be vigorous; it is bathed in water, not to be dry; it is wiped with towels, not by that very bathing to be too wet; it is enlivened by labour, that it may not be dulled b}^ repose; it is refreshed by repose, that it faint not under the exertion of labour; worn with watching, it is recruited by sleep; oppressed with sleep, it is roused to activity by watching, lest it be worse wearied by its own rest; it is covered with clothing, lest it be pierced by the hardship of cold; fainting under the heat it sought, it is invigorated by the blowing of the air. And whereas it meets with annoyances from the very quarter whence it sought to shelter itself from annoyances, being badly wounded, so to say, it sickens by its own cure. Therefore fevers set aside and pains not in action, our very breath itself is sickness, whereunto there is never wanting the necessity of administering a cure. Since whatever the comforts we seek out for occasion of life, we as it were meet with so many medicines of our sickness; but the very medicine itself too is 'turned into a sore, in that attaching ourselves a little too long to the remedy we sought, we are moi-e brought down in that which we prudently provide for our refreshment. Thus was presumption to be amended, thus was pride to be laid low. For whereas we once took to us a high spirit, so every day we carry the mud that runneth down.

54. Our very mind too itself being banished from the secure delight of interior secresy, is now beguiled by hope, now tormented by fear; one while cast down by grief, at another time made light by a false mirth; it obstinately attaches itself to transitory objects, and is continually afflicted by the loss of them, in that it is also continually undergoing change by a course that carries it away; and being made

Job r, subject to things changeable, it is also made to be at odds -^ — with its own self. For seeking what it has not got, it anxiously obtains it, and so soon as it has begun to possess the same, is sick of having obtained what it sought after. Oftentimes it loves what it once despised, and despises what it used to love. It learns by dint of pains what are the things of eternity, but it forgets them in a moment, if it cease to take pains. It takes a long time to seek, that it may find but a little concerning the things above, but speedily falling back into its wonted ways, not even for a little space does it hold on in the things it has found. Desiring to be instructed, with difficulty it gets the better of its ignorance, and being so instructed it has a harder contest against the pride of knowledge; with difficulty it subjects to itself the usurping power of its fleshly part, yet it is still subject to the images of sin within, the works whereof it has already in vanquishing bound down without. It raises itself in quest of its Creator, but being thrown back, it is bewildered by the beguiling mist of corporeal attachments ''. It desires to survey itself, and to see how being incorporeal it bears rule over the body, and it cannot. It asks in a wonderful way what it is unable to answer itself, and remaining ignorant is at a loss under that, which it inquires with a wise purpose. Viewing itself as large and scanty at once, it knows nothing how to fonn a true estimate of itself, in that if it were not large it would not be seeking matters of so deep enquiry, and again if it were not little, it would at least find that which it asks of itself.

55. Well therefore is it said, Thou hast set me opposite to Thee^ so that I am a burthen to myself, in that whilst man being banished is both subject to annoyances in the flesh, and to perplexities in the mind, surely he carries about his own self as a grievous burthen. On every side he is beset with sicknesses, on every side he is hard bestead with Book infirmities, that he who, having abandoned God, thought to - suffice to himself for his repose, might find nought in himself but a turmoil of disquietude, and might tiy to fly from himself so found, but having set his Creator at nought, might not have where to fly. The burthens of which state of infirmity that wise man rightly regarding, exclaims, An heavy yoke is upon the sons of Adam, from the day Ecclus. that they go out of their mother^s womb, till the day^^'^' that they return to the mother of all things. But blessed Job regarding these things, and seeking with groans wherefore they were so ordered, does not reproach justice, but interrogates mercy; that in asking he may himself in self-abasement deal a blow to that, which the Divine pity might in sparing alter. As if he said in plain words; ' Wherefore dost Thou despise man set as in opposition to Thee, Who, I am assured, wouldest not that even he should perish whom Thou art thought to despise?' Whence he proceeds in a right way both to express humility in confession, and to subjoin the voice of free inquiry in the words,

Ver. 21. And why dost Thou not take away my transgression, and remove mine iniquity P

56. By which same words, what else is intimated but the xxxiii. desire of the expected Mediator, concerning Whom John saith. Behold the Lamb of God, Which taketh away the sin John i of the world. Or rather sin is then completely taken away ^^' from mankind, when our corruption is changed in the glory of incorruption. For we can never be free from sin so long as we are held fast in a body of mortality, and therefore he longs for the grace of the Redeemer, i. e. for the 'wholeness' solidiof the Resurrection, who is looking to have his iniquity ^ ^" entirely ' taken away.' Hence immediately after adding both the punishment which was his due by birth, and the Judgment which he dreads in consequence of his own doings, he proceeds,

For now shall I sleep in the dust, and if Thou shalt seek me in the morning, I shall not abide.

57. It was said to the first man on his sinning, Dust thou xxxiv. art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Now by the ' mornings ^®°' ^'

Job 8, is meant that manifestation of souls, which, when the thoughts are laid bare at the coming of the Judge, is as it were brought to light alter the darkness of night. Of which same morning

Ps. 5, 3.it is said by the Psalmist, In the morning I shall stand " ^' before Thee and shall see '. Now God's ' seeking' is His searching man with a minute inquest, and, in searching, judging him with rigorous strictness. Therefore let blessed Job, surveying the miseries of man's fallen condition, sec how that he is both already closely pressed by a present punishment, and in yet worse plight as concerns the futme, and let him say. For now shall I sleep in the dust, and if Thou shall seek me in the morning, I shall not abide. As if he openly lamented, saying, ' In the present life indeed I already undergo the death of the flesh, and yet still further from the Judgment to come I dread a worse death, even the doom of Thy severity. I suffer destruction for sin, yet farther on coming to Judgment I dread my sins being brought up again even after my dissolution. Therefore looking at the external death, let him say. For now shall I sleep in the dust, and dreading the interior let him add. And if Thou shall seek me in the morning, I shall not abide. For however strong in righteousness, even the very Elect by no means suffice to themselves for innocency, if they be strictly examined in Judgment. But they find it now for an alleviation of their withdrawal hence, that they know m their humility that they never can suffice. Therefore they shelter themselves under the covering of humility from the sword of such a grievous visitation, and in proportion as awaiting the terribleness of the Judge to come, they tremble with continual alarm, so there is an unceasing progress in theu' becoming better prepared. It goes on,

C. viii. 1, Q. Then answered Bildad, the Shuhite, and said, Hoio long wilt thou speak these things? and how long shall

' V. so. the breath^ of the loords of thy mouth be multiplied?

XXXV. 58. To the unrighteous the words of the righteous are ever grievous, and such as they hear spoken for edification, they bear as a burthen put upon them. As Bildad, the Shuhite, plainly indicates in his own case, when he says, How long wilt thou speak these things? For he that says how long, shews that he cannot any longer bear words of edification. Book

But whereas unfair men are too proud to be set right, they '- find fault with the things that are spoken well; and hence he immediately adds, And how long shall the breath of the words of thy mouth be multi'plied? When multiplicity is blamed in the speech, surely it is thereby denied that there is weight of meaning in the sense. For the power of speakers on the highest matters is distinguished by a fourfold quality.

For there be some whom fulness in speaking and thinking combined give width and compass, and there be some whom raeagreness both of thought and utterance reduces to small dimensions; and there are some who are furnished with ability in speaking, but not with penetration in thinking; and there are some, who have penetration of thought to support them, but from barrenness of expression are made silent. For we discover the same in man that we often see in things without sense. Thus it very often happens that both an abundant supply of water is obtained from the deep of the earth, and that it is conveyed by ample channels upon the surface; and very often a scanty quantity lies concealed in the heart of the earth, and hardly finding a crevice to issue by, strains itself out in scanty dimensions without.

Very often too the smallest quantity springs up out of reach of the eye, and when it finds an outlet gaping wide whereby it may issue forth from an ample opening, it swells out in a thin stream, and the big channels open themselves wide, but there is not aught for them to pour forth; and very often an ample store springs up out of sight, but being confined by narrow channels, it dribbles out in the smallest quantities.

Just so in one sort the ample mouth delivers what the copious fountain of the wit supplies; in another, neither does thought furnish sense, nor the tongue pour it forth.

In others, the mouth indeed is wide to speak, but for the giving out that which thought has provided for it, the tongue gets nothing at all; whilst in others, a full fountain of thought abounds in the heart, but a disproportionate tongue, like a scanty channel, confines it. In which same four sorts of speaking, the third only is obnoxious to blame, which appropriates to itself by words that, to the level whereof it doth not rise in wit. For the first is worthy of

4<J4 Had men can /irnisc God's justice wliile I hey prosper.

Job 8, praise, in that it is powerful and strong in both particulars.

'- — The second deserves commiseration, which in its littleness lacks both. The fourth calls for aid, in that it has not power to embody what it thinks. But the third is worthy to be despised and ought to be restrained, in that while it lifts itself high in speech it is grovelling in sense; and like limbs swoln with inflation, it goes forth to the ears of the hearers big but void. And it is this which Rildad hurls as an accusation against blessed Job, saying, And how long shall the words of the breath of thy mouth be multiplied? For he that attributes multiplicity of words to the mouth, doubtless finds fault with the barrenness of the heart. As if he said in plain words, ' Thou art raised by abundance of breath in word of mouth, but thou art stinted by scantiness of sense.' But when bad men blame right things, lest they should themselves appear not to know what is righteous, the good things that are known of all men, and which they have learnt by hearsay, they deliver as unknown. And hence Bildad adds directly,

xxxvi. 59. These things blessed Job had neither in speaking denied, nor yet was ignorant of them in holding his tongue. But all bold persons, as we have said, speak with big words even well known truths, that in telling of them they may appear to be learned. They scorn to hold their peace in a spirit of modesty, lest they should be thought to be silent from ignorance. But it is to be known that they then extol the rectitude of God's justice, when security from ill uplifts themselves in joy, while blows are dealt to other men; when they see themselves enjoying prosperity in their affairs, and others harassed with adversity. For whilst they do wickedly, and yet believe themselves righteous, the benefit of prosperity attending them, they imagine to be due to their own mcnts; and they infer that God does not visit unjustly, in proportion as upon themselves, as being righteous, no cloud of misfortune falls. But if the power of correction from above touch their life but in the least degree, being struck they directly break loose against the policy of the Divine inquest, which a little while before, unharmed, they made much of in express-

Heretics think the Church condemned by calamities. 4C5 ing admiration of it, and they deny that judgment to be just, Book which is at odds with their own ways; they canvass the equity of God's dealings, they fly out in words of contradiction, and being chastened because they have done wrong, they do worse. Hence it is well spoken by the Psalmist against the confession of the sinner, He will confess /oPs. 49, Thee, when Thou doest well to him. For the voice of confession is disregarded, when it is shaped by the joyfulness of prospenty. But that confession alone possesses merit of much weight, which the force of pain has no power to part from the truth of the rule of right, and which adversity, the test of the heart, sharpens out even to the sentence of the lips. Therefore it is no wonder that Bildad commends the justice of God, in that he experiences no hurt therefrom.

60. Now whereas we have said that the friends of blessed Alleg. Job bear the likeness of heretics, it is well for us to point out briefly, how the words of Bildad accord with the wheedling ways of heretics. For whilst in their own idea they see Holy Church corrected with temporal visitations, they swell the bolder in the bigness of their perverted preaching, and putting forward the righteousness of the Divine probation, they maintain that they prosper by virtue of their merits; but they avouch that she is rewarded with deserved chastisements, and thereupon without delay they seek by beguiling words a way to steal upon her, in the midst of her sorrows, and they strike a blow at the lives of some, by making the deaths of others a reproach, as if those were now visited with deserved death, who refused to hold worthy opinions concerning God. Hence Bildad the Shuhite, after he pleaded the justice of God, thereupon adds,

Ver. 4 — 6. Even if thy children have sinned against Him, and He have left them in the hand of their transgression; yet if thou wilt seek to God at daivn, and make thy supplication to the Almighty; if thou wilt walk pure and upright; surely now He will awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness at peace.

61. As if the preachers of falsities were to say to afflicted xxxvii. Catholics, ' Provide for your lives, and learn what wrong things ye maintain from the condemnation of those that are dead from among you. For except your misbelief were dis-

-1G() Heretics promise rewards of earihly prosperity.

Jon 8, pleasing to the Creator of all things, He would never take front — -'-* — you such numbers '' by destruction let loose to rage against them.' For he says, If iliy cJiiJdren Iiarc sinned against Him, and He hare left them in the hand of tlieir transgression. As though he said in ])lain speech, ' They arc left in the hand of their own wickedness, that refused to follow the life of our right rule,' Yet if tJiou uilt arise to God at dawn, and make lliy supplication to the Almighty. For inasnuich as heretics think that the light of truth rests with themselves, they bid and summon Holy Church, as being in the night of error, to come to the dawning of the truth, that in the knowledge of God it may be led to rise, as in the dawning light, and by the prayer of penitence wash off past misdeeds. If thou wilt walk pure and upright; that is to say, pure in thought, upright in practice. Surely now He will awake for thee. As if it were in plain words, ' that He, Who now forbears to put forth the power of His protecting hand to thy tribulations, is as if asleep to the succouring of one going wrong.' And make the habitation of tliy righteousness at peace, i. e. ' does away with the crosses of the present life, and vouchsafes without delay security in repose.' For because men that are bad reckon temporal enjoyment as a special blessing of Divine recompensing, what they themselves go after with solicitous concern, they promise to others as something great. Hence it very often happens that they cither pledge themselves to regain them when lost, or draw on the minds of their hearers after still greater rewards of this world. Whicli Bildad openly expresses, when he adds upon that,

Ver. 7. Insomuch that though thy begiiming was.wiall, yet thy latter end shall greatly increase. xxxviii. 62. But if it is counsel within the soul that he calls ' the habitation of righteousness,' the leaders of false opinions promise afflicted Catholics ' the habitation of their righteousness at peace,' in that if they draw them to tlieir own views, then indeed they hold their peace from opposition. For those who have let themselves be drawn into that which is wrong, are the more lulled to rest in temporal peace, in proportion as they are parted the wider from eternal })eace. Book Moreover they promise that the riches of understanding shall be increased to all that follow them. And hence it is added, Insomuch that though thg beginning was small, yet thy latter end shall greatly increase. Then because they do not easily obtain credit to their words, in that their life is often shewn to be worthy of contempt, they put forward the opinions of the Fathers of old, and turn the right lino they take into a proof of their own erring way. Hence it is

Ver. <S. For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and diligently search into the memory of the fathers.

63. They give us notice that ' the former generation' and xxxix. ' the memory of the fathers' are not seen but ' searched,' because they will not have that to be seen therein, which lies open before the eyes of all men. But sometimes, like good men, they give some instruction of a moral kind, and shew how the present maybe gathered from the past; and from the things which are even now withdrawn from our eyes by passing away, they shew how little there is in the things that are seen before our eyes. Whence it is yet further

Ver. 9. For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are but a shadow.

64. And so the generation of old is set before us to be xl. inquired of, that the period of the present life may be shewn to pass away like a shadow; in this way, that if we recall to ^ mind the things that have been and are now over, we clearly see how swiftly that also will be gone which we have in our hands. But it often happens that heretics go along with us in extolling the same fathers whom we venerate; but their sense being perverted, they strike at us by those very commendations of them. Hence it is yet further added, I Ver. 10. Sliall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?

65. We must mark what he had said before. And the xli. inspiration^ of the words of thy mouth is mxdtiplied. Buti 'ppirinow when the fathers are brought to mind, he says, They^^'^^'^'* shall utter words out of their heart. As though heretics abhorring the life of Holy Church said, ' Thou hast abundance

Job 8, of inspiration in thy mouth, in thy heart thou hast none of -inH: it. But they are to be heard in opposition, who, in uttering 'words from the heart, have taught the right tiling by living like it.' But oftentimes the wicked, whereas the evil of their o\\ n crookedness is unknown to them, boldly pull in pieces the uprightness of others, and while they usurp to themselves authority of pronouncing rebukes against good men, they either deliver those good sentiments, which they have imbibed not by seeing but by hearing them, or else with lying lips lay that evil to the charge of others, which they are themselves guilty of committing. But when they give utterance to good thoughts, which they scorn to observe, it is to be remarked that very frequently Truth so speaks by the lips of her adversaries, that in putting their tongue in motion it smites their life. So that in telling of the highest perfection of righteousness while they know nothing of it, they themselves are rendered at once both judges by their words Hist, and accusers by their deeds. Hence Bildad subjoins words of wondrous truth against hypocrites, but he is running himself through with the point of his discourse. For unless he were himself in some slight degree a pretender of righteousness, he would never venture to teach a good man with so much temerity. And indeed they are words of singular force that he speaks, but they ought to have been addressed to fools, not to a wise man; to the wicked, not to a good person; in that he proclaims himself no less than insane, who, when the gardens are parched, pours water into the river. But in the mean time, laying aside the question to whom the thing is said, let us weigh well and minutely what it is that is said, that the sentiments delivered may cdily ourselves, even though they assail the character of their Author. It goes on,

Ver. 11. Ca?i the rush grow up without moisture? can tlif Jlay grow without icater? MoriAi.. To whom Bildad compares ' the rush' and ' the flag,' he himself immediately discloses, when he adds;

Ver. 12, 13. Whilst it is yet in his greenness^ and not cut doum, it withereth before any other herb. So are the paths qf all that forget God, and the hypocrite's hope shall perish.

Hypocrites work by (jntce^ hut for their own glory. 4Gi)

Q6. So that by the name of ' a rush' or ' a flat?,' he denotes B«.ok • • VIII the life of the hypocrite, which has an appearance of green ^^ ness, but has no fruit of usefuhiess for the services of man, ^' which continuing dry in barrenness of practice, is green with only the colour of sanctity alone. But neither does a rush grow without moisture, nor a flag without water, in that the life of hypocrites receives indeed the infused giace of the heavenly gift for the doing of good works, but in whatsoever it does seeking praises without, it proves void of fruit of the infused grace vouchsafed it. For they often perform wonderful deeds of miraculous power, they expel demons from bodies possessed, and by the gift of prophecy, by knowing anticipate things to come, yet they are separated from the Giver of so many blessings in the bent of the thought of their heart. For through His gifts they seek not His glory, but their own applause. And whereas by the benefits vouchsafed them they raise themselves in their own praise, they are assailing their Benefactor with the very gifts of His bounty. For they behave themselves proudly against Him that gave them, from the very circumstance whereby they should have been rendered the more thoroughly humble towards Him. But a judgment the more unsparing smites them hereafter, in proportion as heavenly Goodness now pours upon them even in their ingratitude the dew of His blessing in larger measure. And the fulness of the gift turns to the increase of condemnation to them, because when they are watered they bear no fruit, but under a hue of green rear themselves on high in barrenness. These ' Truth' well describes in the Gospel, saying, 3Iany shall say to Ble in Matt. 7, that day, Lord, Lord, have toe not prophesied in Thy

Name? and in Thy Name have cast out devils? and in

Thy Name done many ivonderfid works? And then will

I p)rofess unto them, I never knew you; Depart from Me, ye that work iniquity. Thus neither the rush nor the flag lives without Avater, because hypocrites do not take the greenness of good works, save by gift from above; but because they appropriate it to the use of their own applause, they grow green indeed in the water, but barren.

67. Now it is well added. Whilst it is yet in his flower, nor plucked with the handy it withereth before any other

470 Hypocrites httte <i)id sUinder those who rebuke than. Job 8, herb. ' Tlie rush in liis ilower' is the hypocrite in esteem.

j-i " Now the rusli springing up with sliarp edges is not plucked with the hand, in that the hypocrite, having his feehngs sharpened by presumption, disdains to be rebuked for his wickedness. In his flower lie gashes the hand that plucketh him, in that the hypocrite in the midst of applause, that no one may dare to rebuke him, by his cutting tongue wounds the life of the rebuker without delay. For he desires not to be holy, but to be called holy; and when he may chance to be rebuked, it is as if he were lopped off" in the full bloom of his reputation. He is enraged to be found out in his wickedness, he forbids the man that brings his guilt home to him to address him, in that he is as it were pained by being touched in a secret wound. Such as he was known to the ignorant, he would wish to be accounted of all men, and readier to lay down his life than to be reprimanded, he is made worse by censure, because he accounts the word of disinterested goodness as the dart of deadly smiting. Hence in exasperated passion he directly rises in abuse, and looks about for all the evil he can rake together against the life of his rebuker. He longs to prove him beyond all comparison guilty, that he may make himself out innocent, not by his own doings, but by the guilt of others; so that often the person repents that he has uttered a word of censure, and that just as from the hand of one plucking any thing, so from the mind of the person chiding, there runs out as it were the blood of sorrow, if I may say so. Hence it is well Prov. 9, said by Solomon, Reprove not a scorner^ lest he hate thee.

^' For it is not proper for the good man to fear, lest the scorner should utter abuse at him when he is chidden; but lest being drawn into hatred, he should be made worse.

68. And here it is necessary to be known, that the excellencies of good men, as they begin from the heart, go on increasing to the very end of the present life; but the practices of hypocrites, seeing that they are not rooted in secret, often come to nought before the present life is ended. For very frequently they devote themselves to the study of sacred scholarship, and because they prosecute it nc^t for providing a store of merits, l)ut for procuring connnendations, the moment that they get hold of the sentence of human applause, and thereby secure the boon of transitory success, Book they give themselves with all their heart to worldly concerns, and are completely emptied of sacred scholarship, and by their way of acting afterwards, they shew how much they love the things of time, who before only had those of eternity alone on their lips. But it is very often the case that they exhibit an appearance of maturity put on, they shew fair by the composure of silence, by the forbearance of long suffering, by the virtue of continence; but when by means of these they have reached the height of the honour that they aimed at, and when respect is henceforth bestowed on them by all men, they immediately begin to let themselves out in wantonness of self-gratification, and they are their own witnesses against themselves that they held none of their good derived from the heart, in that they parted with it so soon.

But sometimes there are persons found who give all they possess, and lavish all their goods upon the needy, yet before the end of their life, inffamed with the itch of avarice, they covet the goods of others, who seemed to be giving their own with a lavish hand; and afterwards with determined cruelly they go after that, which they had given up before with pretended piety. And hence it is rightly said in this place, IVhiUt it is yet in his Jloicer^ and not yet plucked icilh the hand, it ivithereth before any other herb. For as to their fleshly part even the righteous are herbs, as the Prophet bears witness, VA'ho saith, Alljiesh is grass. But ' the rush' is 1^.40,6. said to ' wither before all other herbs;' in that while the righteous continue in their goodness, the life of hypocrites is dried up from the greenness of assumed uprightness. Even the rest of the herbs wither, because the deeds of the righteous come to an end together with the life of the flesh. But the ' rush' precedes the withering of the herbs, for before the hypocrite passes out of the flesh, he gives over the deeds of virtuous habits which he had manifested in hiinself. Concerning which same it is also well said by the Psalmist, Let them be as the grass upon the housetop, which wilhereth Ps. 129 afore it he lilucked up. For ' the grass upon the housetop' ^• springeth up aloft, but it is never set firm with a rich soil, forasmuch as the hypocrite is seen practising the higliest acts, but he is not slablished therein in purity of intention.

Job 8, Which same grass even when not plucked up soon withereth, '— for this reason, that the hypocrite at one and the same time still exists in the present life, and yet already parts with the practices of holiness as with the appearance of gieenness. For because he went about to do good works without the pmi^ose of a right heart, by losing these he shews that he flourished without a root.

69. But as we have before said, who he is to whom Bildad likens ' a rush' or ' a flag,' he makes plain at the moment, ver 13. wdiere he adds, So are the paths of all that forget God, and the hypocrite'' s hope shall perish. For what docs the hypocrite hope for from all his deeds, saving the observance of honour, the reputation of applause, to be feared by his betters, to be called a Saint by all men? But the hope of the hy]30crite can never endure, for, from not making eternity his aim, he hastes away from all that he holds in his hand. For the bent of his mind is not fixed in that glory which is possessed without end; but while he gapes after transient applause, he loses in the getting the thing that he toils for.

Matt. (j, as ' Truth' testifieth, Who saith, Verily I say unto you, they have had their reward. Now this hope of being vouchsafed a reward cannot be maintained for long, seeing that honour is bestowed for the works exhibited, but life is pressing on to its close; praises are reechoed, but then along with them the periods of time are speeding to an end. And because the soul is in no wise rooted in the love of the eternal world, it slips away together with the very objects that it is centered in. For no one can attach himself to the moveable, and remain himself unmoved. For he that erabraces transitory things is drawn into transition by the mere circumstance, that he is entangled with things running out their course. Therefore let him say. And the hypocrite's hope shall perish. For the applause of man, which he seeks with mighty pains, being driven on by the items of time, does run to nought. And it is well added, Ver. 14. His oicn folly shall not satisfy him. xliii. 70. For it is infinite folly to labour painfully, and pant after the breath of applause, to apply one's self to the heavenly precepts with hard toil, but to aim at the reward of an earthly kind of recompense. For that I may so express myself, he that in return for the good that he practises looks for the applause of his fellowcreatures, is carrying an article Book of great worth to be sold at a mean price. From that - whereby he might have earned the kingdom of heaven, he seeks the coin of passing talk. His practice goes for little, in that he spends a great deal, and gets back but very little. Whereunto then are hypocrites like but to luxuriant and untended vines, which put forth fruit from their fertility, but are never lifted from the earth by tending? All that the rich branches bud forth, stray beasts tread under foot, and the more fruitful they see it is, the moi-e greedily they devour it, thus cast away and laid low, in that the works of hypocrites while they shew fair, come forth as if rich, but whilst they aim at human praises, it is as if they were left forsaken upon the ground. And the beasts of this world, i. e. the evil spirits, devour them, because they turn them to account to the end of perdition, and they seize upon them with greater avidity, in proportion as great things are more clearly known. Hence it is well said by the Prophet, The standing stalk, there is no bud in them, andYios. 8, they shall yield no meal; if so be it yield, the strangers " ^' shall swallow it up. For the stalk is without a bud, when the life lacks the merit of virtuous habits. The stalk yieldeth no meal, when he that thrives in this world understands nothing refined, and yields no fruit of good practice.

71. But very often even when it has yielded meal, strangers eat it up, in that even when hypocrites do shew forth good works, the wishes of evil, spirits ai'e satisfied therewith. For those who do not aim to please God by them, do not feed the Owner of the land, but strangers. Thus the hypocrite, like a fruitful and neglected vine, cannot keep his fruit, because the cluster of good works lies prone upon the ground. Yet he is fed by his veiy own insanity itself, in that on the score of good practice he is esteemed of all men, he is set before others, he holds the minds of men in subjection, he is raised to the higher posts; he is fed high with applause. Now this folly of his satisfies him in the mean season, but it shall not satisfy him, in that when the season of retribution comes, it displeases him under punishment that he was fooli.sh. Then he will perceive that he did foohshly, when, for the gratification of applause, he

•174 liest works douejor man'a praise but spiders' uehs.

Jt>"8, receives the sentence of God's rebuke. ITien he sees that - — '— he has been senseless, when for the transitory glory that he obtamca, everlastnig torments are his bitter portion. 1 hen punishments disclose the true hnowledge to light, in that by thera it must at once be concluded that all was nought that could pass away; and hence it is rightly added, And u-Jwse tnist shall be a spider's neb. xliv. 72. The assurance of the hypocnte is rightly called like the webs of spiders, in that all the pains and labour they spend to acquire glory, the wind of the life of mortality blows to shreds. For as they never seek the things of eternity, they lose together with time all temporal good things. Moreover it is to be considered that spiders draw their threads in a regular order, for that hypocrites as it were regulate their works by the rule of discernment. The spider's web is woven with pains, but it is scattered by a sudden blast, in that whatsoever the hypocrite does with laborious effort, the breath of man's regard carries off; and whilst in the ambition of applause his work comes to nought, it is as if his labour went to the wind. For it often happens that the works of hypocrites last even to the veiy^ end of the present life, but, forasmuch as they do not thereby seek the praise of their Creator, they were never good works in the sight of God. Thus it is very often the case, as we liave said above, that they are upheld by scholarship in the sacred Law, that they deliver lessons of instruction, that they fortify by testimonies every notion that they entertain; but they do not hereby seek the life of their hearers, but applause for themselves. For neither do they know how to put forth any thing else but what may stir the hearts of their hearers to the quick, to pay the recompense of praise, not what may kindle them to shed tears. For the heart being preoccupied with external desires, is not hot with the fire of divine love, and so words that issue from a cold heart, can never warm their hearers to heavenly affection. For neither can any one thing that is not itself alight in itself kindle any other thing. Hence it is very often brought to pass, that at one and the same time the sayings of hypocrites fail to instruct the hearers, and make the very persons themselves that utter them worse by being exalted with praises. For as Paul bears witness,

Knowledge puffeth it}), hut charity edifieth. Thus, whereas Book charity setteth not up in ' edifying,' knowledge in puffing up lCor.8, overthrows. Very often liypocrites chasten themselves with i.

extraordinary mortification, wear down all the strength of their body, and as it were while living in the flesh utterly kill the life of the flesh, and so by abstinence verge upon death, that they live well nigh dying every day; but they seek the eyes of men for all this, they look for the renown of admiration, as ' Truth' tcslifieth. Which saith, i^or tltey disfigure their faces, f/iatMa,tt.6, they may appear unto men to fast. For their faces become pallid, the body is made to shake with weakness, the breast labours with hard and broken breathings. But amidst all this, talk of admiration is looked for from the lips of neighbours, and nothing else is aimed at by such great pains, saving human esteem. Which same are well represented by that Simon, who in the season of our Lord's Passion bore the Cross in compulsion, of whom it is written. And as tltey Mztt. came out they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, him ' they compelled to bear His cross. For what we do by compulsion, we do not practise from a heartfelt devotedness of love. And so for him to bear the Cross of Jesus in compulsion, is to submit to the mortification of abstinence for some other aim than needs to be. Does he not bear the Cross of Jesus under compulsion, who as after the commandment of the liord subdues the flesh, yet does not love the spiritual Country? And hence the same Simon bears the Cross, but doth not die; in that every hypocrite chastens his body in abstinence, but yet, in the love of glory, lives on to the world.

73. Contrariwise it is well said by Paul of the Elect; For Gal. 5, they that are Christ's have crucified thejlesh u ith the vices * and lusts. For we ' crucify the flesh with the vices and lusts,' if wo so restrain our appetite, that henceforth we look for nothing of the glory of the world. Since he that macerates the flesh, but pants after honours, has inflicted the Cross on his flesh, but from concupiscence lives the worse to the world, in that it often happens that in the semblance of holiness, he unworthily obtains the post of rule, Avhich except he displayed something of merit in himself, he would never attain to receive by any pains whatever. But tliat

476 What tee live in is our house; (he hypocrite^ s stands not. Jon 8, which he gains for enjoyment is passing, and what ensues in punishment is enduring. Now liis assurance of" sanctity is placed in the hps of man, but when the inward Judge tries the secrets of the interior, no witnesses of tlie lil'e are sought from wdthout. Therefore it is well said. Whose trust shall be a spider's web; since on the witness of the heart appearing, all passes by wherein his confidence consists, founded without m human applause. And hence it is yet further added Avith justice,

Ver. 15. He leaneth upon his house, but it shall not stand; he shall prop it, but it shall not rise up.

xlv. 74, As the house of our exterior life is the building which the body lives in, so the house of our thought is any thing whatever that the mind is centered in by affection. For every thing that we love, we as it were make our dwelling-place by reposing in it. Whence Paul, because he had fixed his heait in things above, being still upon earth indeed, yet a Phil. 3, stranger to earth, said. Our conversation is in heaven. So

^^- the mind of the hypocrite in whatever it does minds nothing else but the fame of its own reputation, nor cares where it

' ' duci- is carried * after by its deserts, but what it is called ' in the

*'^'!'^^, mean season. Therefore his house is delight of popularity, which he as it were dwells in at rest, in that in all his works he throws himself back thereupon within his mind. But this house can never stand, because praise fleeth away with life, and the applause of man does not hold in the

Judgment. Hence the foolish virgins too, who took no oil in their vessels, because their glory was in the voices of others and not in their own consciences, confounded by the presence

Matt, of the Bridegroom, say. Give its of your oil, for our lamps

' " are going out. For to seek oil from our neighbours is to beseech the fame of good works from the testimony of another man's mouth. For the empty soul, when it finds that it has retained nothing within by all its laboius, looks about for testimoixy from without. As if the foolish Virgins said plainly, * When ye behold us cast away without reward, say ye what ye have seen in our practice.'

75. But the hypocrite leans in vain then u])on this house of applause, since no human testimony stands him in stead in the Judgment; for the same praise, which he afterwards

Men listen iojiaUery till they deceive themselves. 477 claims in testimony, he before received in reward. Or surely Book the hypocrite leans upon his house, when beguiled by vain caresses, he is as it were lifted up in assurance of his holiness; for hypocrites do many things evil in secret, but a few things good in public. And when they receive praises from the good that appears, they turn away the eyes of observation from the concealed ill, and they esteem themselves such as they hear without, not such as they know themselves within. Whence it very often happens that they also come to the Judgment of the Most High with confidence, because they imagine themselves such in the sight of the Interior Judge, as they were held to be by men without. Yet ' the house of the hypocrite cannot stand,' for in the terror of a sifting search, all the foregoing assurance of holiness falls to the ground. And when he knows that the testimony of another man's lips is wanting to him, he betakes himself to reckoning up his own works. Hence it is still further added. He sliall prop it, but it sliall not rise up. For that which cannot stand by itself, is propped to make it stand; for when the hypocrite sees his life tottering in the Judgment, he sets himself to make it stand in propping it, by the eniuneration of his deeds. Do not they prop the dwelling-place of their own praise on every hand, who in reckoning up their own deeds in the Judgment, as we said before, say. Lord, Zort^, Matt. 7, liave we not prophesied in Thy Name? and in Thy Name have cast out devils 'i and in Thy Name done many marvellous works f But the house of praise, stayed up by all these statements, cannot rise, because the Judge saith directly, / never knew you; dejyart from Me, ye that uork iniquity. And it is to be had in mind that any thing, that rises, lifts itself from below to a higher elevation, and so ' the house of the hypocrite cannot rise,' in that in all that he may have done after the heavenly precepts, he never lifted his soul from off the earth, so that with justice he is not then lifted up to the meed of recompense, who in that which he sets forth now, lies prostrate in the desire of temporal glory. But whereas we have heard how the life of the hypocrite, represented by the name of a rush,' is rejected in the Judgment, let us hear what sort of person he is held by men before the strict Judge appeareth. It proceeds,

Job 8, Ver. 10, // is seen moist before the sun comet h.

— 71). Ol'lentimus in Holy Writ tlic Lord is represented by

^\y[ the title of the Sun, as it is said by the Prophet, Uut unto Mai. 4, you that fear My Name shall the Sun of righteousness arise. And as the ungodly that are east away in the Judgment, are

Wisd. described in the book of Wisdom, as saying, JVe have erred ' * from the uay of truth, and the light of righteousness hath not shined unto us, and the Sun rose not upon us; therefore, ' before the sun the rush is seen moist,' in that before God's severity burns hot in the Judgment, every hypocrite shews himself bedewed with the grace of holiness. He is seen as it were flourishing, because he is accounted righteous, he wins the post of honour, he is strong in his high repute for sanctity, reverence is awarded to him by all men, his credit for praise is magnified. Thus this rush is full of moisture in the night, but on the coming of the sun it is dried up, in that the hypocrite is accounted holy by all men in the darkness of the present life, but when the searching Judge comcth, he will appear as wicked as he is. So then let him say. He appears moist before the sun, because now he shews himself flourishing to the eyes of men, but then he shall wither up in the scorching heat of the Divine Judgment. The account goes on;

'gernicn And his produce^ issueth forth in his springing up. xlvii. 77. For eveiy herb in general is first raised out of the ground by springing up, it is subject to the influences of the air and heat, it is fed by the sun and showers, and then at length it is made to open itself to put forth the produce of its seed. But the rush is produced along with its flower, and so soon as it springs out of the earth, it puts forth its produce of seed with itself. Therefore by the rest of the herbs the Saints in general are well denoted, but the hypocrite by ' the rush,' because the righteous, before they spring up ' in the practice of holy conversation, undergo the winter season of this life, and the heats of bitter persecutions press them hard; and then, when they do what is right, they never look here for the reward of their righteousness, but when thev (Icparl forth from tlic labours of the present world, Book

VI IT on commg to their eternal Country, they enter upon the - enjoyment of their looked-for reward. But contrariwise the hypocrite, in that he springs up in good practice at once, goes about to win the glory of the present world.

As it were like a rush he springs up with his produce, who in return for this, that he is beginning to live well, aims at the outset to be held in honour by all men. So that the

' produce in the springing up,' is a reward at the outset.

For often there are those that abandon the paths of overt wickedness, and put on the garb of holiness, and the moment they have touched the bare threshold of good living, forgetting what they were, they will not be henceforth chastened by penance for the iniquities they have committed, but they long to be commended for goodness begim; they are eager to get above the rest, even though better men than themselves.

And for the most part whilst present prosperity follows them to their wish, they become infinitely worse than they were by the wearing of sanctity; but being busied with countless concerns, and distracted by that same busying, they not only never bewail the things that they have done, but still fill up more that should be bewailed.

78. For they that quit the world, ought not to be promoted to externaP offices, unless in humility they be for some long • i. e.

time established in the contempt of that world. For the^ '^ good soon comes to an end, which is made known to the world before the time.,Thus with shrubs too that have been planted, if, before they are fastened with a firm root, the hand touch and shake them, it causes them to wither away, but, if the root be fixed deep, and, being sprinkled with the dews of the earth, be set fast, such as these the hand may even push, and not hurt: these even blasts of wind may buffet and wave, yet not overthrow. Thus, that the life of practice we have entered upon may not be uprooted, the root of the heart must be fixed long and vigorously in the deep of humility, that when from the mouths of men the breath of calumny or of applause blows strong, though it bend it a little either way, it may not root up the mind from its scat, but that after such bending it may return to its own upright standing, if it but hold strong in

Job 8, the root in its own self. What among things in course of growth is stronger than a rising wall? yet if, while it is in the act of erecting, it is ])ushecl, it is at once destroyed without an effort; but if for a space of time it be allowed to dry from its wetness, often it is never a jot moved even by the strokes of the battering rams. In this way, in this self-same way, our goodness on the one hand being unseasonably displayed comes to nought, and on the other hand being longer kept hidden, is fairly secured; in that when the hand of human employment touches the recent life of our conversation, as it were it pushes the fresh brick wall, and easily destroys it, because it has not as yet got rid of the moisture of its own weakness. But when in its long lying at rest, the soul holds itself in, as it were like a dry wall, it grows hard against blows, and every thing that strikes it, now it is solid, bounds off" it at once shattered. It is hence that Moses forbade the life of aught that made the beginning Deut. to be employed in services for men, saying. Thou shall do ''' ■ no work tvitli the firstling of thy bullock, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep. For to ' do work with the firstling of the bullock' is to display the beginning of a good conversation in the employment of public business. Moreover ' to shear the firstlings of sheep,' is to lay bare of the covering of its concealment the good we have begun before the eyes of men. And so we are forbidden to ' work with the firstling of the bullock,' and we are hindered from ' shearing the firstlings of our sheep,' in that even if we begin any thing strong, we ought not to be too ready to execute it in public. And when our life commences something simple and harmless, it is meet that it quit not the coverings of its secresy, that it may not bare that thing naked to the eyes of the world, the fleece being as it were withdrawn.

79. So let the firstlings of the bullocks and the sheep avail for the Divine sacrifices alone, that whatsoever we begin strong and harmless, we may sacrifice in honour of the Judge of the interior upon the altar of our hearts. AVhich same we may be sure is accepted the more gladly by Him, in proportion as being kept concealed from men it is stained by no desire of applause. But it often happens that the beginnings of a new method of life have still a mixture of the carnal life, and therefore they ought not to be too ready Book to make themselves known, lest while the good that pleases is applauded, the soul being beguiled by the praises of itself have no power to discover in itself the evil that lies concealed. Hence it is rightly said by Moses again. And when ye shallL.e\.i9, nave come into the land that I shall give you, and sJiall ' have planted all manner of trees bearing fr^iit, then ye shall take off their foreskins. The fruits that are put forth shall he unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of them. For ' the trees bearing fruit' are works fruitful in virtue, and so we ' take off' the foreskins of the trees,' when suspecting ourselves of the mere weakness of a beginning in itself, we do not give our approval to the beginnings of our good practices, but the fruits that are put forth, we count unclean, and do not make them answer for good for us, in that when the beginnings of good practice are applauded, it is meet that the mind of the doer should not be fed thereby; lest whilst the praise bestowed is plucked with delight, the fruit of good works be eaten prematurely. He, then, that receives the praise of virtue in its beginning from the mouths of men, as it were eats the fruit of the tree that he has planted before the time.

80. Hence ' Truth' saith by the Psalmist, // is vain for you Ps. 127, to rise up before the light: rise up after ye have sat. For^'^"^^' * to rise up before the light' is to take one's pleasure in the night-time of the present life, before the shining of Eternal Retribution is revealed. So we are to sit first, that we may rise afterwards in a right way. For whoever doth not now humble himself by his own act and deed, the glory to ensue does not exalt such an one. Therefore what it is there to rise before the light, it is here for the hypocrite to put forth the produce in his springing up, for in setting his heart on human applauses, in the self-same place, where he springs up to good works, there he desires directly to obtain the glorying of his recompense. Had not they * put forth their produce in their springing up,' of whom ' Truth' said, T7iey Matt. love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in ' ' ' the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men Rabbi? Therefore seeing that for this reason, viz. because they are beginning to do well, they endeavour to obtain honour of men, as it were, like a rush, ' in their

Job 8, springing up they rise with their produce.' These same, lii— whilst they aim to iiractise right things, first anxiously look about lor witnesses of those same works, and canvass with secret calculation, if there be persons to see the things they are about to do, or if those who see them can report them in a proper way. Hut if it chance to hai)pen that no one witnesses their doings, then, surely, they reckon them to be lost to them, and they account the eyes of the interior Umpire as off them, because they have no mind to receive at His hands the reward of their works hereafter. And whereas when the hypocrite does any thing, he aims to be seen by many eyes, it is yet further added with truth concerning this same ' rush,'

Ver. 17. His roots will be ivrapped about the heap of rocks, and he will dwell among the stones.

xlviii. 81. For what do we understand by the name of * roots' save the hidden thoughts, which issue forth out of sight, but rise up in the display of works in open day? as it is also Is. 37, said by the Prophet concerning the seed of the Word, And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. For to ' take root downward,' is to multiply good thoughts in the secret depths, but ' to bear fruit upward,' is to shew forth by the doing of ])ractice what one has thought that is right. Now by the title of ' stones' in Holy Writ men are Is. 64, denoted, as it is said to Holy Church by Isaiah, And I will make thy battlements jasper, and thy gates of carved stones. And he made it plain what it was that he called those stones, where he added. All thy children taught of the Lord. As it 1 Pet. 2, is also expressed by Peter in giving admonition, Ye also, as lirely stones, are built up a spiritual house. Here therefore, whereas they are called ' stones,' but are not in any wise called ' living stones,' by the bare appellation of stones may be set forth the lost and the Elect mixed together. Therefore this rush, ' \!^hich abideth in the place of stones, wrappcth his roots about the heap of rocks,' in that every hypocrite multiplies the thoughts of his heart, in seeking out the admiration of men; for in all that hypocrites do, seeing that in their secret thoughts they look out for the ap])lauses of their fellow-creatures, like rushes as it were they ' send out roots into the heap of the rocks.' For on the point of acting Book they imagine their praises, and when applauded, they dwell '- upon them secretly with themselves in the thoughts of their heart. They rejoice that they have distinguished themselves first and foremost in the esteem of men; and while they are puffed up and swoln in themselves by their applause, they often themselves secretly wonder at what they are. They long to appear day by day higher than themselves, and grow to a height by extraordinary arts in practice. For as habits of virtue enfeeble every thing bad, so presumption strengthens the same. For it forces the mind to grow quick, and to be in high condition at the expense of strength, in that what the prime quality of health withholds, the love of applause enjoins. Whence too, as we said, they look out for witnesses of their deeds; but if it chance that witnesses of the thing are wanting, they themselves relate what they have done, and when they begin to be elated with applause, they add a little, by lying, to these works of theirs, which they describe themselves to have done. But even when they do give true accounts, by the act of telling them they are making them alien to them, in that when they are rewarded with the desired acknowledgments of esteem, they are dispossessed of their inward recompensing of them.

82. For in this, that they publish their good, they point out to the evil spirits, like enemies plotting against them, what to make spoil of. Whose life, truly, is represented by that sin of Hezekiah, which is well known to every one, who after that by a single prayer, and in the space of a single night, he had laid low an hundred fourscore and five thousand of his enemies, by an Angel smiting them, after that he had brought back the sun close to its setting into the higher regions of the heavens, after that he had spun out the web of life to longer dimensions, now already narrowed by the end approaching, shewed to the welcomed messengers of the king of Babylon all the good treasures that he possessed, but directly heard from the voice of the Prophet, Behold^ the days come, that alii Kings that is in thine house shall be carried away into Babylon: ' nothing shall be left, saith the Lord. In this way, in this self-same way, do hypocrites, after they are grown to a height by great attainments in virtue, because they are indifferent

Job 8, to guard against the plots of evil spirits, and will not remain

- — ^hidden in those attainments, by displaying their good things, make them over to the enemy; and by betraying it to view, they lose in a moment whatsoever they perform by taking pains in a long course of time. Hence it is said by the Psalmist,

Ps. 7'd^ And He delivered their strength into captivity, and their glory into the enenufs hand. For the ' strength' and ' glory' of presumptuous men is ' given over into the enemy's hand,' in that every good thing, that is exhibited in the desire of praise, is made over to our secret adversary's right of possession; for he calls his enemies to the spoil, who reveals his treasures to their knowledge; since so long as we are severed from the safety of the Eternal Land, we are walking along a way with robbers lying in wait. He then that dreads to be robbed on the road, must of necessity hide the treasures that he carries. O wretched beings, who by going after the praises of men, waste to themselves all the fmits of their labours, and whilst they aim to shew themselves to the eyes of others, blast all that they do. Which same when the evil spirits prompt to boastfulness, taking them for a prey they strip bare their works, as we have said. Whence ' Truth' in setting forth by the Prophet the rancour of our old

Joel 1,7. enemies, under the form of a particular people, saith. He hath laid my vineyard waste, and barked my Jig-tree: he

1 V. so hath made it clean bare, and ' despoiled it; the branches thereof are made white. For by spirits lying in wait the vineyard of God is made a desert, when the soul that is replenished with fruits is wasted with the longing after the praise of men. That people barks the fig-tree of God, in that can-ying away the misguided soul in the appetite for applause, in the degree that it draws her on to ostentation, it strips her of the covering of humility, and ' making it clean bare despoils it,' in that so long as it is withdrawn from sight in its goodness, it is as it were clothed with the bark of its own covering. But when the mind longs for that it has done to be seen by others, it is as though ' the fig-tree despoiled' had lost the bark that covered it. And it is properly added there. The branches thereof are made wJiite; in that his works being displayed to the eyes of men, turn white; a name for sanctity is gotten, when right practice

Glory of the Church within. Glory of God to be our rule. 48-S is made appear, but whereas upon the bark being removed, Book the branches of this fig-tree wither, it is to be observed with - due discrimination that the deeds of presumptuous men, when they are paraded before human eyes, by the same act whereby they aim to win favour, are rendered dry and sapless. Therefore the mind that is shewn to view in boasting is rightly called a fig-tree barked, in that it is at once white, in so far as it is seen, and within a little of withering, in so far as it is denuded of the covering of the bark. The things we do, therefore, are to be kept within, if we expect to receive from the Umpire within the recompense of our work. It is hence that ' Truth' saith in the Gospel, But when thou doest alms., let not thy left hand know what Matt, (j, thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in sectet; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. It is hence that it is said of the Church of the Elect by the Psalmist, The king''s daughter is all glorious within. Hence ^^- ^'^•> Paul saiih, For our glory ^ is this, the testimony of our 2 Gov. \, conscience. For the king's daughter is the Church, which,^ y ^^ is begotten in good practice by the preaching of spiritual Princes. But ' her glory is within,' in that what she does she holds not for the boasting of outward display. Paul describes his ' glory' as ' the testimony of his conscience,' in that not aiming at the applause of another's man's lips, he knows no such thing as placing the satisfactions of his life out of himself.

83. Therefore the things that we do must be kept concealed, lest by carrying them negligently on the journey of the present life, we lose them, through the invasion of the spirits that hunt for spoil. And yet ' Truth' saith, Let them Matt. 5, see your good works, that they may glorify your Father which is in heaten. But assuredly it is one thing when in the display of our works the gloiy of the Giver is our aim, and quite another when our own praise is the thing sought for in the gift of His bounty. And hence again in the Gospel the same ' Truth' saith, Take heed that ye do not your works Matt. 6, before meu, to be seen of them. Therefore when our works are displayed to men, we must first weigh well, in entering into the heart, what is aimed at by the prosecution of such display. For if we make the glory of the Giver our end, even our works that arc made public we keep hidden in His

Job 8, sight. But if we desire to win our own applause by them, — ^^' they arc thenceforth cast out of His sigl)t without, even ' though they be known nothing of by numbers.

84. Now it belongs to those that are exceeding perfect, so to seek thi; glory of their Maker by the works shewn, as not to know what it is to exult in self-congratulation upon the praise bestowed upon them. For then only is a praiseworthy work displayed to men without harm, when the praise awarded is genuinely trodden under in the mind's contempt. Which same as the weak sort do not perfectly get above in contemning it, it remains of necessity that they keep out of sight the good that they do. For often from the very first beginning of the display, they seek their own praise. And often in the displaying of their works, they desire to publish the gloriousness of the Creator, but being received with applause, they are carried oif into desire of their own praise. And whilst they neglect to call themselves to account within, being dissipated without, they do not know what they do, and their work ministers to their pride, and they fancy that they are rendering it in the service of the Giver. Thus ' a rush abideth among the stones,' in that the hypocrite stands there, where he sets fast the purpose of his mind. For whilst he goes about to get the testimony of numbers, he takes his stand, as it were, in the heap of stones. But the same hypocrite that is represented by the designation of ' a rush,' whilst he brings his body under by abstinence, whilst by bestowing in alms all that he possesses, he spends hiuiself in efforts of pity, whilst he gets iustruction in the knowledge of the sacred Law, whilst he employs the w^ord of preaching; who that beheld him so filled with bounty, would account him a stranger to the grace of the Giver? And yet the Hand of heavenly Dispensation vouchsafes to him the gifts of works, and. withholds the lot of the inheritance. It lavishes endowments for working, yet disowns the life of the worker. For when the gift vouchsafed is applied toward his own praise, in the eye of the interior Light, he is darkened by the shadow of pride. Hence it is well added, Ver. 18, Ij He deslroy hi/n from his place, then He shall deny hitn, sayiny, I have not known thee.

xlix. 85. The hypocrite is ' destioyed from his place,' when he is parted from the applause of the present life, by death Book intervening. But the interior Witness ' denieth' him, thus - destroyed, and asserts that He knows him not, in that in justly condemning the life of the pretender, ' Truth' knows him not, nor recognises the good works he has done, in that he never put them forth in a right purpose of mind. And hence when He comcth to Judgment, He will say to the foolish virgins, Verily I say unto yoUj 1 know you not. In Matt, which same whilst He sees corruptness of mind, He condemns ' ' even incorruptness in the flesh. But would that their own ruin alone were enough for hypocrites, and that their wicked pains did not vehemently urge others to a life^ of duplicity. For it ' ai. ' a is the way with every one, to wish that, such as he is himself, ^^^ others of a like sort should be joined with him, and to avoid difference in life, and to inculcate as a pattern for imitation the thing that he loves. Whence also according to the view of hypocrites every degree of simplicity of character is criminal. For they sit in judgment on open characters, and purity of heart they term stupidity; and all whom they desire to be attached to themselves, they turn out of the path of simplicity, and then, as though their folly were cast out, they reckon that they have enlightened those ]iersons, in whom they force to a surrender that fortress of wisdom, purity of heart. But forasmuch as the hypocrite is condemned not for his own frowardness alone, but for the added ruin of his followers also, after that he is said not to be known by the Judge, the words are rightly brought in upon that;

Ver. 19. Behold, this is the joy of his way'^, that out of'' a].' of the earth others also should yrow. '" ' ^"

86. As though it wci'e in plain words, ' When the Judge 1. comcth, he is not acknowledged, but receives punishment a thousand fold, because he rejoiced in his wickedness more amply in proportion as he spread evil among others also.' For he that is not satisfied with being wicked himself here, must be tormented There with the due of the guilt of others also. Now then let the hypocrites rejoice, and triumph to have gotten the suffrages of their fellow-creatures. Let the simplicity of good men be looked down upon, and l)e called foolishness by the craft of the double-dealing. Speedily doth

Job 8, the contempt of the single-minded pass, speedily the glorying ^"•^'' of the double-dealing run to an end. And hence it is fitly

Ver. 20. Behold, God irill not cast out a perfect man, neither tcill He stretch out His hand to the evil. li. 87. In that assuredly when the Strict One appeareth in the

Judgment, He will at once lift up the despisedness of the simj)le by glorifying them, and break in pieces the greatness lalg-of the evil-minded^ by condemning them. For hypocrites are called evil-minded, who do good acts but not well, and practise every thing right only in eagerness after praise. Now any one, to whom we stretch out our hand, we plainly lift up from below. Thus God does not stretch out His hand to the evil-minded, in that all that seek earthly glory He leaves below, and how right soever the things that they do may seem to be, He doth not advance them to the joys above. Or, as may well be, hypocrites are for this reason called evil-minded, because they make a shew of being wellminded toward their neighbours, and cover over the arts of their wicked designs. For in all that they either do or say, they shew simplicity externally, but they are inwardly conceiving in the subtleties of double-mindedness; they counterfeit purity on the outside, but they conceal an evil heart at all times under the semblance of purity. In respect of whom it Deut. is well spoken by Moses, Thou shnlt not wear a garment ^^'^^- u-oven of uoollen and linen together. For by ' woollen' is denoted simplicity, by ' linen' subtlety. And it is the fact that a garment made of ' wool and linen' hides the linen within and shews the wool on the outside. And so he ' puts on a garment of woollen and linen together,' who in the mode of speech or behaviour that he adopts conceals within the artfulness of an evil purpose, and exhibits without the simplicity of an innocent mind. For whereas it is impossible to detect craftiness under the semblance of purity, it is as if linen were hidden under the thickness of wool. But after the condemiaation of the double-minded, the recompensing of the righteous is duly exhibited, when it is added thereupon,