Morals on the Book of Job (Moralia)

15. Therefore because the understanding of knowledge did not corrupt the holy man, he held it beneath him to rejoice in his great riches. Now because the greatness of his prac-

Job 31 tice (lid not puff' him up, he ' saw not the sun when it ^^- shined;' and because neither did the credit of applause uplift ''''^^'him, he never ' regarded the moon walking in its brightness.' For there are some persons who are brought down into selfexalting in the degree, that by a nice understanding they find out good things even that they do not do. These, surely, 'rejoice over great riches,' when by making out they discover any things of the highest, and by those self-same discoveries are spoilt in self-exaltation. But there are some persons whom undorstancliug does not indeed uplift, but the practice set forth exalts, who whilst they regard their own doings in their own heart by shewing disdain, set the rest of the world in the background to themselves. These same, though they do not rejoice in great riches, yet ' see the sun when it shineth,' because upon the greatness of good practice alone, they as it were swell themselves out despising others. And there are some whom not even their own practice uplifts, but when they begin to be commended by their fellow-creatures for that same good practice, being overcome by the mere applause of men, by themselves they view themselves as certain great ones in their own imagination, and are unbound from the safe keeping of the heart. These, surely, though they refused to ' see the sun when it shineth,' yet ' behold the moon walking in its brightness;' because amidst the darkness of this world, while they fasten the mind on the brightness of their reputation, as it were by the hght of the night they lose the grace of humility, and, whilst beholding the moon, they see not themselves, in that they begin to be blind to themselves, while they fix the eyes of the mind on transitory applause.

16. Now so is the progress of men, as we see the growths of trees to be. For the essence of the future tree is first in the seed, afterwards in the springing, and at last it is carried out into boughs. Thus then, surely the goodness of every one doing works grows up. For it is sown in understanding, it springs up in practising, and at last it is consolidated to the full width of great advancement. But when his understanding uplifts any one, the tree that might have sprung up rots in the seed. And wlien after good practice he is spoilt by the bane of self-exaltation, it is as if, having already sprang up, it withered. But when neither under- Book standing nor practice corrupt, but its greatness growing up, ^ when the applause of persons commending follows, and overtin-ns from its seat the mind of him tliat doeth rightly, the tree has encountered the winds of the tongues, and all that had grown up strong in it, the tempest of fame has plucked up by the roots. For in proportion as the tree has risen higher to the regions above, forcibly does it feel the violence of the winds; because the more a man is lifted to a height in good practices, with so much the greater blast is he oppressed by the mouth of those that praise him. Therefore if the tree is still in the seed, there is need to fear lest it should be made rotten by the mere acquaintance with knowledge; if it has now already issued into a shoot, we have to be on our guard that the hand of self-exaltation touch it not, and parch it of the greenness of its conduct; but if it already lifts itself up on high with vigorous strength, it is very greatly to be dreaded lest the over strong wind of praise that is applied pluck it up from the roots.

17. But herein it is necessary to be borne in mind, that, to the end that we be not rooted up by immoderate praises, very often, by the marvellous regulating of our Ruler, we are allowed to be torn in pieces by calumnies even, that so when the voice of one commending lifts up the heart, the tongue of one calumniating should abase it, because the tree too oftentimes, which is so diiven by the impulse of one wind as to seem now that it might well nigh be rooted out of its place, is set up again by a blast of another wind from an opposite quarter; and the tree which suffered bending from this side, is brought back from another to its standing position. And hence that tree, being deeply rooted, had as it were stood fixed amidst contending winds, which said, By honour and dislionour, hy evil report and good report. 2 Cor. 6, For it often happens that praise being unwontedly brought * home to the ears of the well doer, whilst it echoes in talkings without, engenders to the mind within a kind of tempest in vsilence, and it comes to happen that this thing, that the soul is delighted by the applause of men, it does not easily display outwardly, but yet it feels the force of corruption in no slight degree inwardly. And there are some whom praise so puffs up that it forces them on even to words of selfexalting. But some, as we said before, are ashamed lo lay open this same thing, that they are lifted up, ai'.d their encomiums being heard by them they are exalted, but yet do not come forth to the extent of words of exaltation, and never shew openly that they delight in such things. Hence blessed Job, because he knew that he had not been arrogant not only at all in words, but also in the secret thought of the heart as well, after that he said. If I saw the sun ichen it shin ed, or the moon ualking in its brightness; therefore

18. By which same recording, what else is conveyed to us, but that there is need of great fear and circumspection, lest our mind at any time rejoice even in secret on the grounds of its commendations. For that man who looks on the greatness of his fame as ' the brightness of the moon,' and creates delight to himself in the secret of the heart, to whom but to the Maker did such a man prefer himself, by Whose gift he obtained it that he should practise aright, and yet in His benefit is made glad upon the favour of his own praise? For the honour of his Creator being disregarded, he is convicted of loving himself more, by the proclaims of whom he is so gladdened. Though sometimes even holy men rejoice in their own good repute; but when they reflect that through this good repute those that hear them advance to better things, they now no longer rejoice in their own reputation, but in the profiting of their neighbours; because it is one thing to seek marks of favour, and another thing to exult on the ground of advancement. Wherein it follows, that when it does not advance the welfare of the hearers, fame for credit should not lift up, but oppress our mind. For when we are commended by the witnessing of the human tongue, we are asked by a secret smiting what we think concerning our own selves. For the uplifted soul, even when false good is told concerning it, exults, because it makes out in thought not hi^w it lives with God, but how it makes itself known with men. For disregarding the judgment of Almighty God concerning itself, and only seeking after that of men, it is lifted up amidst the praises it hears, and the soul which had looked out for this alone is ^Sook gladdened as if by the prize of its practice. But on the contrary if the heart be really humble, the good things that it hears of itself it either does not at all acknowledge, and is afraid that false things are said, or otherwise if it knows that they are really there to it, dreads lest they should be lost to the eternal recompensing of God, by this alone that it sees them to be published abroad to men; and it fears very greatly lest the hope of the future reward should be changed into the wages of transitory applause.

19. From which circumstance it takes place that the soul of the Elect is tortured by a great fire of their own praises, and by sorrowfulness of thought fined clear of all the rust of its inertness. For by heedful taking thought it is filled with fear lest either for those things, in the which it is praised, and they do not exist, it should meet with a worse judgment of God, or for those things wherein it is praised, and they do exist, it lose the suitable reward. Whence it most commonly takes place that like as the unjust man is defiled by his praise, so the just person is purified by his praise reaching his ear. For when the good things he has done he finds out are put forward by men, he dreads, as has been said, the exact inquest of the Final Judgment upon himself, and full of affright flees to the conscience, and whatever there is therein worthy of blame, he corrects. For while he dreads to have his good things made known, fearing greatly the exactness of the Inquest to follow, if there be any hidden evil things in him, he cuts them away. For he is alarmed if he be not exhibited at least such to God, as he is held by men, neither is he satisfied that in that state in which he may have been made known to men he should continue to remain. For already he reckons compensation as it were made to him for his good things, except he add thereto others also which are not known by men. Whence it is well said bv Solomon; As silver is tried in the fining jjofPros.

and gold in the furnace, so man is tried by the mouth of ' him that praises. For silver and gold if it be refuse is consumed by the fire, but if proof, it is brought out by the fire. Thus surely is the mind also of him that worketh. For what sort cf man he is, is shewn herein that he is praised; for if when

5G4 Praise henejif.s if it alarms. Sin of self-commendation, Job 31, his praises reach his ears, he is uplifted, what else was such ■jj^^ an one but refuse gold or silver, whom surely the furnace of the tongue consumed? But if on hearing the marks of favour towards him, he returns to the consideration of the Judgment Above, and entertains fear lest he should be heavily charged for these things in the sight of the secret Arbiter, as it were by the fire of jjuvifying he is made to grow to greatness and splendour, and from the same source whence he undergoes the burning of affright, he shines so much the brighter. Therefore blessed Job, because he never preferred himself on the ground of practice, says with confidence, If I saiD the sun when it shined. And because fame to his credit never diverted this man from the regarding of the Interior Judgment, he adds. And the moon icalking in her brightness. And because he never suffered, not even in secret thought, that his mind should be mastered by the boon of his repute, he directly added, And if my heart rejoiced in secret. And because it very often happens that the unheeding mind, when it does not set itself against transitory applause, is drawn on even to this pass, that it praises itself what it does, to the condition which was set before it is in a manner fitly annexed;

^^' 24- ma7i hideth his hand in his bosom, and it is labour to him to bring it to his mouth. To the slothful man it is a labour to stretch his hand to his mouth,' because the slothful preacher has no mind to practise even the very thing that he says,

8ince to stretch the hand to the mouth, is to harmonize with his voice in practice. And so he ' kisses his hand with his mouth,' who praises the thing that he does, and by the testimony of his own speech awards to himself meritoriousness of practice. In which case who is there that is despised, saving He Who bestows the very gifts for practising themselves? Whence it is well said by the great Preacher;

] Cor. And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if

• '• thou didst receive it, ivhy dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? Now holy men know themselves to be sprung since the f\dl of our first parent from a corruptible stock, and that not by tlieir own goodness, but by grace Book from above preventing them they are changed to better ^^ll wishes and works, and whatever of evil they find to be in them, they feel is earned by mortal derivation, but whatever of good they espy in themselves, they acknowledge as the gift of immortal grace, and they are made debtors to Him for the benefit vouchsafed, Who both by preventing vouchsafed to them to will the good that they willed not, and by following after vouchsafed them to be able to do the good which they will. Whence it is well said by John; And worshipped Him That liveth for ever and ever, and'Rev. 4, cast their crowns be/ore the throne of the Lord. For ' to cast their crowns before the throne of the Lord' is to attribute not to themselves but to the Maker the victories of their conflicts, so as to refer the glory of praise to Him, from Whom they know themselves to have received powers for the conflict. And so blessed Job, because he so tells the good things that he had practised, that, nevertheless, he never attributes them to his own doing, but goes back to the praise of his Creator, denies that he had ' kissed his hand with his mouth."" As though he said in a plain waj', ' I do not bring forward my deeds as mine own; because he is proved to disown the grace of his Creator, whoever attributes to himself the thing that he does in practice.' And hence he adds directly;

Ver, 28. Which is the chief est iniquity, and denial against the 3Iost High God.

21. For it is clear that he does deny Him, when setting at x. nought His grace, he claims to himself the powers of good practice. Which too is rightly culled as well ' the chiefest iniquity' because every act of sin which is from infirmity destroyeth not hope, seeing that it asks forgiveness from the Judge Above. But presuming on our own goodness is so much the worse in desperateness, the further it is removed from humility. And when it ascribes the strength of practice to itself, it does not have recourse to the aid of the Maker, and it is brought to pass that the sinner perishes so much the worse, for that even this very thing, that he is a sinner, he is ignorant of. It follows;

Job 31, Ver. '29. If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that

^!^'^' 22. That we are disciples of Almighty God, the keeping of chanty is the only proof. For it is hence that Truth saith

Johnis, by Itself, By this shall all men know that ye are My Disciples,

^^- if ye have love one toward another. Which same love, if it really fills our heart, is wont to be exhibited in two ways; viz. if we at once love our friends in God, and our enemies for God. But it needs to be known that the love of our enemy is then really kept, when we are neither given up to

> 'addi- suffering' upon his advancement, nor rejoiced at his cimur. (iggtruclion. For very often in a semblance of love with reference to an enemy, the mind is deceived, and such an one it reckons that it loves, if it do not prove a foe to his life; but the efficacy of love either the promotion, or the fall of an enemy, secretly and really puts to the proof.

For on this point the mind of man knows not itself to the full, except that him whom he takes for an enemy to him, he finds whether by advancement or diminution to have changed the measure of his standing. For if he is given over to suffer by the prosperity, and rejoiced by the calamity of him who hates him, it is plain that he does not love him, whom he does not wish to be better; and him he persecutes, even when standing, in wish, about whose fall he congratulates

23. But herein it is needful to know that it very often happens that without charity being lost, both the destruction of an enemy rejoices us, and again his glory without any sin of envy saddens us, when both he falling to ruin, we believe that there are persons rightly set up, and he being advanced we dread very many being unjustly borne down. In which case neither does his diminution now lift up our mind, nor his aggrandisement give it over to suffer, if the right thought of our heart regard not what is done in the individual, but what is done by the individual towards others. But for preserving these things a scrutiny of the exactest discrimination is absolutely requisite, lest when we are carrying out our own hatred, we be deceived under the appearance of the utility to another. For if there were not to be any rejoicing at all for the death of an enemy, the Psalmist would Book never say, The riyhle.ous shall rejoice when he seeth the ■^-?-lIl venyeance on the unyodhj. For it is one thing to bear an \l\ ' ungodly man, and another thing to bear an enemy. For there are a great manj' enemies that are not ungodly, and there are some ungodly persons who seem not in any special manner enemies to us. But the mind of man accounts every one whom it bears as an enemy, to be ungodly and wicked as well, because the faults of that man spleen as his accuser heightens in its own thinking. But with whatever wickednesses he may be sunk down, he little passes for wicked, if he is not felt to be an adversary. In which point there must be the distinguishing, that it is one thing wherein our enemy harms ourselves, and another thing wherein he harms himself and the rest of the world. For if he is good to others, perchance it may be that it is not without our fault that he is bad to us; nor should there be altogether a rejoicing in his ruin now, whose hostile treatment it is certain we alone have undergone. But when the enemy of ourselves and a great many persons is destroyed, it must needs be that our heart should be glad for the escape of our neighbours, rather than for the destruction of our enemv.

24. For it is requisite that when an adversary perishes we should minutely consider both what we owe to the destruction of the sinner, and what to the justice of the smiter. For when Almighty God smites any bad man, there must be sorrowing in unison with the wretchedness of the ruined, and rejoicing in unison with the justice of the Judge, so that both the punishment of our neighbour dying should be a sorrow to us, and again the equity exhibited by God in judging should be an occasion of joy, that so we may neither prove enemies to a man in his perishing, nor be found unthankful to God in His judging. And so because he perfectly trod down all feelings of hatred in opposition, let blessed Job say. If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him. Who, that is to say, in loving even his enemy, whereas he sympathized with an adversary when ruined, by that one's evil things was himself advanced to good, that this one should go on growing to loving-kindness by the same cause that the

Job 31, evil that he deserved had found that other. But because ^"- often there are persons vrho because they cannot with power, ' assail with cursing those whom they account enemies to themselves, in which persons it appears plain what evil things they would do if they could, who never cease to imprecate those which they cannot do, blessed Job exhibiting himself free from the sin of cursing as well, added, going on, Ver. 30. Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul. xii. 25. For he would sin, if he were to desire that to be done by God, which he himself either could not at all be able to do, or if he could it would not be in any wise right. For they who assail an enemy with curses, what other thing do they wish God to do in his case, but what they are either unable or ashamed to do themselves } For they wish death to their enemy, which same even if they have the power, they are afraid to bring upon him; lest they should either be bound as guilty of murder committed, or shew themselves wicked even when they are. What then is it to say to God, ' Kill the man whom I hate,' but to cry out to him in audible accents; ' Do Thou that to mine enemy, which it is not proper for me to do towards him even as a sinner.' In which same words it is to be thought where had this person Luke 6, read. Love your enemies? where had he read. Bless, and ' curse not? and again. Not rendering evil for evil, nor 12, 14. railing for railing? But the precepts of grace from above, iPet.3, j-,Q|. i^eard with the outward ears he observed, because the inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote them in the heart of that man. To whom however it would have been but little that he loved those adversaries situated without, excei^ting he had to bear these also living within, and holding daily converse with him, even those of his household, as adversaries. Whence he adds,

Ver. 31. If the men of my tabernacle said not, O that ue had ofhisjiesh, that we might be satisfied! xiii. 26. Which same sentence may also be taken in mystery of ^^■s'^- the voice of our Redeemer. For ' the men of his tabernacle' longed to be ' satisfied by his flesh,' i. e. whether the Jews in persecuting or the Gentiles in believing. For both the one set themselves as it were by consuming it to put an end to His Body, and the latter desire to satisfy their hungering Book soul \\ ith His flesh, by the daily sacrifice of His immolating. ^Li — '.

Hi St But now following the gist of the history alone let us reflect with what strenuousness the mind of the holy man, full of concern for all things, is divided within and without; who to those acting unjustly had he either submitted in silence, or not withstood in righteous living, assuredly he would never have had them as adversaries. But hereby, that he kept the paths of life, he found hearty desires of his death. Adversaries he met with, shewing themselves outwardly, lurking inwardly. Now it is inferior goodness in a conflict for a man to see without evils that he has to get the better of, and not to have within aught that he may have to bear. But it is the praise of perfect greatness to meet hostile treatment, without bravely, and within mercifully. For there are some things in the actual common dealing of those of a household, that cannot be corrected without sin in the corrector, and therefore when they either defile him who corrects them, or do not weigh heavily on him who does them, with a great skill of tutoring they require to be winked at, and by this very winking to be borne with, which same when put upon ourselves are the more quickly dismissed from our hearts, if we know our own misdemeanours against our neighbours.

words that are spoken; lest thou hear thy servant curse ' thee: for oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself also hast cursed others. For whilst we reflect what we have been towards others, we are the less concerned that others should have proved such persons towards ourselves, because the injustice of another avenges in us what our conscience justly accuses in self. It proceeds;

Ver. 3-2. The stranger did not lodge in the street; but my door was open to the traveller.

27. Whereas, Paul being witness, charily is described as xiv, patient and kind, by patience it bears with composure the ill turns of others, by kindness it also renders with mercifulness its own good ones. Whence blessed Job at once patiently bore those of his own household cursing him, and received to him kindly the travellers and strangers, to the first affc)rding examples of morals, the other meeting with the

Job 31, succour of external things. For the holy man viewing by the Spirit of prophecy the Redeemer of mankind, also kept his pardoning words in practice, whereby He v\arns us, saying, Luke 6 Let go, and it shall be let go to you; give, and it shall be '^'^' given unto you. For our giving relates to the things which we have outwardly, but our letting go to the dismissing the grief, which we have inwardly contracted by the offence of another. But it requires to be known, that he who ' lets go' but does not ' give,' though he has not done to the full, yet has observed the better part of mercifulness. But he who ' gives' but never ' lets go' does not execute mercy at all; because by Almighty God the gift is not accepted from the hand, which is proffered by a heart tied and bound in wickedness.

28. For there is need for the soul that offers alms first to be made clean, because every thing that is given to God is reckoned according to the feeling of him who gives it. Therefore every stain of evil must be wiped clean from our interior man by the changing of the thought, because the offering has it not to appease the wrath of the Judge, except it be acceptable by the purity of him who offers it. Whence Gen. 4, it is written; And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offerings; but unto Cain and to his offerings He had not respect. For it is not that sacred Revelation says that ' He had respect to the offerings of Abel, but to the offerings of Cain He had not respect;' but he first says, that He had respect to Abel, and afterwards subjoined. And to his offerings. And again he says that to Cain He had not respect, and next added, nor to Ins offerings. For according to the heart of the giver is the thing that is given received. Therefore not Abel by virtue of his offerings, but by virtue of Abel the gifts offered were well pleasing. For it is read that the Lord had regard first to the person who gave, before the things which he gave. Hence blessed Job going on to tell us his bountifulness in the boon of hospitality did right in bringing forward first his patience and kindness towards enemies, how that he did not ' exult in the destruction of his enemy;' that he did not ' assail his persecutors with words of cursing;' that those enraged against him within, he bore with equanimity; and then at last he brought forward the bountiful- ness of his hospitality, that, namely, by the order of his rela- Book tion being listened to, we might learn that exterior gifts are ^-^ — - seasoned by the interior pureness of the heart, that the combination of his virtues might teach the reader what sort of person he ought to be in himself, when he administers external good to others.

■29. But who would not account himself to be a holy man in the midst of such heights of his virtues? Who would not be in some measure tempted by his mere merits alone being so many in number, so that if at any time as being but man he went wrong, he would not have his transgression made known to men; and would account it as trivial if he did any thing wrong in lesser things; and would rather prefer to cover his offence by silence than disclose it by the voice of confession? For it often comes to pass that the mind being lifted up by virtuous attainments, when it knows that many good things are scattered abroad concerning it in the esteem of neighbours, does not wish it to be known, if there is any thing that it does deserving of blame. Which same darkness of mistaking the mind is for this reason exposed to, because high-swelling clogs the eye of the heart. Hence blessed Job, in the midst of so many distinguished achievements in virtues, who became so lofty in practice, in order to shew how lowly in mind he was, added directly;

30. For these are the proofs of true humility, both for a man to ascertain his own wickedness, and on being ascertained to discover it by the voice of confession; but on the contrary it is the accustomed evil practice of man's race, at once to commit sin keeping himself hidden from sight, and when committed to hide it by denying, and when brought home to him, to multiply it by standing up for it. For from that fall of the first man we draw these accessions of wickedness, from which we also draw the very original of sin. For thus he, when he had touched the forbidden tree, hid himself from the face of the Lord amidst the trees of Paradise. In which hiding, because surely he could not escape the eye of God, it is not the effecting of self-concealing that is related, but the affecting thereof is betokened. Who when he was charged

Job 31, by the Lord, how that he had touched of the forbidden tree, ■^'^- thereCipon answered; Tlie wonuni nliom Thou gavest to he

G^nfs, with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. The woman

'2- hkewise on being asked, answered, saying, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. For to this end they were enquired of, that the sin, which by transgressing they had been guilty of, they might by confessing wipe out. Whence too the serpent, that prompter, inasmuch as he was not to be brought back to pardon, was not asked concerning the sin. Thus man was asked the question ' where he was,' that he might review the offence committed, and by confessing- it take knowledge how far he had departed from the face of his Creator. But both preferred to take to themselves the cordials of defence rather than of confession. And whilst the man was minded to palliate the sin through the woman, and the woman through the serpent, they added to the sin, which they endeavoured to vindicate; Adam by indirectly glancing at the Lord, how that He had Himself proved the author of their sin, in that He had made the woman; and Eve in referring the sin to the Lord, Who had placed the serpent in Paradise. For they who had heard from the mouth of the devil deceiving

V- 5. them. Ye shall be as Gods; because they were not able to be like to God in Godhead, for the heightening of their error endeavoured to make God like to themselves in transgression. In this way then, whilst ihey set themselves to defend their guilt, they made the addition that the sin should be rendered more heinous when examined, than it had been when committed.

31. Hence now also the branches of the human race derive bitterness still from this root, so that when a man is charged home for the evil in him, he hides himself under words of self-defence, as under a kind of leaves of trees, and as it were flies the face of his Creator to a kind of darkened retreats of self-exculpation, whereas he has no mind to have that known that he has been guilty of. By which same concealment he has not hidden himself from the Lord, but the Lord from himself. For he manages that he should not see Him Who sees all things, not that he himself should not be seen. Contrarily to every sinner the first step now of enlightenment is the humility of confessing, in that he now refuses to spare liiraself, who does not blush to avow the evil Book that he has done, and he who by defending himself might 1-^ — - have been laid open to be accused, by accusing himself defends himself most quickly. And hence to dead Lazarus, who was kept down by a great weight, it is not said, ' Be thou restored to life;' but, Come forth, bv which same rising Johnii, again, which was carried on in the body of that man, it is signified in what way we ourselves rise again in the heart, i. e. when it is said to the dead man, Come forth; that is to say, that man being dead in his sin, and through the mass of bad habit already buried, because he lies hidden from sight within his own conscience by wickedness, should go forth from himself without by confession. For to the dead man it is said, Come forth, that from the excusing and concealing of sin he may be called forth to come out to the accusing of himself with his own lips. Whence David the Prophet, in coming to life from that death of his great guilt, as it were went forth at the voice of the Lord, when being rebuked by Nathan he brought accusation of what he had done

32. Therefore because this sin of concealing grew to a dreadful excess in the human race, blessed Job, when he was saying, If I covered my transgression, rightly inserted the words as man, because he sees that to be proper to man, which descends by the copying of our old parent. Whence it is fitly subjoined; And did hide mine iniquity in mt} bosom. For sacred Scripture is very often used to put the ' bosom' for the mind; as where in the voice of Holy Church it is said by the Psalmist of our persecutors, who are joined to us indeed in nature, but disjoined in life, And render vnto'Ps. 79, our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom. As though he said in plain speech; ' Let them receive that in their minds, which in raging against us they practise over our bodies, that whereas they punish us outwardly in part, they may themselv'es be punished inwardly to a complete degree.' And so because the ' bosom' is interpreted the privacy of the mind, to ' conceal iniquity in the bosom' is to hide it in the recesses of the conscience, nor to uncover it by confession, but to veil it by defence. Contrarily James says. Confess S^^mes your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ' ye may be saved. Solomon also says, He that covereth /*«'•« Jg^jg

Sob 31, sins shall not prosper, hut ichoso confesseth and forsaketh

33. But herein it is necessary to be known that men very often both confess their sins and are not humble. For we know many who when no man charges them confess that they are sinners, but when perhaps they are rebuked for their sin, they seek the support of defence that they may not seem to be sinners; which persons, if, when they say the thing of their own accord, they did then with genuine humiHty see themselves to be sinners, when they are charged home by others would never deny that they are what they had confessed. In which case the tokens of true confession are, if when a man calls himself a sinner, he does not contradict another as well advancing that about him. For because it

Prov. is written. The just man in the beginning is the accuser of ' ' himself; he does not rather aim to appear a sinner, but a just man, when any one confesses himself a sinner, no man charging him. But when another inveighs against the evil that we have done, he proves the truth of confession. Which same if we defend in a proud spirit, it is clear that it is feignedly tliat of ourselves we called ourselves sinners. Whence it is above every thing to be taken care of that the evil things we have done, we both confess of our own accord, and do not deny them when others charge us home with them. For it is the evil of pride that the thing which a man as if by his own act deems it meet to confess about himself, this he should disdain to have said to him by others.

34. Thus blessed Job shewed what singular humility he was of, in that he both knew that he was living amongst adversaries, and yet was not afraid to disclose his offences with the voice of confession. But observe that above he tells his virtuous qualities, lower down he confesses his sin. For hence he clearly proves what truth he had spoken of the good in him, in that he would not hold his tongue concerning the evil. One while he points out his virtues, at another time transgressions; that he had both committed sin, and had not kept it silent, he makes plain. Whence it appears without all doubt what extraordinary purity he was of in the sight of Almighty God, who both avoided evil things that he should not commit them, and yet what things it did chance to him to commit he did not conceal from men: so that to Book him there should at once be the high credit of righteousness - to have shunned sin, and the safe keeping of righteousness to have brought to light what he was not able to shun. Let this man seem to any one great in his virtues, to me without doubt he appears most grand even in his sins. Let those, who are so minded, admire in him the self-control of chastity, let them admire the faithfulness of justice, let them admire the bowels of pitifulness; I do not less admire in him the humblest confession of sins, than such lordly achievements of virtue. For I know well that through the shame of infirmity it is generally a worse conflict, to bring to light the sins we have committed, than it is to avoid them not being committed, and each instance of evil, though it may be avoided with more vigorousness, is yet brought to view with greater humility. Thus blessed Job, who whilst supported by so many great practices was not ashamed to confess his sin, shewed in the midst of his virtues, how humble he was. But because from true humility there ever springs secure authority, so that the soul should dread nothing without, in proportion as by the longing of selfelation it does not pant after the topmost height of affairs, the confession of sin having been set forth, it is rightly subjoined;

Ver. 34. Did I fear a great mtiHitude, or did the contempt of neighbours terrify me, and I did not rather keep silence, and went not out of the door?

35. It is great assuredness of heart to have nought of xvi. worldly concupiscence. For if the heart pants after attaining earthly things, it can never be secure and tranquil, because either things not possessed it desires, in order that it may possess them, or things obtained it is afraid for lest it should lose them, and whilst in adverse circumstances he dreads prosperous ones, so in prosperous circumstances he dreads such as are adverse, and he is tossed hither and thither as it were by a kind of waves, and is hurried about in various fashions by the changeableness of shifting affairs. But if once the mind is fixed with strong stedfastness in the longing after the Country Above, it is less distressed by the annoyance of earthly things. For from all outward com-

576 A souljix'ed above minds not troubles belotlK Job 31, motions it seeks that its aim, like a kind of most secret

^ii retreat, and there attaching itself to the Unchangeable % and of its repose, while in the world, it is henceforth without the world. Tt goes beyond all things below by its stressing after the highest, and all the objects which it does not go after it feels itself by a certain liberty to get above, nor within is it subject to the tempest of things temporal, which it views without, for all earthly things which being longed after might have borne down the mind, being looked down upon

Jer. 3i,lie beneath it. Whence it is well said by the Prophet, Set

^^' a look out for thyself; that whilst a man views things above, he may rise high above things beneath. Hence likewise

Hab. 2, Habakkuk says, / will stand upon my uatcli. For he

* stands upon his watch,' who by wise policy of discipline, does not bow down beneath, but rises high above earthly desires, that while he aims at Eternity, which is ever stedfast, he should have beneath his feet every thing that passes by.

36. Yet because with whatever goodness the holy man has advanced, the infirmity of the flesh still outwardly bears

Ps.39,6. him down whilst set in this life, as it is written, Though man walk in the image of God, yei he is disquieted in vain: it very often takes place that he is at once disquieted without, and holds on not subject to disquietude within, and that he is liable to be ' disquieted in vain' comes from the infirmity of the flesh, though that he ' walks in the image of God' is from the excellency of the mind, in order that he should both be inwardly strengthened by the Divine aid, and yet be still pressed down without by the human burthen. Whence

Habakkuk again has well delivered a single sentence serving Hab. 3, for both particulars. For he says. And trembling entered me. As though he said; ' It is not my power, wherein being transported above, I remain free from liability to disquietude, but it is my own power wherein I am disquieted below.' And so the same is free from disquietude above himself, and the same exposed to disquietude below himself; because he had mounted above himself, in so far as he was caught away to tilings on high; and he was beneath Book himself, in so far as he still dragged a remains into that^-^^ which is below. The same above himself is free from liability to disquietude, because he had now passed away into the contem])lation of God: the same under himself is liable to be disquieted, because beneath himself he still remained a frail human being. The Prophet David according with this sentence saith; / said in the excess of my Vs. 116, mind, All men are liars. To whom the answer may be ^^' made; ' If every man, then thou too; and the sentence vsill henceforth be false, which thou being a liar hast uttered, because whilst thou art true-spoken, every man is not found out a liar.' But observe that it is prefaced, / said in the excess of my mi?id. And so by ' excess of the mind' he transcended himself even, when he determined about the character of man. As though he said in plain speech; ' I delivered a true sentence respecting the falseness of all men from the same cause, whereby 1 was myself above man;' being now so far himself a ' har' as far as he was himself man, but so far altogether not a ' liar,' as ' by excess of the mind' he was above man.

37. Thus, therefore, thus all the perfect, though they are still subject to something disquieting from the infirmity of the flesh, yet already enjoy within the calmest privacy by the contemplation of the mind, so that whatsoever thing happens without, it should in nought disquiet them within. Whence blessed Job, exhibiting the security of a holy mind, after he had delivered so many announcements of the parts of virtue with reference to himself, following that which we have set before, added; Jf I feared at an exceeding great multitude, or the contempt of neighbours terrified me, and I did not rather keep silence, and went not out of the door. As though he said in a plainer manner; ' While others were disquieted against me without, I myself remained in mine own self free from being disquieted within.' For what else ought we in this place to take ' the door' to be, but the mouth? For by this we as it were go forth, when with what words we are able, we disclose the secrets of our hearts; and what we remain within in the conscience, such we go forth without by the tongue.

57S Our Lord kept sile7iceloHerod,whou:oitldnoi have learned.

Job 31, 38. But there are some persons who are altogether afraid

__^ll-to be despised, and lest they should chance to be judged as '^^' contemptible, aim to appear wise. These are driven to « go fordi out of the door,' because when assailed with insults, how great in themselves they lie buried from sight, they give out telling it. And when being overcome by impatience they put forth things about themselves, which were unknown, they as it were ' go forth by the door' of the mouth. And so blessed Job being about to say, that he had never ' gone forth out of the door of the lips,' justly set before; I kept silence; i. e. because agitated by impatienee he would have gone forth out of the house of the conscience, if he had not known how to keep silence. For holy men, when they are under the trial of being perturbed, shun wholly and entirely to exhibit themselves to view, and when they cannot benefit those that hear them, they are willing by keeping silence to be even despised, lest they pride themselves upon the exhibition of their own wisdom. And when they say any thing with good understanding, they seek not their own glory, but the life of their hearers. But when they see that they cannot by speaking gain the life of their hearers, by keeping silence they hide their own knowledge. For we hie to the imitating the life of the Lord, as to a kind of mark set before us. For He Himself, because He saw that Herod sought not advancement, but that he desired to wonder at His signs or His knowledge, on being asked by him held His tongue, and because He kept silence with constancy. He w^ent forth derided by him. For it is written;

Luke23, And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad; for he was desirous to see Him of a long season, because he had heard many things of Him; and he hoped to have seen soine

T. 9. miracles done by Him: where it is also added; Then he questioned with Him in many u-ords, but He answered him nothing. But how greatly the Lord in holding His peace was despised, is shewn when the words are brought in there

V. ]]. directly; And Herod with his men of war set Him at nought, and mocked Him. Which same transaction we ought to hear and learn, in order that as often as our hearers desire to be made acquainted with things of ours, as things to be praised, and not to alter what is wrong of their own, we should altogether hold our peace; lest, if we speak Book the Word of God with the design of display, both the fault ^^^' of those persons, which then was, should not cease to be, and our own fault, which was not, should be brought to pass.

39. A person will perhaps say, ' How do we know with what feelings of the heart a man will hear?' But there are a number of things that bring to light the mind of him who hears; first and foremost, if our hearers both always praise what they hear, and never follow the thing that they praise. This vain glory of speaking the great Preacher had shunned, when he said, For we are not as many, u'/uc/i^Cot.^, corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as from God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ. For to

* coiTupt the Word of God' is to think of Him otherwise than He is, or to seek from it not spiritual fruits, but the corrupt offspring of human praise. But ' to speak as of sincerity,' is not to seek for aught in Revelation beyond what behoves. Now he ' speaks as from God,' who knows that he himself hath not from himself, but that he hath received from God what he says. And he speaks ' before God,' who in all that he speaks seeks not human regards, but minds the presence of Almighty God, and who looks for, not his own glory, but the glory of his Creator. But he who indeed knows well that he has himself received from God the thing that he speaks, and yet in speaking seeks his own glory, speaks ' as from God,' but not ' before God,' because Him he considers as absent. Whom he does not set before his heart, when he preaches Him. But holy men at once* speak as from God' and ' before God,' in that they both know that they have from Him the thing that they say, and they see that He is Himself present at their discoursings, their Judge and their Hearer. Hence it comes to pass, that whereas they know themselves to be set at nought by their neighbours, and that their words do not advantage the life of the persons hearing them, they hide from sight what great goodness they are of, lest if the speech delivered disclose the secret of the heart to no purpose, it should break forth into vain glory.

40. Therefore blessed Job in the midst of stubborn hearts not aiming to shine forth by the disclosure of his virtue,

JoB3i,sa3S, And if the contempt of neighbours terrified me, and ■ ^*: — / did not rather keep silence, and went not out of the door. For he who being stedfast through humility never feared to be despised, him never did impatience master, that the tongue should cast hira forth cut of doors. When it is rightly put first, If I feared at an exceeding great inuUitude; that it might be seen and known what great constancy he was of, in this respect, because no number of men ever terrifies without, whom no rout of bad habits lays waste within. For in this life he who seeks nothing that has to do with prosperity, doubtless dreads nothing that has to do with adversity. MysT. 41. Which same words if we carry on to a mystical meaning, we directly find therein the Redeemer's mode of practice. For He was not ' afraid at an exceeding great multitude,' Who smote with a single answer only His persecutors coming Johnis, with swords and staves, saying, / am He. ' Him the contempt of His neighbours did not terrify,' Who, in freeing us from eternal punishments, received strokes on the face with a composed mind. ' He kept silence, and did not go forth out of the door,' Who in the very horn* now of His Passion, v/hen He was undergoing the weak conditions of humanity, refused to call into action the power of Divinity. For to the Mediator between God and man it would have been ' to go forth out of the door,' if when He was held as Man He had been minded to display the power of His Majesty, and by the mightiness of His Divinity to surmount the weak conditions of the flesh taken upon Him. For that He might die manifest to man, iCor.2, He remained hidden God. For had they known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of Glory. And so He did not ' go forth out of the door,' Who even when questioned by Pilate kept silence; and in the midst of the hands of the persecutors He both offered His Body to suffering, which He had taken upon Him in behalf of the Elect, and would not display to those that were against Him What He was. Ps.88,8. Whence also it is said by the Psalmist; They have made Me an abomination unto them, I was given up, and I wen t not forth. For when He was despised because He appeared man. He would have ' gone forth,' if He had been minded to display His hidden Majesty. But because He brought infirmity to view, and hid power from sight, herein, that He remained Book unknown to His persecutors, to those persecutors He did not -

' go forth.' Who, however, does ' go forth' to the Elect, because to those that seek for it. He discloses the sweetness of His Divine Nature. Whence it is said to Him by the Prophet, Thou tfentest forth for the salvation of Thy people, Hah. 3, that Thou mvjlitest save Thine Anointed. It goes on: ^^'

Ver. 35. Who would give me a helper that the Almighty might hear my desire.

42. The holy man after he related so many high achieve- xvii. menls of the virtues in him, knowing well that he cannot ^ist. attain to the things on high by his own deserts, seeks for a lielper. And whom verily does he fix his eye on but the Only-begotten Son of God, Who whereas He took upon Him human nature travailing in this mortal state, did give help } For He helped man, being made Man; that because to mere man there was no way open of returning to God, there should be made a Way of returning by means of The God-Man '. For we were far removed from the Righteous and ' Homo- Immortal One, being mortal and unrighteous. But between the Immortal and Righteous One and ourselves the mortal and unrighteous, appeared the Mediator of God and man, mortal and righteous. Who might at once own death with mortals, and righteousness with God; that whereas by our things below we were far removed from things above, He might in Himself singly unite the things below with the things above, and that herein there might be a Way made for us of returning to God, in the degree that He joined ours beneath with His own on high. This One then blessed Job, in his personating of the whole Church, asks for as Mediator, who when he had said, Who woidd give me a helper, suitably added, that the Almighty might hear my desire. For he knew that for the rest of Eternal deUverance, the prayers of man can never be heard excepting through his Advocate. Concerning Whom it is said by the Apostle John; If any one sin, ice have an Advo-^^ John cate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous; and ' He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world. Concerning Whom Paul likewise sailh; // is Christ Jesus that died for us, yea, Rom. s, rather, that is risen again, Who is even at the right

Job -61, hand of God, Who also maketh intercession for us. For, for

■. ^^- - the Onlv-bea:otten Son to ' intercede' for man, is to shew Himself Man in the presence of the Coeternal Father, and for Him to have besought for human nature, is to have taken upon Him that same nature in the loftiness of the Divine Nature. And so the Lord intercedes for us not with the voice but by the act of compassionating; because that which He would not should be condemned in the Elect, He set free by taking upon Himself. And so a helper is sought for, that ' the desire may be heard;' because except that the intercession of the Mediator were employed in our behalf, surely the accents of our prayers would remain silent to the ear of God.

43. Moreover it requires to be noted that it is not said, ' my prayers,' but, my desire, that the Almighty might hear. For true beseeching- does not lie in the accents of the lips, but in the thoughts of the heart. For the stronger accents in the deepest ears of God it is not our words that make, but our desires. For if we seek eternal life with the mouth, but yet do not desire it with the heart, in crying out we keep silence. But if we desire in the heart, even when we are silent witli the mouth, in being silent we cry out. It is hence that in the wilderness the people clamour with their voices, and Moses is still to the clamouring of words, and yet whilst keeping still he is heard by the ear of divine Pity,

Exod. whereas it is said, JVherefore criest thou unto Me? Thus

' ■ within in the desire is the secret cry, which does not reach to the ears of men, and yet fills the hearing of the Creator.

It is hence that Anna going to the temple was silent indeed with the lips, and yet uttered so many accents of her desire.

]\latt.6, Hence the Lord says in the Go^^e\, Enter into thy chamber, and ivhen thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father Which is in secret, and thy Father Which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. For ' the door being shut he prays in his chamber,' who while his mouth is silent, pours forth the affection of the heart in the sight of the Pitifulness Above. And the voice is ' heard in secret,' when there is a crying out in silence by holy desires. Whence also it is rightly Ps. 10, said by the Psalmist, The Lord hath heard the desire of the " poor; Thine ear hath heard the preparing of their heart.

Now blessed Job in the subjoined words discloses whom he Book seeks for himself as a helper, in the ' hearing of his desire,' '^'^^^' saying,

And that he himself who Judgeth would write a book! 44. For because to the People still fearing, the Law was xviii. committed by the hands of a Servant, but upon the loving Children, the grace of the Gospel was bestowed by the Lord, Who as coming for our Redemption, instituted the New Covenant for us, but in examining as touching the precept of that Covenant one day comelh as Judge also, it is not requisite that by explaining it should be made clear, that He Who Judges is the Same Who writes a book. For Truth Itself says by Itself, The Father judgelh no 7nan, but John 5, hath committed all judgment unto the Son. And so He will then be the Enacter of judgment Who is now the Composer of the ' book;' that He should then demand in strictness, what He now bids in mildness. For thus we see every day that masters set children the rudiments of their letters caressing them, but exact those of them dealing hardly with them; and what they give with gentleness, they require back with the rod. For now the precepts of Divine Revelation sound gentle, but they shall be to be thought harsh in the exacting of them. Now, there is a gentle warning of One calling, but then there shall come the strict justice of the Judge, because it is certain that no whit even of the very least commandment will pass without scrutinizing. By which same it is apparent that He that 'judgeth is the Same That wrote the Book,' Which same ' Book' of the New Testament, that the Redeemer of man should Himself frame in His own Person at the last, the Prophet Ezekiel rightly tells t'onh, saying, All d behold sia; men came from the wag Ez.9,2. of the higher gate, which lieih toward the north, and everg man a slaughter iceapon in his hand; and one man among them uas c/othed icith linen, with a loriter's inkhorn at his reins. For what else is there denoted in the ' six men coming' but the six ages' of mankind? Who ' come from

Job 31, the way of the higher gate,' because from the state of Paradise

"^^^ as from the beginning of the world, tliey are unwound from Propii.

the upper generations. Which ' gate k)oks to the North' in this way, because the mind of man lying open to evil, except that, abandoning the warmth of charity, it had courted the numbness of the interior, would never have gone out to this breadth of mortality. And every man a slaufjlder iteapon in his hand; because each particular generation being evolved bv the several respective ages, before the Coming of the Redeemer, had in its practice that wherefrom it took the punishment of condemnation. And one man among them was clothed icith linen. Because our Redeemer deigned to have parents even of the priestly Tribe '' after the flesh, He is described as coming ' clothed with linen.' Or, surely, because linen is from the earth, and is not like wool produced from the corruptible flesh, seeing that He derived the covering of His Body from a Virgin mother, and not by the corruptness of copulation, therefore He came to us ' clothed with linen.' And a writer s inkhorn at his reins. In the ' reins' is the hind part of the body. And because the Lord Himself after that He died for our sakes, and rose again, and ascended up into heaven, then wrote the New Testament through the Apostles, this man had an ' inkhorn at his reins.' For He Who after He departed framed the writing of the New Testament, as it were, carried an ' inkhorn' behind him. Thus this ' inkhorn' he sees to hold fast to the man ' clolhed with linen,' who says. And that the same who judges would write a hook. But wherefore, blessed Job, desirest thou that a book should be written by Him, Who is Judge? It goes on;

Ver. 36. That I might bear it upon my shoulder, and put it round me like a crown. xix. 45. To ' bear the book upon the shoulder,' is by practising to carry out Holy Scripture. And observe how orderly it is described both first as being ' carried on the shoulder,' and afterwards ' put round' him * as a crown;' because, that is the clays of Creation. The same division Elisabeth, ' of the daughters of Aaron,' to say, llie precepts of Sacred Revelation, if they be now Book borne in practice, afterwards set forth for us the crown of ^— — '- victory in the recompensing. But why does blessed Job beg for ' the book to be written by the Judge,' who was not able to attain to the times of the New Testament? But, as has been often said already, he uses the accents of the Elect, and in the personifying of them begs that, which he foresaw would benefit them in all respects. For he himself by the Spirit had for long had that book with him, which by the grace of Inspiration he had obtained, that both by living he should be made acquainted with, and by foreseeing he should announce.

But herein it requires to be known that when we take thought of the precepts of Sacred Revelation, and when we draw off the mind from love of the life of corruption, we as it were hasten on by a kind of footsteps of the heart, to the interior scene of things. Now no man, in abandoning things below, is directly made at the top; because for earning the title to perfection, whilst the soul is day by day being led forward on high, doubtless there is an attaining thereto as it were by a kind of steps of ascending. Whence in this place also it is fitly added;

By my several steps I will declare it.

46. Since concerning these ' steps' of merits it is said by xx. the Psalmist, They yo from virtue to virtue. Concerning Ps.84,7. these, again, regarding Holy Church he says; God is distin- FsA8,3. guished in her steps, iihat time He shall receive her. For""*^" ' neither is there any attaining suddenly to things above, as has been said, but to the topmost pitch of virtuous attainments the soul is led on by accessions. For hence it is that the same Prophet saith again; I was exercised, and my spirit Ps-77,3. failed little by little. What does he mean, then, that he says, my spirit, but the spirit of man, i. e. the spirit of exaltation? And because by secret grace we advance to the love of God by a measure regulated from above, in proportion as virtue is daily increased in us by the Spirit of God, our own spirit proportionably goes off. Which spirit of error, because it is not at once cut clean away from us, is justly recorded to have ' failed little by little.' But we then make complete advance in God, when we have wholly and

Job 31, entirely fallen away from ourselves. Thus these measures of

'— growing virtues by the words of the holy man are styled

' steps.' For every elect person sets out from the tenderness of his embryo in the first instance, and afterwards comes to firmness for strong and vigorous achievements. Which thing

Mark 4, Truth plainly shews in the Gospel, saying, So is the kingdom ' of heaven, as if a man should cast seed into the ground^ and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed shoidd spring and grow up he knoweth not how. Which same seed describing the growths of He adds; For the earth bringeth forth f nut of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. The end of whose progress too he also makes to succeed, saying, But when it has brought forth the fruits from itself, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come. Observe, by the voice of Truth the accessions of merits are marked out by the characters of fruits. For He says, fii'st the blade, then the ear, after that thefidl corn in the ear. Was not Peter still a ' blade' then, when by the mouth of a maid he was in a moment bent down by the blast of a single speech, already green indeed through devotedness, but still tender through infirmity. But he was found ' full corn in the ear' when he withstood the Acta 5, rulers persecuting him, saying. We ought to obey God rather than men. For he was found ' full corn in the ear' when, in the winnowing of persecution, he underwent such numberless wounds, but yet he was never made small after the manner of chaff", but coiitinued whole grain. For little by little in each several soul, so to say, the moisture of interior grace abounds, that the blade may grow into fruit. So let no one when he sees any neighbour still a ' blade' despair of the ' full corn.' Since from the leaves of the blades, which hang softly, flowing hither and thither, the rising grains of fruitage come to firmness.

47. Now the Prophet Daniel, whereas, when the Lord was speaking to him, he made it his business to tell us the posture of his body, did rightly represent these stages of Dan. 10, merits. Thus he says; Yet heard 1 the voice of his words, • and ivhen I heard the voice of his words, then was I dismayed upon my face, and my face clave to the ground. And, behold, a hand touched me, which set me upon my

knees, and upon the joints of my hands. A?id he said, Book

0 Daniel, a tnan greatly beloved, understand the words that ^^^h

1 speak unto thee, and stand upright; for unto thee am 1 7101V sent: and v.hcn he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling; and he said unto me. Fear not. Which same posture of his body, whilst he was hstening to the words of one speaking inwardly, he would never set forth to us with so much pains, if he had known it to be void of mysteries. For in Sacred Writ not only what holy men say is prophecy, but also very often what they do. Thus the holy man, being pregnant with interior mysteries, by the posture of his body, likewise represents the power of the voice; and by this that he first lay prostrate on the earth, by this that he afterwards set himself up on the joints of his hands and on his knees, by this that at last he stood fast erect indeed, yet trembling, he makes known to us in his own person all the order of our progress. For the words of God we hear ' lying on the ground,' when being settled in our sins, allied to earthly pollution, we are made acquainted with spiritual precepts from the voice of the Saints. At which precepts, we are as it were set up upon our knees and the joints of our hands, because withdrawing ourselves from earthly defilements, we as it were henceforth lift up our mind from things below. For as he wholly cleaves to the ground, who lies dismayed, so he who is bent down upon his knees and the joints of his fingers, his advancement commencing, is already in a great measure hung aloft from earth. But at the last by the voice of the Lord we stand there erect indeed, yet trembling, in that being perfectly lifted up from eftrthly objects of desire, the more fully we know the words of God, the more we are afraid. For he as it were still lies prostrate on the ground, who by desires after the earthly cares nothing to be lifted up to the heavenly. But it is as if he being lifted up still ' rested upon his hands and knees,' who already forsakes some defilements, but does not yet withstand some earthly practices. But he now stands there present erect at the words of God, who perfectly lifts up the mind to things aloft, and scorns to be bent down by impure desires.

48. Now he rightly shews that he ' stood trembling;' because the scrutiny of interior exactness is the more fear-

Job 31, fully dreaded, the move advanced the progress in respect ^^- thereto. Where it is fitly subjoined by the voice of God, Fear not; because the more that we ourselves learn what we should have occasion to fear, the more we have infused in us from God by interior grace what may call for love, so that both our contempt little by little may pass away into fear, and fear pass away into charity; that wherein God when He seeks us, by contempt we withstand, and by fear flee from, both contempt and fear being one day set aside, we should be joined to Him by love only. For little by little we learn even the very fear of Him% to the love of Whom only we are attached. And thus as it were there being placed a kind of steps of our advance, the foot of tlie mind first by fear we set below, and afterwards by charity lift it to the heights of love, that from that wherewith a man is puffed up he may be checked, so that he fear, and from that, which he now dreads he may be lifted up, that he may have boldness. Now these steps of virtuous attainments it is no great labour to lay hold of, since there is the passing from one to another.

49. But the subject requires the nicest handling, when the mind strives to estimate in the case of one and the same virtue with what steps of advancement it is lifted up. For to mention the first elements of virtue, i. e. faith and wisdom, they cannot be severally gained, except W'e ascend thereto by marked and ordered methods as by a kind of steps. For faith itself which imbues us for taking in hand in a perfect manner what else there is good, very often in its beginnings both totters and is firmly based, and it is now held most surely, and yet touching the assurance thereof there is still trembling under the effects of misgiving. For apart of it is received first, that it maybe afterwards perfectly completed in us. For if there were not an advancing by a sure step in the mind of one wdio believes, the father of the child to be healed would not have said on being ques- Mark 9, tioued, in the Gospel, Lord, I believe, help Thou mine unbelief And so he was still ascending upwards as to the faith which he had already received, who at one and the same time both cried out that he already believed and still doubled from Book unbelieving. Hence it is also that it said to our Redeemer ^-" — - by His disciples, Increase our faitJt, that that which had Lukei7, been ah-eady received in beginning, might by the accessions of steps arrive at perfection.

50. Moreover Wisdom herself, who is required to be the mistress of good works, is vouchsafed to the panting soul by degrees of increase, that surely the ascending thereto should be by the steps of vronderful regulation. Which same the

Prophet Ezeldel well describes in a figurative relation, who concerning that man whom he had seen on a high mountain tells, saying, He measured a tliousand cuhits, and lie brought Ez. 47, me through the icater up to the ancles; again lie measured ~ ' a thousand^and brought me through the nater up to theknees; again he measured a tliousand, and brought me through the water up to the reins. Afterward he measured a thousand, and it was a torrent that I could not pass over, for there swelled, deep waters of a torrent, which could not be passed over. For what is denoted by the number of a ' thousand,' but the fulness of the benefit vouchsafed } Thus the man who appeared ' measures a thousand cubits,' and the Prophet is led through the waters ' up to the ancles,' because our

Redeemer, when to us on our being converted to Him He bestowed the fulness of a good beginning, bathed the first treadings of our practice by the gift of spiritual wisdom.

For the water's reaching up to the ancle is our henceforth maiutaining the treadings of longed-for righteousness by wisdom being vouchsafed to us. Again, he ' measures a thousand cubits,' and the Prophet is led through the water

' up to the knees,' because when the fulness of good practice is bestowed, our wisdom is increased even to this degree, that there is not henceforth any bending in bad deeds.

Thus it is hence said by Paul, Wherefore lift up the hands Heb.12, that hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight steps with your feet. Thus * the water reaches to the knees,' when the wisdom that is is obtained perfectly braces us to uprightness of good practice. And again, he ' measures a thousand,' and the Prophet is * led through the water up to the reins' in this way, because the fulness of good practice then grows to a height in us, when the wisdom vouchsafed

Job 31, has killed in us as far as it is possible all the gratification

_£^: of the flesh as well. For except the gratification of the flesh was seated in the reins, the Psalmist would never have said, Ps.2,26. Burn my reins and my heart. Therefore the water conies up ' to the reins,' when the sweetness of wisdom destroys the very incitements of the flesh too, so that the burnings of the flesh that might have scorched up the soul are cooled down. And he still further ' measured a thousand,' ' and it was a torrent which the Prophet could not pass,' of which he also says. Because there swelled deep icaters of a torrent, which could not he passed over. For perfectness of practice having been received, we come to contemplation; in which same contemplation while the mind is cai*ried up on high, being uplifted it sees in God that the thing that it sees it cannot fathom, and as it were it touches the water of the torrent, which it cannot pass through, because at once it beholds in gazing what it may be pleased to behold, and yet is not able perfectly to behold that very thing that it pleases. And so the Prophet sooner or later comes to the water ' which he cannot pass through,' because when we are at last brought to the contemplation of wisdom, the mere immensity thereof, which by itself lifts man to itself, denies the human mind a full acquaintance, so that it should at once by touching love this wisdom, and yet never by passing through penetrate it.

51. Thus blessed Job called these increasings of virtues by the title of ' steps,' because he saw them to be in distinct divisions, bestowed on men by gift from above; seeing that by them only do we ascend so as to come to the attaining of heavenly things. And so in making mention of the Sacred Book, i. e. of Divine Revelation, he says; By my several steps I will declare it, in this way surely, because he really ascends to the teaching of God, who has broken forth to the attaining thereof by the steps of holy practice. And he as it were ' by his several steps declares the book' who proves that he has been vouchsafed the knowledge of it not in respect of words only, but also of deeds. Whence it is yet further added;

And as to a prince I will offer it.

For every thing that we offer, we hold in our hands. And so'' unto the Prince' coraiuff to Judgment ' to offer the book' Book is to have held the words of His precepts in our behaviour — - — -

Ver. 38 — 40. If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof coraplain: if I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have afflicted the soul of the tillers thereof; let the thistle grow for me instead of wheat, and the thorn instead of barley.

52. For what is it for the ' land to cry,' for ' the furrows xxi. to weep,' and to have ' eaten one's own fruits buying them? To whom is it necessary to buy what is his own? who has heard ' the land crying r' Who has seen ' the furrows weeping?' And whereas the furrows of the land are always of the land, why is it that by a separate declaration it is both said that the land did not cry, and that the furrows thereof did not weep along with it? For whereas a fuiTow of the earth is nothing else but earth, it does not need the accoimting of much difference, that he adds; And along ivith it the furrows thereof weep. In which same point because the order of the history falls to the ground, the mystical meaning displays itself to us, the doors as it were being now set open. As though it exclaimed in plain speech; ' Whereas ye know that the reasonableness of the letter has dropped dead, doubtless it remains that ye should fall back to me without misgiving. For every one who either by private right rules a domestic household, or for the common advantage is set over faithful multitudes, herein that he possesses the rights of government over the foithful committed to him, what else does he but hold the land to cultivate it r Since it is for this end that each individual is advanced above the rest, by Divine distribution, that the mind of those under him, like land subdued, may be made fruitful by the seed of his preaching. But ' the land crieth against' its possessor, if it chance that against him, who is set at the head, either a private family, or Holy Church utters any just murmur. Since for ' the land to cry,' is for those under charge to grieve with reason against the injustice of him who rules them; where it is rightly subjoined. And along with it the furrows thereof weep. For the land even when not cultivated by any works generally produces something of suste-

50-2 The furrowed hearts grieve for the oppression of others.

Job 31, nance for the service of man, but when ploughed it bears 38—40. ^j.^jjjg ^Q su])erabundance. And there are some persons, who '^'^^'^'''not being cleft by any ploughshare of reading, or any of exhortation, do yet of themselves produce some good things, though but the least, like land not yet ploughed up. But there are some who for always hearing and retaining, applying themselves to holy preachings and meditations, as it were cleft with a kind of ploughshare of the tongue, as to the former hardness of the heart, receive the seed of exhortation, and by the furrows of voluntary chastening render the fruits of good practice. But it is very often the case that those who are set at the head do things unjust, and it comes to pass that the very persons injure those under them, who were bound to do them good. Which when uninstructed persons see, being enraged they murmur against their ruler, and yet do not by sympathy grieve violently for their neighbours. But when these who are already broken in pieces by the plough of reading, and dressed for the fruitage of practice, see innocent persons borne down even in the least things, they are forthwith turned by sympathy to tears of sorrow, because they bewail as their own the things that their neighbours suffer unjustly. For the perfect, whereas they are ever affected with regard to what is spiritual, are taught to lament for the bodily hurls of others, so much the more in proportion as they are now instructed not to lament for their own. And so every one who is set in authority, if he executes what is bad in the case of those under him, ' the earth crielh against him and the furrows weep,' because against his injustice the uninstructed peoples indeed break out in accents of murmuring, while all the perfect severally chasten themselves in tears for his wicked practice, and for what the inexperienced cry out and do not grieve, those under authority of a more tried life bewail and hold their peace. And so for ' the furrows to bewail along with the land crying out,' is by that thing whereas the multitude of the faithful complains with justice against the ruler, for persons of a more fruitful life to be brought to tears of sorrow. Thus the furrows arc both of the earth, and yet are distinguished from the term of ' the earth,' because those in Holy Church, who cultivate their mind with the labour of holy meditation, arc as much better than the rest of the faithful, in proportion as Book by the seeds received they render more abundant fruits of ' deeds. And there are some who being set over holy peoples obtain the payments of livelihood by the bountifulness of the Church, but do not pay the ministrations of exhortation that are due. In opposition to whom the example of the holy man is yet further subjoined aright, when it is directly added by him;

If I have eaten the fruit thereof uithoul money.

53. For to ' eat the fruit of the land without money' is to xxu. receive indeed our charges from the Church, but not to yield to that Church the price of preaching. Of which same preaching it is said by the voice of the Creator, 77/0/^ ouyhtest Matt. therefore to have put my money to the exchangers^ and then ' at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. And so he ' eats the fruits of the earth without money,' who receives the Church's benefits for the service of the body, but does not pay to the people the ministry of exhortation. What do we pastors say to these things, who while we are the forerunners of the Advent of the Strict Judge, take upon us the function of a herald indeed, but devour the Church's supplies with dumb mouths? We exact all that is owed to our own body, but we do not pay back what we owe to the soul of those committed to our charge. Mark how the holy man, tied down by so many pledges in this world, in the midst of numberless emj)loyments, was free for the pursuit of preaching. And he never * ate the fruits of the earth without money,' because surely he paid back the word of good warning to those under his charge, from whom he received the fruit of bodily serving. For this every one who is set over the people owes to Almighty God, he who is set over many, and he who is set over a smaller number, that he should in such sort exact the due ministration from those subject to him, that he may himself mind with heedful regard what of warning he at all times owes. For all we who subject to the appointment of the Creator are joined amongst ourselves by a vicarious ministry in obedience to our true Lord, what else are we but servants to one another? Whereas, then, he who is subordinate serves in obeisance, assuredly it remains that he who is set over him should serve to the

591./// good spuihd hij envijiiuj lite Hke in others.

Job 31, word. Wlicrcas he who is subordinate yields obedience to —1!^ orders, it is required that he who is at the head should 'bestow the care and concern of solicitude and of pity. And so it comes to pass, that whilst we studiously endeavour to serve one another now by chanty, we may one day rule together with the true Lord in common rejoicing. But there are some, who herein, that they discharge the office of preaching, grudge others the good that they have, and so do not any longer have it in a true sense. To whom it is rightly JamesS, said by James, But if ye Iinve bitter envying anioyig yourselves, and, strife in your hearts, this wisdom descendeth notfro'ii above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. Hence here also when it is said, If I have eaten the fruits thereof ivithout money, it is rightly subjoined;

Or have afflicted the soul of the tillers thereof. xxiii. 54. For they are the ' tillers' of the land, who, being placed in a lower situation, with v/hat earnestness they are able, with the best practice that they can, cooperate in the grace of preaching to the instructing of Holy Church, Which same ' husbandmen of this land' not to afflict, is this, viz. not to env}^ their labours; that the ruler of the Church, while he vindicates to himself alone the right of preaching, should not, by envy gnawing him, gainsay others also that preach in a right way. For the religious mind of the pastor, because it seeks not its own glory but the glory of the Creator, desires to have all that it does aided by all persons. For the faithful preacher wishes, if it might be brought to pass, that the truth which he is not able to give utterance to alone, the mouths of all should sound out. Whence when Joshua would have withstood the two who remained in the camp Numb, and prophesied, it is rightly said by Moses, Enviest thou 11, 29. j-Qj.,^^ g^j^Q '-^ Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them! For he was w^illing for all to prophesy, in that he envied not others the good that he had. Thus because blessed Job introduced all these things as under suspension, and if he had not done them, binds himself with the sentence of cursing, it goes on;

Ver. 40. Let the thistle grow for me instead of wheat, and the thorn instead of barley.

55. As though he said in plain words; ' If I have done Book aught unjust towards those under me, if I have exacted the -^^/^' debts due to me, and have not myself paid what I owed, if ^^^^* I have envied others the executing of good practice, for the good things which refresh for ever and ever, may evil things that sting be repaid me in the Judgment.' Since ' instead of the wheat there springs up the thistle, and instead of barley the thorn,' when in the final Retribution, wherefrom the recompensing of our labour is looked for, the piercing of pain is met with. And observe, that as barlev is different Irom wheat, though both regale, so the thorn differs from the thistle, though either be a thing that pricks, because the thistle is softer, and the thorn always the harder as to pricking. Thus he says. Let the thistle grow instead of ivheat^ and the thorn instead of barley. As if he said plainly and openly; I know indeed that I have both done great good acts and lesser ones; and if it is not so, may lesser evils match me for my great good acts, and the greater evils for the lesser good ones.' Though this may also be understood in another sense. For in ' wheat' there is denoted in spiritual action uhijh regales the mind, buL in ' barley' the disposal of earthly things. ^Wherein while we are often forced to serve the weak and carnal, we as it were prepare their food for the beasts of burthen, and the very practice of our deeds after the manner of barlej' has somewhat oi a mixture of chaff. And it very often hapjjens, that the ruler who is set at the head, while he enforces what is unjust against those under his charge, while he cheers not the good with any soothing, whilst, that which is more grievous, all those acting rightly he distresses out of envy, still some good things he sometimes does, as if he sowed corn, and mixed in the disposing of earthly things at times not in the passion of avarice, but for the use of the carnal, and so looks for the fruit of that labour as a crop of barley. But the several persons under his charge, in consideration of this, that they are borne hard upon in the chief things, cannot feel joy in his lesser good things; because neither is this practice well pleasing in the sight of God^ which is defiled by the injustice of otiier practice, nor yet is the very disi)osal of earthly things

Job 31, believed to be undertaken for the service of those under his

i^l charge, when he who is over them is seen to pant with avarice.

ALLto. ^^^^^^^ it happens that even in answer to the few good things themselves, which they see to be done in the midst of a multitude of evil ones, they give back not praises but groans, and that those that go weakly murmur, while they take thought that that which they see is not a thing of pure practice. And so he says, If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain; if I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have afflicted the soul of the tillers thereof: let the thistle grow instead of wheat, and the thorn instead of barley. As if he said plainly, * If the great things which I owed I have not heedfully performed, may I receive the prickings of murmuring from those under me, even with reference to the good that I have done. If I have omitted to set forth what might cheer, may their tongue springing forth into complaint with justice pierce me.'

56. Wherein it requires always to be minded with heedful consideration, that neither they that are set at the head olfer examples of bad practice to those under them, and kill the life of those by the sword of their evil doing, nor they that are subject to the control of another presume to judge lightly the deeds of their rulers, and from this, that they utter murmurs touching those who are placed over them, set themselves not against a human appointment but against that Divine Appointment, which disposes all things. For to those

Ez- 34, it is said, And as for My flock they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet: they drink that which ye have folded with your feet. For ' the sheep drink what is fouled with the leet,' when those under charge for example of living seek after things, which the persons over them severally corrujit by bad practice. But on the other hand these persons hear

Ex. iG, from those in command; And what are we? Your mur- 7nurings are not against us, hit against the Lord. For he that murmurs against power established over him, it is plain reproves Him Who gave that power to man.

At length, God vouchsafing it, we have explored those sentences of blessed Job, full of mystical force, in which he made answer to the words of his friends. Now it remains ^i^^JS that we come to the words of Ehhu, which are to be weighed -^-^ — '- with so much the graver caution, in proportion as they are also put forward through the boldness of youth with a hotter spirit.

SMC Gregory I Morals on the Book of Job