Morals on the Book of Job (Moralia)

17*2 Affliction does not always keep out bad thouyhts.

Job 2, ments of the spiritual life he is himself inwardly polluted; and while he considers well the evil in another, which he is himself without, he forgets to take account in his own case of that which he has; and so it is brought to pass, that when the mind to be pronounced upon goes off to the cases of other men, it is deprived of the light of its own judgment, and so much the more cruelly vaunts itself against others' failings, in proportion as it is from negligence in ignorance of its own.

61. But, on the other hand, they that really desire to rise to the heights of virtue, whenever they hear of the faults of others, immediately recall the mind to their own; and the more they really bewail these last, so much the more rightly do they pronounce judgment on those others. Therefore, forasmuch as every elect person restrains himself in the consideration of his own frailty, it may be well said that the holy man in his sorrow sits down upon a dunghill. For he that really humbles himself as he goes on his way, marks with the eye of continued observation all the filth of sin wherewith he is beset. But we must know that it is in prosperity that the mind is oftenest touched with urgent temptations, yet that it sometimes happens that we at the same time undergo crosses without, and are wearied with the urgency of temptation within, so that both the scourge tortures the flesh, and yet suggestion of the flesh pours in upon the mind. And hence it is well, that after the many wounds that blessed Job received, we have yet further the words of his illadvising wife subjoined also, who says,

xxxii. 6— For the illadvising wife is the carnal thought goading the mind, since it often happens, as has been said above, that we are both harrassed with strokes without, and wearied with carnal promptings within. For it is hence that Jeremiah

Lam. 1 bewails, saying, Abroad the sword bereaveth; at home there

2®* is as death. Since * the sword bereaveth,' when vengeance outwardly smites and pierces us, and * at home there is as death,' in that indeed he both undergoes the lash, and yet the conscience is not clear of the stains of temptation within.

P8.36,5. Hence David says, Let them be a^ chaff before the wind,

Tlte Elect treat ill suggestions as Job his wife. 17:3 and let the angel of the Lord persecnte them. For he that is Book caught by the blast of temptation in the heart, is lifted up '— like dust before the face of the wind; and when in the midst of these strokes the rigour of God smites them, what else is it, but the Angel of the Lord that persecutes them?

63. But these trials are carried on in the case of the reprobate in one way, and of the Elect in another. The hearts of the first sort are so tempted that they yield consent, and those of the last undergo temptations indeed, but offer resistance. The mind of the one is taken captive with a feeling of delight, and if at the moment that which is prompted amiss is displeasing, yet afterwards by deliberation it gives pleasure. But these so receive the darts of temptation, that they wear}' themselves in unceasing resistance, and if at any time the mind under temptation is hurried away to entertain a feeling of delight, yet they quickly blush at the very circumstance of their delight stealing upon them, and blame with unsparing censure all that they detect springing u]^ in themselves of a carnal nature. Hence it is rightly added immediately,

Ver. 10. Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. M'hat? shall ire receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil ^

64. For it is meet that the holy mind restrain by spiritual xxxiii correction whatever of a carnal nature within it utters rebellious muttering, that the flesh whether by speaking severe things may not draw it into impatience, nor yet by speaking smooth ones melt it to the looseness of lust. Therefore let manly censure, reproving the dictates of unlawful imaginations, hold hard the dissolute softness of what is base in us, by saying, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. And, on the other hand, let the consideratioD of the gifts repress the discontent of bitter thought, saying, Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil f And whoever desires to get the mastery of his vices, and goes forward to the eternal heights of inward recompense ' with the steps of a true purpose, the 'retribumorc he sees himself to be on every hand beset with the^'°"" war of the vices, the more resolutely he arrays himself with the armour of the virtues, and fears the darts the less, in

Job 2, proportion as he defends his breast bravely against their T—^ — - assault.

65. Yet it very often happens, that whilst we are striving to stay ourselves in this fight of temptation by exalted virtues, certain vices cloak themselves to our eyes under the garb of virtues, and come to us as it were with a smooth face, but how adverse to us they are we perceive upon examination. And hence the friends of blessed Job as it were come together for the purpose of giving comfort, but they burst out into reviling, in that vices that plot our ruin assume the look of virtues, but strike us with hostile assault. For often immoderate anger desires to appear justice, and often dissolute remissness, mercy; often fear without precaution would seem humility, often unbridled pride, liberty. Thus the friends come to give consolation, but fall off into words of reproach, in that vices, cloaked under the guise of virtues, set out indeed with a smooth outside, but confound us by a bitter hostility. And it is rightly said,

Ver. 11. For they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him. xxxiv. QQ. For vices make an appointment together under the cloak of virtues; in that there are certain ones, which are banded together against us by a kind of agreement, such as pride and anger, remissness and fear. For anger is neigh- I bour to pride, and remissness to cowardice. Those then come together by agreement, which are allied to one another in opposition to us, by a kind of kinship in iniquity; but if we acknowledge the toilsomeness of our captivity, if we grieve in our inmost soul from love of our eternal home, the sins that steal upon the inopportunely joyful, will not be able to prevail against the opportunely sad. Hence it is well added,

Ver. 12. And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept. xxxv. 67. For the vices do not know us in our afflictions, in that so soon as they have knocked at the dejected heart, being reproved they start back, and they, which as it were knew us in our joy, because they made their way in, cannot know us in our sadness, in that they break their edge on our very rigidity itself. But our old enemy, the more he sees that he is himself caught out in them, and that with a good courage, cloaks them with so much the clee])er disguise Book under the image of virtues; and hence it is added,

They lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven.

Ver. \Z. So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights.

68. For by the weeping pity is betokened, discretion byxxxvi. the cutting of the garments, the affecting' of good works by ' al.

the dust upon the head, humility by the sitting. For some- jng.' times the enemy in plotting against us feigns somewhat that is full of pity, that he may bring us down to an end of cruelty. As is the case, when he prevents a fault being corrected by chastisement, that that, which is not suppressed in this life, may be stricken with the fire of hell. Sometimes he presents the form of discretion to the eyes, and draws us on to snares of indiscretion, which happens, when at his instigation wc as it were from prudence allow ourselves too much nourishment on account of our weakness, while we are imprudently raising against ourselves assaults of the flesh. Sometimes he counterfeits the affecting of good works, yet hereby entails upon us restlessness in labours, as it happens, when a man cannot remain quiet, and, as it were, fears to be judged for idleness. Sometimes he exhibits the form of humility, that he may steal away our affecting of the useful, as is the case when he declares to some that they are weaker and more useless than indeed they are, that whereas they look upon themselves as too unworthy, they may fear to administer the things wherein they might be able to benefit their neighbours.

69. But these vices which the old enemy hides under the semblance of virtues, are very minutely examined by the hand of compunction. For he that really grieves within, resolutely foredeterniines what things are to be done outwardly, and what are not. For if the virtue of compunction moves us in our inward parts, all the clamouring of evil dictates is made mute; and hence it follows.

And none spake a word unto him; for they satv that his griff was very great.

70. For if the heart feels true sorrow, the vices have no xxxvii. tongue against it. And when the life of uprightness is

Job 2, sought witli an entire aim, the fruitless prompting of evil j^l^^is closed up. But oftentimes if we brace ourselves with strong energy against the incitements of evil habits, we turn even those very evil habits to the account of virtue. For some are possessed by anger, but while they submit this to reason, they convert it into service rendered to holy zeal. Some are lifted up by pride. But whilst they bow down the mind to the fear of God, they change this into the fi-ee tone of unrestrained authority in defence of justice. Strength of the flesh is a snare to some; but whilst they bring under the body by practising works of mercy, from the same quarter, whence they were exposed to the goading of wickedness, they purchase the gains of pitifulness. And hence it is well that this blessed Job, after a multitude of conflicts, sacrifices a victim for his friends. For those whom he has for long borne as enemies by their strife, he one day makes fellow-countrymen by his sacrifice, in that whilst we turn all evil thoughts into virtues, bringing them into subjection, by the offering of the intention, we as it were change the hostile aims of temptation into friendly dispositions.

Let it suffice for us to have gone through these things in three volumes in a threefold method. For in the very beginning of this work we set firm the root of the tongue, as a provision against the bulk of the tree that should spring up, that we might afterwards produce the boughs of exposition according as the several places require.

He who looks to the text and does not acquaint himself with the sense of the holy Word, is not so much furnishing himself with instruction as bewildering himself in uncertainty, in that the literal words sometimes contradict themselves;! but whilst by their oppositeness they stand at variance with themselves, they direct the reader to a truth that is to be understood. Thus, how is it that Solomon says. There isT.cc. 2, nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink; and adds not long after, It is better to go to the house of Tec. 7, mourning than to the house of feasting? Wherefore did he * prefer mourning to feasting, who had before commended eating and drinking? for if by preference it be good * to eat and drink,' undoubtedly it should be a much better thing to hasten to the house of mirth than to the house of mouniing. Hence it is that he says again, Rejoice, O young EccAi, man, in thy youth; yet adds a little after,yor youth and^'^^ j^ pleasure are vanity. WTiat does this mean, that he should Vulg. either first enjoin practices that are reprehensible, or afterwards reprehend practices that he has enjoined, but that by the literal words themselves he implies that he, who finds difficulty in the outward form, should consider the truth to be understood, which same import of truth, while it is sought with humility of heart, is penetrated by continuance in reading. For as we see the face of strange persons, and know nothing of their hearts, but if we are joined to them

Pref. in familiar communication, by frequency of conversation we / even trace their very thoughts; so when in Holy Writ the, historical narration alone is regarded, nothing more than the face is seen. But if we unite ourselves to it with frequent assiduity, then indeed we penetrate its meaning, as if by the effect of a familiar intercourse. For whilst we gather various truths from various parts, we easily see in the words thereof that what they import is one thing, what they sound hke is another. But every one proves a stranger to the knowledge 1 of it, in proportion as he is tied down to its mere outside. ii. See here, for instance, in that blessed Job is described as 3 ' having cursed his day, and said. Let the day perish wherein I was horn, and the night in which it was said, TJiere is a man child conceived; if we look no further than the surface, what can we find more reprehensible than these words? But who does not know that the day, in which he ^ was born, could not at that time be in existence, for it is the \ condition of time to have no stay of continuance. For f whereas by way of the future it is ever tending to be, so in going out by the past, it is ever hastening not to be. Wherefore then should one so great curse that, which he is not ignorant hath no existence } But perchance it may be said, that the magnitude of his virtue is seen from hence, that he, being disturbed by tribulation, imprecates a curse upon that, which it is evident has no existence at all. But this notion is set aside the moment the reasonableness of the thing is regarded, for if the object existed, which he cursed, it was a mischievous curse; but if it had no being, it was an idle one: but whoso is filled Mat. 12, with His Spirit, Who declareth, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment; fears to be guilty of what is idle, even as of what is mischievous. To this sentence it is further added, Let that day he turned into darkness; let not God regard it from ahove, neither let the light shine iqjon it. Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let it he enfolded in hitterness. As for that night, let darkness seize upon it. Lo, let that night he solitary, let no joyful voice come therein: let it look for light, and have none; neither let it see the datcning of the day.

JoWs curse, and wish, if literal, were impious or utimeaning. 179 How is it that that day, which he knows to have gone by Book

With the flight of time, is said * to be turned into darkness?' '—

And whereas it is plain that it has no existence, wherefore is it wished for that * the shadow of death might stain it?' or what cloud dwells upon it, what envelopement of bitterness enfolds it? or what darkness seizes upon that night, which no stay holds in being? Or how is it desired that that may be solitary, which in passing away had already become nought? Or how does that look for the light, which both lacks perception, and doth not continue in any stay of its own self? To these words he yet further adds.

Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up Job 3, the ghost when I came out of the belly? Why did the knees ~~ prevent me? or uhy the breasts that 1 should suck? For now 1 should have lain still and have been quiet, I should have slept, and been at rest.

If he had died at once from the womb, would he have got ^*^- by this very destruction a title to a reward? Do abortive children enjoy eternal rest? For every man that is not absolved by the water of regeneration, is tied and bound by the guilt of the original bond. But that which the water of Baptism avails for with us, this either faith alone did of old see in behalf of infants, or, for those of riper years, the virtue of,5, (j^. sacrifice, or, for all that came of the stock of Abraham, the mystery of circumcision. For that every living being is I conceived in the guilt of our first parent the Prophet witnesses, saying. And in sin hath my mother conceived vie. P.*. 5], And that he who is not washed in the water of salvation, °* I does not lose the punishment of original sin. Truth plainly J declares by Itself in these words, Except a man be born o/'john 3, water and of the Spirit, lie cannot enter into the kingdom of^' God. How is it then, that he wishes that he had * died in the womb,' and that he believes that he might have had rest by the boon of that death, whereas it is clear that * the rest of life could in no wise be for him, if the Sacraments of Divine knowledge ' had in no wise set him free from the guilt of original sin t He yet further adds with whom he might hare rested, saying, With kings and counsellors of the earth uhich built desolate^ places for themselves. Who does not know that the kings and counsellors of the earth are herein far removed from ' solitude,' that they are close pressed with innumerable throngs of followers? and with what difficulty do they advance to rest, who are bound in with the tightened knots of such multifarious concerns! As Scripture witnesses, where it savs, But mighty men shall be mightily tormented. Hence Truth utters these words in the Gospel; unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required. He implies besides, whom he would have had as fellows in that made known in its own time. For we dare not prefer the Taelievers of our own day to che friends of G-od, through whom those things were prophesied to us, when God so calls Himself the God of Ahrahani^ and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, as to say that this is His name for ever. But if circumcision is believed to have been to the ancient Saints instead of Baptism, what is to be said of those who pleased God before this was enioined, not however without faith P' &c. De C/D.xvi.27. He proves original sin by Gen. xvii. 14. where LXX add the eighth day. Vasq. also cites De Pec. Or.'Contr. Pel. et Ccel. ii. SO.Cont. Jul.iii. 18.Dt Nupt. etConc. ii. 10. (which last St. Greg, seems to have had in mind here, as there is the like mention of Faith, which St. A. says ' saved those ofoldj^pifsiUoscum major ibus, thus including infants.) also S. Fulg. de Inc. c. 15. The Fathers in general deny this power to circumcision. See Vasquez in 1, 2^36. Disp. 130. c. 2. who cites Tertul. adv. Jud. 2 and 3. S. Cvpr. contr. Jud. i. 8. (Tr. p. 28.) S. Ambr. Ep. 72, De Abr. 1. i. e. 4, De Sacr. i. 4 and 5, De iis qui initiantur (De Myst.) c. 8, and 9. (in c. iv. ad Rom. is not genuine.) S. Jer. on Gal. (iii, 5. and v, 5.) S. Just. Mart. D. cum Tryph. c. 23. S. Iren. iv. 30. Orig. cent. Cels. 1. ii. (v. 28?) in Gen. Hom. iii. (see also on Ep. to Rom. 1. iv.) Euseb. Dem. i. 10. Hist. i. 1. (c. 2. §. 29?) S. Ath. on Matt. xi. 22. (He means De Sab. et Circ. §. 6. Ben. t. 2. p. 59. where he says it was that men might not be under the curse Dust thou art, <fec. but adds that it was done ' in part and as in a shadow.') S. Epiph. c. Hser. viii. (I. i. c. 6. he calls circumcision rest, in the words, Or with princes that had gold, that Jilted Pook their houses uith silver. It is a rare thing for them that '— have gold to advance to rest, seeing that Truth saith by Itself, TJtey that hare riches shall hardUj enter into the kingdom Matt. of heaven. For what joys in the other life can they look i^j^^^j?* for, who here pant after increase of riches? Yet that our I'N 23. Redeemer might further shew this event to be most rare, and only possible by the supernatural agency o^ God, He saith. With men this is impossible; but icith God all t Ai n gs ^iatt, are possible. Therefore because these words are, on the sur- ' face, at variance with reason, the letter itself thereby points out, that in those words the Saint delivers nothing after the letter.

But if we shall first examine the nature of other curses in iv. Holy Writ, we may the more perfectly trace out the import of this one, which was uttered by the mouth of blessed Job. For how is it that David, who to those that rewaided him evil, returned it not again, upon Saul and Jonathan falling in war, curses the mountains of Gilboa in the following words. Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither 2 Sam. let there be rain \ipon you, nor fields of offerings; for there ' ^'' the shield of Saul is vilely cast away, as though he had not been anointed with oil ^ How is it that Jeremiah, seeing that his preaching was hindered by the hardness of his hearers, utters a curse, saying, Cursed be the man, who brought S^r. 20, tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee? ^^' What then did the mountains of Gilboa offend when Saul died, that neither dew nor rain should fall on them, and that the words of his sentence against them should make them barren of all produce of verdure? Why, forasmuch as Gilboa is by inteqnetation ' running down,' while by Saul's anointing and dying, the death of our Mediator is set forth, by the mountains of CJilboa we have no unfit representation of the uplifted hearts of the Jews, who, while they let themselves run down in the pursuit of the desires of this world, were mingled together in the death of Christ, i.e. of* the Anointed.' And because in them the anointed King dies the death of the body, they too are left dry of all the dew of grace; of whom also it is well said, that ihey cannot be fields if first fruits. Because the high minds of the Hebrews bear no * first fruits;' in that at the coming of our Redeemer, pereistinp^

Pref. for the most part in unfaithfulness, they would not follow the first beginnings of the faith; for Holy Church, which for her first fruits was enriched with the multitude of the Gentiles, scarcely at the end of the world will receive into her bosom the Jews, whom she may find, and gathering none but the last, will put them as the remnant of her fruits. Is. 10, Of which very remnant Isaiah hath these words, For though thy people Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return. However, the mountains of Gilboa may for this reason be cursed by the Prophet's mouth, that whilst, the land being dried up, no fruit is produced, the possessors of the land might be stricken with the woe of that banenness, so that they might themselves receive the sentence of the curse, who had obtained as the just reward of their iniquities to have the death of the King take place among them. But how is it that, from the lips of the Prophet, that man received the sentence of cursing, who brought to his father the tidings of his birth? Doubtless this is so much the more full of deeper mystery within, as it lacks human reason without. For perchance, if it had sounded at all reasonable without, we should never have been kindled to the pursuit of the interior meaning; and thus he the more fully implies something within, that he shews nothing that is reasonable without. For though the Prophet had come into this world from his mother's womb to be the subject of affliction, in what did the messenger of his birth do wrong? But what does the person of the Prophet represent ' carried » fluctu- hither and thither^,' except the mutability of man, which came antis ^^ ^^ ^wQ^ of punishment, is thereby signified? and what is expressed by his ' father' but this world whereof we are born? And who is that man, who ' brings tidings of our birth to our father,' saving owx old enemy, who, when he views us fluctuating in our thoughts, prompts the evihninded, who by virtue of this world's authority have the preeminence, to persuading us to our undoing, and who, when he has beheld us doing 2favoii-acts of weakness, commends these with applause^ as brave, ^"* and tells as it were of male children being born, when he gives joy that vve have turned out corrupters of the truth by lying? He gives tidings to the father that a man child is bom, when he shews the world him, whom he has prevailed with, tm'ned into a corrupter of innocence. For when it is said to any Book one committing a sin or acting proudly, * Thou hast acted — like a man,' what else is this than that a man child is told of in the world? Justly then is the man cursed, who brings tidings of the birth of a man child; because his tidings betoken the damnable joy of our corrupter. Thus by these [ imprecations of Holy Scripture we learn what, in the case of blessed Job, we are to look for in his words of imprecation, lest he, whom God rewards after these wounds and these words, should be presumptuously condemned by the mistaken reader, for his words. As then we have in some sort cleared the points, which were to be the objects of our enquiry in the preface, let us now proceed to discuss and to follow on the words of the historical form.

Ver. 1, 2, 3. After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day. And Job spake, and said, Let the day perish icherein I was born.

1. That which is here said. He opened his mouth, must not i. be gone into negligently. For by the things which Holy Scripture premises but slighdy, we are apprised that what comes after is to be expected with reverence. For as we know notliing what vessels that are closed contain inside, but when the mouth of the vessels is opened, we discover what is contained within; so the hearts of the Saints, which so long as their mouth is closed are hidden, when their mouth is opened, are disclosed to view. And when they disclose their thoughts, they are said to open their mouth, that with the lull bent of our mind we may hasten to find out, as in vessels that are set open, what it is that they contain, and to refresh ourselves with their inmost iVagrance. And hence when the Lord was about to utter' His sublime precepts on the Mount, the words precede. And He opened ^isiiub, His mouth, and taught them; though in that place this too should be taken as the meaning, that He then opened His ou;n mouth in delivering precepts, wherein He had long while opened the mouths of the Prophets. But it requires very great nicety in considering the expression, After this, namely, in order that the excellence of all that is done may be perceived in its tiTic light by the time. For fu*st we have de-

Job 3, scribed the wasting of his substance, the destruction of his -— — '- children, the pain of his wounds, the persuasions of his wife, the coming of his friends, who are related to have rent their garments, to have shed tears with loud cries, to have sprinkled their heads with dust, and to have sat upon the ground for long in silence, and afterwards it is added, After this Job opened his mouthy and cursed his day; clearly that from the very order of the account, duly weighed, it might be concluded that he could never have uttered a curse in a spirit of impatience, who broke forth into a voice of cursing whilst his friends were as yet silent. For if he had cursed under the influence of passion, doubtless upon hearing of the loss of his substance, and upon hearing the death of his sons, his grief would have prompted him to curse. But what Job I, he then said, we have heard before. For he said, Tlie Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Again, if he had cursed under the impulse of passion, he might well have uttered a curse when he was stricken in his body, or when he was mischievously advised by his wife. But what answer Job 2 he then gave we have already learnt; for he says, Tliou ^^- speakest as one of the foolish ivomen speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? But after this it is set forth that his friends arrive, shed tears, seat themselves, keep silence, whereupon this is immediately subjoined, that he is said to have cursed his day. It is, then, too great an inconsistency to imagine that it was from impatience that he broke out into a voice of cursing, no man setting him on, no man driving him thereto, when we know that amidst the loss of all his goods, and the death of his children, amidst bodily afflictions, the evil counsels of his wife, he only gave great acknowledgments to his Creator with a humble mind. It is plain, then, with what feelings he spoke this when he was at rest, who even when stricken uttered such a strain of praise to God. For afterwards, when no longer stricken, he could not be guilty of pride, whom even his pain under the rod only shewed to be full of humility. But as we know for certain that holy Scripture forbids cursing, how can we say that that is sometimes done aright, which yet we know to be forbidden ^ by the same Holy Writ?

«S^/. Peter's and Elijah's curse proved right by the event. 185

2. But be it known that Holy Writ makes mention of Book

... IV. cursing in two ways, namely, of one sort of curse which it commands, another sort which it condemns. For a curse is uttered one way by the decision of justice, in another way by the malice of revenge. Thus a curse was pronounced by the decree of justice upon the first man himself, when he fell into sin, and heard ihe words, Cursed is the ground for thy Gen. 3, sake. A curse is pronounced by decree of justice, when it is said to Abraham, / will curse them that curse thee. Again, forasmuch as a curse may be uttered, not by award of justice, but by the malice of revenge, we have this admonition from the voice of Paul the Apostle in his preaching, where he says, Bless, and curse not; and again, nor revilers Rom. shall inherit (he kingdom of God. So then God is said to J^^q/' curse, and yet man is forbidden to curse, because what man G, lo. does from the malice of revenge, God only does in the exactn(;ss and perfection of justice. But when holy men deliver a sentence of cursing, they do not break forth therein from the wish of revenge, but in the strictness of justice, for they behold God's exact judgment within, and they perceive that they are bound to smite evils arising without with a curse; and are guilty of no sin in cursing, in the same degree that they are not at variance with the interior judgment.

It is hence that Peter flung back the sentence of a curse upon Simon when he offered him money, in the words, May Acts 8, thy money perish with thee; for he who said, not does, but may, shewed that he spoke this, not in the indicative, but in the optative mood. Hence Elias said to the two captains of fifty that came to him, 1/ I be a man of God, then let Jire^ Kings come down from heaven, and consutne thee. And upon what reasonable grounds of truth the sentences of either of the two were esUiblishcd, the issue of the case demonstrated. For both Simon perished in eternal ruin, and lire descending from above consumed the two ca))tains of fifty. Thus the subse(|uent miracle' testifies with what mind the sentence ofi virtus the curse is pronounced. For when both the innocence of him that curseth remains, and be that is cursed is by that curse swallowed up to the extent of utter destruction, from the end of either side we collect, that the sentence is taken up and launched against the offender from the sole Judge of what is within.

1 86 The ^daifJoh cursed is th is mortal life,which hisfrietids loved.

Job 3, 3. Therefore if we weigh with exactness the words of. — - — blessed Job, his cursins: cometh not of the malice of one guilty of sin, but of the integrity of a judge, not of one agitated by passion, but of one sober in instruction; for he, who in cursing pronounced such righteous sentence, did not give way to the evil of perturbation of mind, but dispensed the dictates of wisdom. For, in fact, he saw his friends weeping and wailing, he saw them rending their garments, he saw how they had sprinkled their heads with dust, he saw them struck dumb at the thought of his aflfliction; and the

Saint perceived that those whose hearts were set upon temporal prosperity, took him, by a comparison with their own feelings, for one brokenhearted with his temporal adversity. He considered that they would never be weeping for him in despair, who was stricken with a transient ill, except they had themselves withdrawn their soul in despair from the hope of inward soundness; and while he outwardly burst forth into the voice of grief, he shewed to persons inwardly wounded the virtue of a healing medicine, saying,

Ver. 3. Let the day perish wherein I was horn,

4. For what is to be understood by ' the day of our birth,' save the whole period of our mortal state? So long as this keeps us fast in the corruptions of this our mutable state of being, the unchangeableness of eternity does not appear to us. He, then, who already beholds the day of eternity, endures with difficulty the day of his mortal being. And observe, he saith not, ' Let the day perish wherein I was created,' but, let the day perish wherein I was born. For man was created in a day of righteousness, but now he is born in a time of guilt; for Adam was created, but Cain was the first man that was born. What then is it to curse the day of his birth, but to say plainly, ' May the day of change perish, and the light of eternity burst forth?'

5. But inasmuch as we are used to bid perish in two ways, (for it is in one way that we bid perish, when we desire to any thing that it should no longer be, and in another way that we bid it perish, when we desire that it should be ill therewith,) the words that are added concerning this day,

' Vulg. Let a cloud dwell upon it: let it he enveloped in hitterness\- clearly shew, that he wishes not this day to perish in such sort as not to be, but so that it may go ill with it; for that can never be * enveloped in bitterness/ which is so wholly Book destroyed as not to be at all. Now this period of our mutable condition is not one day to perish, (i. e. to pass away,) in such a way, as to be in an evil plight, but so as to cease to be altogether, as the Angel bears witness in Holy

Writ, saying, By Him that livelh for ever and ever, tJtat there Rev.io, should he time no longer. For though the Prophet hath it,

Their time shall endure for ever, yet because time comes Ps. 81, j to an end with every moment, he designated their coming to an end by the name of ' time,' shewing that without every way ending" they come to an end, that are severed from the joys of the inward Vision. Therefore because this period of our mortal condition does not so perish as to be in evil plight, but so as not to be at all, we must enquire what it means that he desires it may perish, not so that it may not be, but that it may be in ill condition. Now a human soul, or an Angelic spirit, is in such sort immortal, that it is capable of dying, in such sort mortal, that it can never die.

For of living happily, it is deprived whether by sin or by punishment; but its essential living it never loses, either by sin or punishment: it ceases from a mode of living, but it is not even by dying susceptible of an end to every mode of being. So that I might say in a word, that it is both immortally mortal, and mortally immortal. Whereas then he wishes that the day may perish, and soon after it is said that it is ^ to be enveloped in bitterness,' whom should we think the holy man woidd express by the name of ' day,' except the Apostate Spirit, who in dying subsists in the life of essential being.'' Whom destruction does not withdraw from life, in that in the midst of pains eternal an immortal death kills, while it preserves, him whose perishing, fallen as he is already from the glory of his state of bliss, is still longed for no othenvise than that being held back by the punishments, which he deserves, he may lose even the liberty of temj)ting.

6. Yea, he presents himself as the day, in that he allures by prosperity; and his end is in the blackness of night, for that he leads to adversity; thus he displayed day when he

^aid. In the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be Gen. 3,

Jobs, opened, and ye shall he as Gods; but he brought on night, — —^ — when he led to the blackness of mortality; the day, therefore, is the proffered promise of better things, but the night is the very manifested experience of evils. The old enemy is the day, as by nature created good, but he is the night, as by his own deserts sunk down into darkness. He is day, when by promising good things he disguises himself as an Angel of hght to the eyes of men, as Paul witnesses, saying, 2 Cor. For Saia7i Idmself is transformed as an angel of liyht; but ' * he is night, when he obscures the minds of those that consent to him with the darkness of error. Well then may the holy man, who in his own sorrows bewailed the case of the whole human race, and who viewed nothing in any wise special to himself in his own special affliction, well may he recal to mind the original cause of sin, and soften the pain of the infliction by considering its justice. Let him look at man, and see whence and whither he has fallen, and exclaim. Let the day perish n herein I was horn, and the niglit in which it was said, There is a man child conceived. As if he said in plain words, ' Let the hope perish, which the apostate Angel held forth, who, disguising himself as day, shone forth with the promise of a di\dne nature, but yet again shewing himself as night, brought a cloud over the light of our immortal nature. Let our old enemy perish, who displayed the light of promises, and bestowed the darkness of sin; who as it were presented himself as day by his flattery, but led us to a night of utter darkness by sealing our hearts with blindness.' It proceeds;

Ver. 4. Let that day he turned into darkness. ii. 7. This day shines as it were in the hearts of men, when the persuasions of his wickedness are thought to be for our good, and what they are within is never seen; but when his wickedness is seen as it is, the day of false promises is as it were dimmed by a kind of darkness spread before the eyes of our judgment, in this respect, that such as he is in intrinsic worth, such he is perceived to be in his beguilement, and so ' the day becomes darkness,' when we take as adverse even the very tilings, which he holds out as advantageous wliilst persuading them. ' The day becomes darkness,' when our old enemy, even when lurking under the cloak of his blandish- nients, is perceived by us to be such as he is when ravening Book after us, that he may never mock us with feigned prosperity, as though by the hght of day, dragging us by real misery to the darkness of sin. It proceeds;

Let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon if.

8. As Almighty God was able to create good things out of iii. nothing, so, when He would, He also restored the good things that were lost, by the mystery of His Incarnation. Now he had made two creations to contemplate Himself, viz. the Angelic and the human, but pride smote both, and dashed them from the erect station of native uprightness. But one had the clothing of the flesh, the other bore no infirmity derived from the flesh. For an angelical being is spirit Comp. alone, but man is both spirit and flesh. Therefore when the ^* Creator took compassion to work redemption, it was meet that He should bring back to Himself that creature, which, in the I commission of sin, plainly had something of infinnity; and it / was also meet that the apostate Angel should be driven down to a farther depth, in ])ropoition as he, when he fell from resoluteness in standing fast, earned about him no infinnity of the flesh. And hence the Psalmist, when he was telling of the Redeemer's compassionating mankind, at the same time justly set forth the cause itself of His mercy, in these words. And he remembei'ed that they were bnt Jlesh.Ps. 78y As if he said, ' Whereas He beheld their infinnities, so He ' would not punish their offences with severity.' There is yet another respect wherein it was both fitting that man when lost should be recovered, and impossible for the s})irit that set himself up to be recovered, namely, in that the Angel fell by his own wickedness, but the wickedness of another brought man down. Forasnmch then as mankind is brought to the light of repentance by the coming of the Redeemer, but the apostate Angel is not recalled by any hope of pardon, or with any amendment of conversion, to the light of a restored estate, it may well be said, Let not God regard if from above, neither let the light shine upon it. As though it were plainly expressed, ' For that he hath himself brought on the darkness, let him bear without end what himself has made, nor let him ever recover the light of his former condition,

Job 3, since he parted mth it even without being persuaded thereto.'

Let darkness and the sliadow of death stain it. iv. 9. * By the shadow of death,' w^e must understand * oblivion,' for as death ends life, so oblivion puts an end to memoiy. As therefore the apostate Angel is delivered over to eternal oblivion, he is overclouded with the shadow of death. Therefore let him say, Let darkness and the shadou) of death stain it; i. e. ' So let him be ovei*whehiied with the blindness of error, that he never more rise up again to the light of repentance by recollection of God's regard. The words follow; ' ^ulg. j^qi d cloud dwell upon it^: and let it be enveloped in bitterness. V. 10. It is one thing that our old enemy suffers now, bound by the chains of his own wickedness, and another that he will have to suffer at the end. For in that he is fallen from the rank of the interior light, he now confounds himself within with the darkness of error; and hereafter he is involved in bitterness^ in that by desert of a voluntary bhndness, he is tortured with the eternal torments of hell. Let it be said then, * What is it that he, who has lost the calm of the light interior, now endures as the foretaste of his final punishment } Let a cloud dwell upon it. Moreover let that subsequent doom be added also, wliich preys upon him without end.' Lei him be folded up in bitterness; for every thing folded up, shews, as it were, no end any where, for as it shews not where it begins, so neither does it discover where it leaves off. The old enemy then is said to be folded up in bitterness, in that not only every kind of punishment, but punishment too without end or limit awaits his pride; which same doom then receives its beginning when the righteous Judge cometh at the last Judgment; and hence it is well

Ver. 6. As for that night, let a dark whirlwind seize upon it.

vi. 11. For it is written. Our God shall come, and shall not

P9.50,3. ^^^^ silence; a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be

sus turbo seizes upon that night, in that the apostate Angel is by that fearful tempest carried off from before the strict Judge to suffer eternal woe; thus this night is seized by a whirlwind, Book in that his blind pride is smitten with a strict Wsitation. It —

Let it not he joined unto the days of the year; let it not come into the nuniher of the months.

1'2. By year we understand not inapplicably the preaching vii. of supreme grace. For as in a year the period is completed by a connected series of days, so in heavenly grace is a complex life of virtue made complete. By a year too we may understand the multitude of the redeemed. For as the year is produced by a number of days, so by the assemblage of all the righteous there results that countless sum of the Elect. Now Isaiah foretells this year of a completed multitude, in these words; Tlie Spirit of the Lord is upon il/p, Is.Gi,i. because the L^rd haih anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek: He hath sent Me to hind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year qf the Lord. For * the acceptable year of the Lord is proclaimed,' in that the future multitude of the faithful is foretold as destined to be illumined with the light of truth. Now what is meant by * the days,' but the several minds of the Elect? What by the months, but their several I Churches, which constitute one Catholic Church? So then let not that night he joined unto the days of the year, neither let it come into the number of the months. For our old enemy, hemmed in with the darkness of his pride, sees indeed the coming of the Redeemer, but never returns to pardon with the Elect. And hence it is written. For verily He tookHeh.2, not on Him the nature qf Angels, but He took on Him the^^' seed of Abraham. For it was on this account that our Redeemer was made not Angel, but Man, because He must I needs be made of the same nature as that which He re- » deemed, that He might at once let go the lost angel, by not taking his nature, and restore man, by taking his nature in Himself. These days, which abide in the interior light, may also be taken for the angelic spirits, and the months, fur their orders and dignities. For everj' single spirit, in that he shines, is a * day,' but as they are distinguished by certain set dignities, so that there are some that are Thrones, some

19-2 Satan loseth praise, — is cursed hoik as night and as day. Job 3, Dominions, some Principalities, and some Powers, according

J" '- to this distribution of ranks, they are entitled * months.' But forasmuch as our old enemy is never brought back to merit light, and is never restored to the order of the ranks above, he is neither reckoned in the days of the year, nor in the months. For the blindness of the pride that he has been guilty of is so settled upon him, that he no more returns to those heavenly ranks of interior brightness. He no longer now mixes with the ranks of light that stand firm and erect, for that, in due of his own darkness, he is ever borne downwards to the depth. And for that he remains for ever an alien to the company of that heavenly land, it is yet further justly added,

Ver. 7. Zo, let that night be solitary^ let it he ttorthy of no praise. viii. 13. That night is made solitary, in that it is divided by an eternal separation from the company of the land above. Yet this may be also taken in another sense, viz. that he loses man, whom he had made his fellow in ruin, and that M.e.thethe enemy perishes alone together with his body*, while ^^° ^ ' many that he had destroyed are restored by the Kedeemer's grace. The night then is made solitary, when they that are Elect being raised up, our old enemy is made over alone to the eternal flames of hell. And it is well said. Let it be worthy of no praise. For when mankind, encompassed with the darkness of error, took stones for gods, in this, that they worshipped idols, what else did they but praise the deeds of their seducer? Hence Paul rightly 1 Cor. remarks, JVe know that an idol is nothing. But I say that?'p' the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to 10, 20. devils. How else then is it with those that have bowed themselves to the worship of idols, but that they have ' praised the darkness of night V But, lo! we see now that that night is known to be unworthy ' of any praise,' since now the worship of idols is condemned by the human race redeemed; and that ' night is left solitary,' in that there is none that goeth with the damned apostate spirit to suffer torments. It proceeds;

Ver. 8. Let them curse it that curse the day, that are ready to rouse up Leviathan.

Salaiis false liyJit cursed of God and good Angela. 19*3

14. Ill the oldtranslation it is not so written, but, ^ Let Book him curse it that hath cursed the dai/, even liini who shall lake the great whale, ^y which words it is clearly shewn, that the, ^q destruction of Antichrist, to be at the end of the world, is LXX. foreseen by the holy man. For the eWl spirit, who by rights is night, at the end of the world passes himself for the day, in that he shews himself to men as God, while he takes to 'himself deceitfully the brio-htness of the Deitv, aud ed,alteth'2-T\iess.

himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped. The same therefore that curseth the day, curseth the night; in that He at this present time destroys his wickedness, Who will then by the light of His coming also extinguish the power of his strength. And hence it is well subjoined, Who will take the great whale. For the strength of this whale is taken as a prey in the water, in that the wiliness of our old enemy is overcome by the Sacrament of Baptism.

15. But that which in the Old Translation is spoken of the Author of all things, in this translation, which we get from the Hebrew and ^ Arabian tongues, is related of His elect Angels. For it is of them that it is said. Let them curse it that curse the day. For that spirit in his pride desired to pass himself for day even with the Angelic Powers, at that time when as though in the power of the Deity he exalted himself above the rest, and drew after him such countless legions to destruction. But they, truly, who with humble spirits stood firm in the Author of their being, when they saw there was night in his perverse ways, trod under foot the day of his brightness by thinking humbly of themselves, who do now point out to us the darkness of his disguise, and shew us how we should contemn his false glare. So let it be said of the night of darkness, which blinds the eyes of human frailty; Let them curse it that curse the day; i. e. * Let those elect Spirits by condemning denounce the darkness of his erring ways, who see the grandeur of his shining already from the first a deceit.' And it is well added,

Job 3, Who are ready to rouse up^ Leviathan. For ' Leviathan' is

1 Vulg. but the ' addition' of men? And it is properly styled * their

^ "^ addition;' for since by his evil suggestion he brought into the world the first sin, he never ceases to add to it day by day by prompting to worse things.

Or indeed it is in reproach that he is called Leviathan, i. e.

styled * the addition of men.' For he found them immortal in Pai'adise, but by promising the Divine nature to immortal beings, he as it were pledged himself to add somewhat to them beyond wiiat they were. But whilst with flattering lips he declared that he would give what they had not, he robbed them cunningly even of what they had. And hence saLThe the ^ Prophet describes this same Leviathan in these words, t\ie^. Leviathan, the bar-serpent^: even Leviathan that crooked

Y^l,^- serpent. For this Leviathan in the thing, which he engaged serpoi to add to man, crept nigh to him with tortuous windings; for while he falsely promised things impossible, he really stole away even those which were possible. But we must enquhe why he that had spoken of a serpent,' subjoining in that very place the epithet ' crooked,' inserted the word ' bar,' except perhaps that in the flexibility of the serpent we have a yielding softness, and in * the bar, the hardness of an obstinate nature. In order then to mark him to be both hard and soft, he both calls him ' a bar' and * a serpent.'

For by his malicious nature he is hard, and by his flatteries

* E. V. lie is soft; so he is called ' a bar V in that he strikes even to i,ig death; and ' a serpent,' in that he insinuates himself softly by deceitful acts.

16. Now this Leviathan at this present time elect Spirits of the Angelic host imprison close in the bottomless pit. Rev. 20, Whence it is written. And I saw an Angel come down front heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand; and he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years; and cast him into the bottomless pit. Yet at the end of the world they call him back to more open conflicts, and let him loose against us in all his power. And hence it is written again in the same place; Till the thousand years should be fulfilled, and aftei' that he must be loosed. Book

For that apostate Angel, whereas • he was created so that '-^ he shoue preeminent among all the other legions of the Angels, fell so low by setting himself up, that he is now prostrated beneath the rule of the orders of Angels that stand erect, whether that being put in chains by them, as they minister to our welfare, he should now lie buried from sight, or that they at that lime setting him free for our probation, he should be let loose to put forth all his power against us. Therefore, because the proud apostate Spirit is restrained by those elect Spirits, who being humble would not follow him, and, they being the executioners, it is ordered, that he shall one day be recalled for the purpose of an open conflict, that he may be utterly destroyed, let it be well said, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan; but forasmuch as the artful adversary is not yet raised to wage open war, let him shew how that night now by hidden influences overshadows the minds of some men. It follows;

Ver. 9. Let the stars be darkened with the shadow thereof. 17. In Holy Scripture by the title of stars we have set x. forth sometimes the righteousness of the Saints which shineth in the darkness of this life, and sometimes the false pretence of hypocrites, who display all the good that they do, that they may win the praise of men; for if well doers were not stars, Paul would never say to his disciples, In the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom P^il* 2, ye shi)ie like lights in the world. Again, if among those that seem to act aright, there were not some that sought by their conduct to win the reward of man's esteem, John would never have seen stars falling fiom heaven, where he says, The dragon Kev. 12, put forth h is tail, and drew the third part of the stars oflieaven. Now a portion of the stars is drawn by the dragon's tail, in that, in the last efforts of Antichrist to win men, some that appear to shine will be* carried off. For to draw the stars of heaven to the earth is by tlie love of earth to involve those in the froward ways of open error, who seem to be devoted to tlie pursuit of the heavenly life. For there are that as it were

Jobs, shine before the eyes of men by extraordinary deeds; but pjjg^ forasmuch as these very deeds are not the offspring of a pm*e heart, being ^struck blind in their secret thoughts, they are clouded with the darkness of this night, and these often lose the more outward deeds, tvhich they do not practise with any purity of heart. x4nd so because the night is permitted to prevail, whenever even amidst good works the purpose of the heart is not cleansed, let it be said with justice. Let the stars be dark with the shadow thereof; i. e. ' let the dark malice of our old enemy prevail against those who in the sight of men shew as bright by good works, and that light of praise, which in th'j eye of man's judgment they had taken, let them lay aside;' for they are ' overshadowed with the darkness of night,' when their life is brought to shame by open error, so that verily they may also appear outwardly such in practice, as they do not shrink from appearing to the Divine eye in their secret hearts. It proceeds;

Ver. 9. Let it look for lights but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day. xi. 18. In the Gospel Truth declares, 1 am the light of the John 8, q^Qyid^ Now as this same Saviour of us men is one Person with the assembly of the good, for He is Himself the Head of the Body, and we all are the Body of this Head, so oiu* old enemy is one person with the whole company of the damned; in that he as a head out-tops them all in iniquity, and they, whilst they minister in the things he prompts, hold fast to him like a body joined below to the head. And so it is meet that all that is said of this night, i. e. of our old enemy, should be applied to his body, i. e. to all wicked persons. Wherefore because our Redeemer is the light of mankind, how is it that it is said of this night. Let it look for light, a?id have none; but that there are some, who exhibit themselves as maintaining by words that faith, which they undo by Tit. 1 works } Of whom Paul saith. They prcfess that they know ^^' God, but in works they deny Him; with these, indeed, either the things which they do are bad, or they follow after good deeds with no good heart. For they do not seek everlasting rewards as the fruit of their actions, but transitory partiality. And yet, because they hear themselves praised as Saints, they believe themselves lo be really Saints, and in proportion as Book they account themselves unblameable according to the esteem '— they are in with numbers, they await in gieater security the Day of strict account. Of whom the Prophet well says. Woe Amos unto you that desire the day of the Lord. To these blessed ' Job utters the sentence due to them, saving in the temper of one foretelling the thing, and not as the wish of one that desired it, Let it look for light, hut hare none. For that night, I mean the adversaiy of darkness, in his members doth look for the light, but seeth none; in that whether it be they who retain tlie faith without works, these, tiiisting that they maybe saved at the final Judgment by right of the same faith, will find their hope prove vain, because by their life S. Aug. they have undone the faith, which in the confession of the ^j^^ ^^ lips they have maintained; or they, who for the sake of human «^ort'<- applause make a display of themselves in doing well, they vainly look for a reward of their good deeds at the hand of the Judge, when He cometh; for that whereas they do them out of regard to the notoriety of praise, they have already had their reward from the lips of men. As the Truth testifies, Whichsaith, ]'erily I say untoyou,tJieyhare^ their reward; and Matt. 6, here it is jastly added, Xeither let it see thedaaning of the day. "

19. For the dawn is the title of the Churcli, which is changed from the darkness of its sins into the light of righteousness. And hence the Spouse, admiring her in the Song of Solomon, saith^, JVho is she that goeth forth rt^Cant.e, the moriiing arising ^ for like the dawn doth the Chmch of ^'^' the Elect arise, in that she quits the diukness of her fonner iniquity, and converts herself into the radiance of new light. Tlicrefore in tliat light, which is manifested at the coming of the strict Judge, the body of our enemy when condeumed seeth no dayspring of the rising dawn, in that when the strict Judge shall come, every sinner, being overlaid with the blackness of his own deserts, knows not witli what wondrous sj)lendour Holy Church rises into the interior light of the heart. For then the mind of the Klect is transported on high, to be illuminated witli the rays of the Divine Nature, and in the degree that it is penetrated with the light of that Countenance, it is lilted above itself in the refulgence

Job 3, of gi'ace. Then doth Holy Church become a full dawn, when she parts wholly and for ever with the darkness of her state of mortality and ignorance. Thus at the Judgment she is still the dawn, but in the Kingdom she is become the day. For though together with the renewal of our bodies she already begins to behold the light at the Judgment, yet her vision thereof is more fully consummated in the Kingdom. Thus the rising of the dawn is the commencement of the Church in light, which the reprobate can never see, because they are closed in upon and forced dowm to darkness by the weight of their evil deeds from the sight of the Righteous Is. 26, Judge. And hence it is rightly said by the Prophet, Let the LXX. wicked he taken out of the way., that he see not the glory of God. It is hence that these words are uttered by the Psalmist Ps. 31, concerning this dawn. Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy Presence from the pride of men. For every Elect one at the Judgment is hid in the countenance of the Godhead in interior vision, whereas the blindness of the reprobate without is banished and confounded by the strict visitation of justice.

20. And this too w^e not irrelevantly interpret with reference to the present time likewise, if we minutely search the hearts of dissemblers. For the proud and hypocritical look on the deeds of the good on the outside, and they find that such are commended by men for their doings, and they admire their high repute, and they see that these receive praises for their good deeds, but they do not see how studiously they eschew such praises; they regard the overt acts, but are Ignorant that these proceed from the principle of the interior hope alone. For all that shine with the tnie light of righteousness are first changed from the darkness of the inward puqjose of the heart, so that they wholly forsake the interior dimness of earthly coveting, and entirely turn their hearts to the desire of the light above, lest while they seem to be full of light to others, they be in darkness to themselves; thus persons that assume, because they regard the deeds of the righteous, but do not survey their hearts, imitate them in the things from whence they may obtain applause without, but not in the things w hereby they may inwardly arise to the light of righteousness; and they as it were are blind to see the day spring of the rising dawn, because they do not Book think it worth their while to regard the rehgious mind's intent.

21. The holy man, who was filled with the virtue of the Alleo. prophetic Spirit, may also have his eye fixed upon the faithlessness of Juda?a at the coming of the Redeemer, and in these words he may be s})eaking prophetically of the mischievous effects of her blindness, as though in the character of one expressing a wish, so as to say. Let it look for light, hut have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day. For Judaea * looked for the light but had none;' since by prophecy she waited indeed for the Redeemer of Man that should come, but never knew Him when He came; and the eyes of the mind, which she opened wide to the expectation, she closed to the presence of the Light; neither did she see the dayspring of the rising dawn, in that she scorned to pay homage to those first beginnings of Holy Church, and while she supposed her to be undone by the deaths of her members, was ignorant to what strength she was attaining. But as, when speaking of the faithless, he signified the members of the wicked head, he again turns his discourse to the head of the wicked itself, saying,

Ver. 10. Because it shut not up the doors of my mother'' s womb, nor hid soi' row from mine eyes.

22. What the womb of his mother is to each individual xii. man, that the primary abode in Paradise became to the whole human race. For from it came forth the family of man as it were from the womb, and tending to the increase of the race, as if to the growth of the body, it issued forth without. There oiu* conception was cemented, where the Man, the origin of mankind, had his abode, but the serpent opened the mouth of this womb, in that by his cmniing j)ei-suading he broke asunder the decree of heaven in man's heart. The seq)ent opened the mouth of this womb, in that he biu"st the barriers of the mind which were fortified with admonitions from above. Let the holy man then in the punishment which he suffers, cast the eyes of his mind far back to the sin. Let him mourn for this, which the neglect of darkness, that is, the dark suggestions of our old enemy lodged in man's mind; for this, that man's mind consented to his cunning suggestions to his own betrayal, and let him

«^0B 3, say, Because it shut not up the doors of my mother'' s womb, j~^ nor hid sorrow from mine eyes. Nor let this disturb us, that he complains that he only did not shut up, whom he abhors for having opened the gate of Paradise. For ' he opened,' he calls shut not up; and ' he entailed it,' nor hid sorrow from me. For he would as it were have ' hid soitow,' if he had kept quiet, and have ' shut up,' if he had forborne from bursting in. For he is weighing well who it is he speaks of, and he reckons that it would have been as if the evil spirit had bestowed gains upon us if he had only not entailed losses upon our heads. Thus we say of robbers that they give their prisoners their lives, if they do not take them. MoiiAL. 23. It is well to go over these points again from the beginning, and according to what we remark in practice in the present life, to review it in a moral sense. Blessed Job, observing how presumptuously mankind, after his soul fell from its original state'', was lifted up in prosperity, and with what dismay it was dashed by adverse fortune, falls back in imagination to that unalterable state which he might have kept in Paradise, and in what a miserable light he beheld the fallen condition of our mortal state of being, so chequered with adversity and prosperity, he shewed by cursing the same in these words;

Ver. 3. Let the day perish ivherein I was horn; and the night wherein it was said. There is a man child conceived.

24. It seems as it were like day, when the good fortune of this world smiles upon us, but it is a day that ends in night, for temporal prosperity often leads to the darkness of affliction. This day of good fortune the Prophet had con-

^^'. Thou knowest it. And this night our Lord declared He

^owi/iw'was to suffer at the final close of His Incarnation, when

Ps^Yg ^^ declared by the Psalmist as if in the past. My reins

7. ' also instructed me in the night season. But by ' the day' may be understood the pleasures of sin, and by ' the night' the inward blindness, whereby man suffers himself to be brought down to the ground in the commission of sin. And therefore he wishes the day may perish, that all the flattering arts which are seen in sin, by the strong hand of justice h Several Mss. have ' Patrice mentis statu.'

Man conceived to sin in darkness, born in false liyhl. 201 intemosing, may be brought to nought. He wishes also Book tliat the * night may perish,' that what the bhnded mind 1- executes even in yielding consent, she may put away by the castigation of penance.

25. But we must enquire why man is said to be bom in * the day' and conceived in 'the night?' Holy Scriptiu'e uses the title * man' in three ways, viz. sometimes in respect of nature, sometimes of sin, sometimes of frailness. Now man is so called in respect of nature, as where it is written.

Let Us make man after Our image and likeness. He is Gen. i, called man in respect of sin, as where it is written, 1 have pjj*. 82 said, Ye are all gods, and all of you are children of the Most ^' 7- High: hut ye shall die like men. As though he had expressed it plainly, * ye shall perish like transgressors.' And hence Paul saith, For whereas there is among yon envying i Cor. and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal, and icalk as'' men? As though he had said, ' Ye that carry about minds at variance, do ye not still sin, in the spirit of faulty human nature?' He is called ma)t in relation to his weakness, as where it is written, Cursed he the man that irusteth in man. Jcr. 17, As if he had said in plain words, ' in weakness.' Thus man ^' is born in the day, but he is conceived in the night, in that he is never caught away by the delightfulness of sin, until he is first made weak by the voluntary darkness of his mind. For he first becomes blind in the understanding, and then he enslaves himself to damnable delight. Let it be said then. Let the day perish wherein I was bor?i, and the night trherein it was said, There is a man child conceived: i. e. * Let the delight perish, which has hurried man into sin, and the unguarded frailness of his mind, whereby he was blinded even to the very darkness of consenting to evil. For while man does not heedfully mark the allurements of pleasure, he is even carried headlong into the night of the foulest practices. We must watch then with minds alive, that when sin begins to caress, the mind may perceive to what ruin she is being dragged. And hence the words are fitly added, Ver. 4. Let that day he darkness.

26. For ' the day becomes darkness,' when in the very xiv. commencement of the enjoyment, we see to what an end of ruin sin is hurrying us. We * turn tlie day into darkness/

Job 3, whenever by severely chastising ourselves, we turn to bitter '- — the very sweets of evil enioyment by the keen laments of penance, and, when we visit it with weeping, whereinsoever we sin in gratification in our secret hearts. For because no believer is ignorant that the thoughts of the heart wdll be minutely examined at the Judgment, as Paul testifieth, Rom. 2, saying, Their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another; searching himself within, he examines his own conscience without sparing before the Judgment, that the strict Judge may come now the more placably disposed, in that He sees his guilt', which He is minded to examine, already chastised according to the sin. And hence it is well added.

Let not God require it from above. XV. 27. God requires the things, which He searches out in executing judgment upon them. He does not require those, which He so pardons as to let them be unpunished henceforth in His own Judgment. And so ' this day,' i. e. this enjoyment of sin, will not be required by the Lord, if it be visited \vith self-punishment of our own accord, as Paul testifies,

1 Cor. when he says, i^or if we icould judge ourselves^ we should not ' * be judged of the Lord. ' God's requiring our day,' then, is His proceeding against our souls at the Judgment by a strict examination of every instance of taking pleasure in sin, in which same * requiring' He then smites him the harder, whom He finds to have been most soft in sparing himself. And it follows well. Neither let the light shine upon it. For the Lord, appearing at the Judgment, illumines with His light all that He then convicts of sin. For what is not then brought to remembrance of the Judge, is as it were veiled under a Eph. 5, kind of obscurity. So it is written. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light. It is as though a certain darkness hid the sins of penitents, of whom the

Ps.32 1. Prophet saith. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven^ whose sin is covered. Therefore, as every thing that is veiled is as it were hidden in darkness, that which is not searched out in vengeance, is not illumined with light at the Day of final account. For all those actions of ours, which He would not then visit with justice, the mercy of God in wotting of them still hideth in some sort from itself, but all is displayed Book in light, that is at that time manifest in the sight of all men. —

Let, then, this day be darkness, in this way, viz. that by penance we may smite the evil that we do. Let not the Lord require this day, neither let the light shine upon it, in this way, viz. that while we smite our own sin, He may not Himself fall thereupon with the visitations of the Final Judgment.

28. But the Judge will come Himself to pierce all things, and strike all things to the core. And because He is every where present, there is no place to flee to, where He is not found. But forasmuch as He is appeased by the tears of self-correction, he alone obtains a hiding-place from His face, who after the commission of a sin hides himself from Him now in penance. And hence it is with propriety yet further added of this day of enjoyment,