Morals on the Book of Job (Moralia)

31. livery thing that passes is short, even though it should xxvii. seem slow in being finished, but in the way of death we

' go, and do not return by it,' not because we are not brought back by rising again to the life of the flesh, but because we do not come again to the labours of this mortal life, or to earn rewards by our labours.

32. ' The spirit is wasted to thinness,' by the fear of judg-Xxviii. ment; in that the minds of the Elect, the more they feel themselves to be approaching the final Judgment, tremble so much the more fearfully in the searching of their own selves; and if they ever find in themselves any carnal thoughts, they consume them by the fervour of their penance; nor do they suffer their thoughts to expand with carnal delight, in that they pass sentence and inflict punishment on themselves more rigorously in proportion as they are awaiting the strict Judge close at hand; whence it comes to pass, that they look upon their departure as always near. For the minds of the lost do many things wickedly on this account, because they suppose themselves living here for long; and so ' the spirit of the righteous is wasted to thinness,' but the spirit of the wicked is thickened. For in proportion as they swell out in self-elation, they have not the wearing down of the spirit: but the righteous, whilst they consider the shortness of their life, eschew the sins of pride and impurity. And hence it is added;

My 'lays shall be shortened, and the grave only is left me.

83. For he that bethinks himself what he will be in death, xxix. is always rendered fearful in practice, and from the very cause that henceforth he does not as it were live in his own eyes, he does genuinely live in the eyes of his Creator; he goes after nothing of a nature to pass away, he withstands all the desires of the present life, and views himself as almost dead, in that he is not unaware that he is destined to die. For

Job 17, a perfect life is an imitation of death, which while the

. — righteous diligently ei ti i. they escape the snares of sins.

Eccius. Whence it is written, Whatsoever ///"K takest in hand, re- hISt. member thy latter end, and thou shall never do amiss. And

Alleg. hence blessed Job, because he sees that his ' days are shortened,1 and reflects that ' the grave only is left him,' fitly subjoins,

J have not sinned, and mine eye abideth in bitternesses.

xxx. 34. As if he expressed himself in plain words; ' I have; not been guilty of sin, and I have undergone scourges.' Hut on this point, seeing that in many passages of this history he coiit'i sm's himself to have been guilty of sinning, is the mind moved by the thought with what reason he now denies himself to have committed sin? But with reference to this the reason quickly occurs, in that neither did he sin to such an extent as to deserve strokes of the rod, nor yet was capable of being without sin. For that he was stricken not for the correcting of sin, but the increasing of grace, the Judge Himself bears witness, Who praises while He strikes. And again, that he was not without sin neither does he himself deny, who is commended by the Judge, and therefore commended because he denies it not. But I think that, we shall make out these words the better, if we understand them as spoken in the voice of the Head. For our Redeemer, in coming for our Redemption, at once did not sin and did ' undergo bitterness,' in that being without sin lie undertook the punishment of our sin, in Whose voice it is added,

Ver. 3. Set me free, and put me beside //tee, and let the Im nil of any one fight against me.

xxxi. 35. For He did not sin either in thought or deed: He was made to ' abide in bitterness1 by His Passion, He was ' set free' by the Resurrection, He was ' put beside1 the Father by I lis Ascension; in that having gone up into heaven lie sitlcth on the right hand of God. And because, alter the glory of His Ascension, Judaea was stirred up in Ihe persecuting of His Disciples, it is rightly said here, Let tlic hand of anyone fight against me. For the madness of the persecutors did then rage on Mis members, then the flame of cruelty blazed out against the life of the faithful; but where should the

'J'he wicked keep far from discipline, and in low pursuits. 107 wicked go, or what should they do, whilst He Whom they Hook persecuted on earth was now seated in heaven? Concerning X111- whom it is yet farther added;

Ver. 4. Thou hast removed their heart far from discipline.

36. For if they had been acquainted with the keeping of xxxii. discipline, nor ever despised the precepts of our Redeemer, the mere mortal condition of their flesh by itself would have excited them to the love of the life immortal; for this very thing, even our being subject to corruption in this life, is of the scourge of discipline. For to be made to feel annoyance from heat and cold, from hunger and thirst, to be afflicted with diseases, and one day even to be put out of existence, what else are all these, but the scourges of sin? Now there are some that both undergo scourges, and yet never fashion anew their life by the fear of Him Who scourges them. Whence it is rightly said now, Thou hast removed their heart far from discipdine; in that though the body is under discipline, yet the heart is not under discipline, so long as a person is stricken with the rod, and yet not brought back to humbleness of mind. Nor yet is this spoken in such a sense, as if the Almighty and Merciful God ' removed the heart of man far from discipline,' but that having fallen away of his own accord, there in executing judgment He suffered him to remain, where he had fallen; as we also say to Him in praying, And lead us not into temptation, i. e. ' do not ever suffer us to be led into temptation.' It proceeds; Therefore they shall not be exalted.

37. For if the heart were under discipline, it would seek xxxiii. after things above, it would not be openmouthed to obtain transitory good things. Of those, then, whose heart is not under discipline, it is rightly said, Therefore they shall not be exalted, in that while let go at large in the lowest enjoyments, they are ever longing for the good things of earth, they never lift the heart to the delights of heaven; for they would be exalted, if they lifted their minds to the hope of the heavenly country; but they, who do not make it their business to guard their way by discipline, ever in their desires lie grovelling in things below, and, what is more grievous, in lying low set themselves up, in that they are uplifted on the ground of things transitory. And they may

J"i< ir, be uplifted, but oannot be exalted, in that they are sunk the - — — — deeper below, by the very act by which they are rendered higher to themselves; and so the hearl that is without discipline cannot be exalted, in that the human mind, as when elevated amiss it is forced down below, so forced down aright is lifted np on high. It proceeds;

\ er. 5. He promiseth prey to his friends; and the eyes of Ins children shall /ail. wxiv.:;v- Alter that blessed Job had uttered a sentence relating to the multitude of the wicked, i. e. the body of our old enemy; he directly shifts the sentence to the very leader of them, i. e. the head of all the children of perdition, and returns from the plural to the singular number: lor the devil and all wicked people are so one body, that it eery often happens that the body is rated with the name of the head, and die head designated by the title of the body. Thus the body is rated with the name of the head, when it is said of a bad Johm'>, man, And our of you is a devil. And again the head is '°* designated by the title of the body, when it is said of the Mat.13, apostate Angel himself,./ man* that is an enemy hath done ^'. this. Thus the prince of all the wicked has some for ' inimi- ' associates' and some as 'children.'' For who are his mo' associates, but those apostate Angels, who fell with him from the seat of the heavenly country? or what others has he as children, saving bad men, who are begotten by his evil persuading in the practice of wickedness. Whence too it is Johns said by the voice of Truth to unbelievers, Ye are of your 44- father the devil.

89. So that evil author of error promises ' prey' to his •;^sociates,' in that he promises the evil spirits the souls of bad men to be seized at their latter end; and I lie eyes of his children shall Jail, in that while he sets on the aims of men to look for earthly things only, he causes them to love that which they cannot keep for long: for neither can the bent of misdirected love remain, when it appears that both that which he loves, and he himself, who loves it, are tending to DOUghl at a rapid rate. It may also be, that by - the associates' perhaps are understood all those that are most cruel and already lull of every kind of wickedness; but by the sons, those who being still deluded by beguiling promises, are being nourished up to increasing of wickedness; that hence- Book forth the devil should as it were by the title of wickedness, -XIL have these as his ' associates,' who now no longer have whereunto to grow in perdition, while these he has as sons, whom he suckles with promises, that they may go on advancing to worse. But ' the eyes of his children shall fail,' in that the aims of the wicked fall to the ground, when all that they go after here, they leave behind, and there suffer without end what is fitted to fill them with grief. It proceeds;

Ver. 6. He hath made me, as it were, a byword of the people, and I am an example before them.

40. This let blessed Job say in his own person, yea andxxxv. in the voice of all of the Elect. For every one that is stricken with the rod, is, as it were, ' made a byword of the people,' in that every fool, when he desires to ciuse any one, takes up his cursing in a likeness to him, whom he sees stricken with a temporal stroke, and wishes that punishment for his adversary, which he sees to have befallen the righteous man. And so it comes to pass that with persons not endowed with a right perception, the upright man is brought into an example, while both the punishment of the just passes current for the condemnation of him, and the glory that is in store for him is not foreseen by any expectance of faith. It proceeds;

Ver. 7. Mine eye is dim, for indignation, and all my members are as it were brought to nothing.

41. For ' the eye is dim for indignation,' when those very xxxvi. persons likewise, who in the Lord's Body, i. e. in the Church, are endued with the light of truth, whilst they see themselves too long despised and disdained by the wicked, ai'e confounded in astonishment at the inscrutable judgment, and fail to fathom the secret of God: for what reason it is that the wicked are suffered to prevail against the innocence of the good? For who is not amazed, when Herodias by her daughter's dancing obtains at the hands of the drunken king, that the head of that Friend of the Bridegroom, that ' Prophet, and more than a Prophet,'' should be brought before the faces of his guests upon a charger? Now when the just are ' dimmed in indignation,' the weak very commonly go head-

1 lo The ' Innocent haw ' stirred against the hypocrite.'

— '-^- hen ewe as it were brought /<> nothing. For by the term of ' members,1 we have tbe tenderness of the weak set forth, wlio, while they behold bad nun flourishing, and good men tormented, are sometimes brought to this pass, that they regret that they even began in good things, and so speedily fall back to doing evil things, as if the good they had begun were a detriment to their life. But this that be says, Mine eye is dimmed in indignation, he unfolds in plainer words, when he adds;

Ver. 8. Upright men shall he astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir u/> himself against the hypocrite.

gxxvii. 42. In this place, 'the innocent1 is taken lor the as yet im- Lit. perfectly righteous, who, as yet hut commencing in good wa\ ■-. though he is not minded to do mischief to others, yet is not;it all able himself to do things that are perfect; and because the hearts of tlie little ones, while they sec tlie wicked flourishing in the present life, are set on fire with the brands of envy; (for a man the- more enries others present good in proportion as he less despises it himself. Since of that which cannot he possessed by all men all ofit together, what

I'demt1 this one has would be so much lacking1 to the other.) Now Sl'f ' the innocent is kindled against the hypocrite,' when even he

'deficit.' who is not used to injure any one, envies the glory of the dissembler. But if in this passage the innocent means any one perfect in goodness, ' the innocent is moved against the hypocrite;' when he both sees him flourishing, and contemns him and all his flourishing, and by preaching the things that are right plainly says that he ought to he despised by others, the more in proportion as he sees him eagerly in quest of things, which cannot abide with him for hmg, and in this point of view it is yet further added;

clean hands hi' shall add strength. wwiii..13. On considering the hypocrite, ' the righteous holds on his way,' in that whilst he sees that it is by a wicked will that he obtains the things that are of the world, he is himself tied and bound the stronger to the love of heavenly things, knowing that to good desires eternal rewards shall not be wanting, whereas both to bad and double hearts the good things of time are not denied; from which circumstance it Boo* comes that ' to clean hands he adds strength,' in that Beeing— -— - bad men win temporal glory, he brings his good works to perfection, and looks down upon temporal things from the loftier height in proportion as he sees them to abound even to the wicked. For he sees how much those things deserve to be despised, which Almighty God vouchsafes even to bad men: for if they were primarily great, the Creator would never vouchsafe them to His adversaries; and hence he considers that it is to himself an unworthy thing, that he should go after that good, which he sees to abound even to the wicked; but he applies his mind to the winning of heavenly blessings, which can never be shared with him by the children of perdition. Thus after he had introduced the outward advancements of the wicked, and the interior advancements of the good, he brought forward words of exhortation, saying,

44. Which same words of exhortation he properly frames xxxix. to the Elect, whom he calls to the eternal world; who are bidden in two ways, viz. that they should ' turn,' and that they should ' come;' ' turn' by faith, ' come' by practice. Or indeed that they ' turn' by abandoning evil deeds, and 'come' by doing good ones; as it is written, Depart from Ps. 37, evil, and do good: but that is wonderful which is added, 27'

And may I not find one ivise man among you.

45. For what does this mean, that he bids them to wisdom, xl. and yet wishes that he may not find them wise, saving that they cannot come to true wisdom, who are deceived in confidence in their own false wisdom? Concerning whom it is written, Woe unto you that are wise in your own eyes, and prudent is. 5 21. in your own sight; and to whom it is said again, Be not wise Rom. with your own selves; whence that same great preacher 12' 16* sought that those, whom he found carnally wise, in order that they might attain true wisdom, should first become foolish; saying, If any man among you seemelh to be wise \ Cor. in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be ivise.3' 18- And ' Truth' saith by Itself, / thank Thee, O Father, Lord Matt. of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from u» 25-

112 Power and persecution both bring earthly cares. Job 17, the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.

And so because they that arc wise in themselves cannot come to true wisdom, blessed.J<>1>, being anxious for the conversion of his hearers, rightly desires that he may not 1 find any wise man among them.1 As if he said to them in plain speech; ' Learn to be foolish in your own selves, that ye may be truly wise in Clod.' It goes on;

Ver. 11. My days arepast away, my thoughts are scattered, racking my heart. xli. 46. The Holy Church of the Elect sees that the spaces of Alleg.^ ||j-(> s m peri0(Js of dav and night, in that it is hers in adversity to have' a night,' and in prosperity, ' a day. hor there riseth as it were light unto her from the tranquillity <>f peace, and night from the grief of persecution. Now as often as after the pauses of rest she returns to the toilsomeness of persecution, growing to a head against her, she testifies that her ' days have past;' in which days, however, she is accustomed to be weighed down with so much the heavier cares, in proportion as she bethinks her that for that very tranquillity of rest a more exact reckoning is required of her by the Judge. For in the tranquil state of peace, at one time she is employed with the profits of souls, at another time she attends to the ministrations of earthly things, which same ministrations of earthly affairs are more burthensome to the minds of good men, in proportion as by the act of looking at them they are torn away though but for a brief space from looking at the things of heaven. Whence blessed Job, whether in his own voice, or the voice of the Church Universal, after testifying that' his days were past,' thereupon subjoined, My thoughts are scattered, racking my heart; in that when temporal glory is gone to the minds of the good, even that charge of earthly stewardship is likewise removed from them, which seemed to be torturing them within their thoughts; for while they aim to b i always bent upward foT the perception of the things of heaven, by this vcrv circumstance that sometimes in their earthly stewardships they are made to descend to take thought of the lowest matters, they feel themselves to be put to torture. Whence it is brought to pass, that the very hostility <>( persecution is

Lights and shades of life. State of departed souls changed. 1 13 itself too changed into a mighty exultation of joy, on account Book of the repose of the heart that is obtained. Hence it is fitly XIII>

47. For ' the thoughts being scattered change night into xlii. day,' in that it is sometimes more grateful to the righteous through adversity to undergo sufferings, rather than as the effect of prosperity to be harassed with the charge of earthly ministering. But because they have learnt by paying attention that both adversity passes away, and prosperity dawns again, it is fitly added; And again after darkness I look for light.

48. For ' the light is looked for after darkness,' in that xliii. after the night of the present life, the light eternal is discerned, or adversity and prosperity do so alternate here, that they do not cease to succeed one another by turns. Whence it comes to pass that even in the light night is suspected, and in the night light is presumed on; as when it is written, In the day of prosperity be not forgetful o/*Ecclus. affliction, and in the day of affliction be not forgetful of11'25' prosperity. But mark, forasmuch as we have been redeemed by the grace of our Maker, we henceforth have this boon of heavenly bestowal, that when we are removed from dwelling in our flesh, we are at once carried off to receive heavenly rewards; in that since our Creator and Redeemer, penetrating the bars of hell, brought out from thence the souls of the Elect, He does not permit us to go there, from whence He has already by descending set others free. But they who were brought into this world before His Coming, whatsoever eminency of righteousness they may have had, could not on being divested of the body at once be admitted into the bosom of the heavenly country"; seeing that He had not as yet come, Who by His own descending should unloose the bars of hell, and place the souls of the righteous henceforth in their everlasting seat. Hence blessed Job, both feeling the stroke of affliction, and knowing that the recompensing of the righteous was as yet delayed, fitly subjoins; a He says elsewhere that the more are kept elsewhere, and that all have perfect souls are admittednow to heaven, to wait till the Judgment for their bodies where the Body of Christ is, quoting tobebroughtintotheheavenlvmansion-.

I i i Saints (fold not punished though in heU. Man1* corruption

Fob 17. Wr. 13. If I wait, hell is mim ftoi***; and I have made my bed in the darktu

49. For the former Saints i ould undergo adversity, and yet could not, when brought out of the body, be al once freed from the regions of hell; in that He had not yet come, Who Bhould descend thereinto without sin, that He might Bet firei those, who were there bound by right of sin. And man then ' made his bed in darkness,' when he forsook the light of righteousness by consenting to the crafty Prompter: and whereas in those very regions of hell the souls of the righteous were kept imprisoned without torment, so thai both on behall of original sin they should still go down thereunto, and yet by right of their own deeds not undergo punishment; to have 'made their bed in the darkness,' in a manner, is to have | grave prepared themselves rest in bell. For it was sad weariness1,:,"tim" to the Elect, after the dissolution of the flesh, not yet to see the likeness of the Creator. Which wearisomeness blessed Job not improperly designates ' darkness.' But whereas this came in the punishment of infirmity, he rightly adds that same infirmity directly, saving,

\ er. 1 1 / have said to corruption, Thou art my father, and to the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister. xlv. 50. What does this mean, that he said to corruption. Thou art mi/ tailor; saving that every man descends from an already corrupted origin? and hence it is added, And t<> the norm. Thou art my mother and my sister; in this way, viz. that we come into this world at once from corruption itself, and along with corruption itself. For as regards the matter of corruptible flesh, the worm is our ' mother and sister,' in that we both come forth out of corruption, and come with corruption which we carry about us. And if we may understand it in a spiritual sense, nature is not (inappropriately called our ' mother; and habit too a « sister,1 in that we are from the one, and along with the other; which same ' mother and Bister' are ' worms,' in that in virtue of a corrupt nature and evil habit we are necessitated, as by a kind of ' worm-, bo by disquieting thoughts to be gnawed in the U1i,1(l. For the corrupted nature of the flesh, and bad habit, m that th.\ generate numberless cares in the heart of our frailty are Will called ' worms our mother and sister." For cares gnaw the mind, while they disquiet it. For righteous men Book do not cease either needfully to take thought and counsel what— they are to do, or thoughtfully to look into it, whither they are destined to be led alter the present life. And so because the Elect then, before the Coming of the Lord, both saw that they were in the toils of the present life, and still after the present life did not as yet receive the heavenly blessings, they were made to smart1 with many thoughts of heart, 'ureban- For they waited for the grace of the Redeemer, and yet by living in the flesh could not attain thereto: whence it is fitly added,

51. What could be the ' expectation' of the righteous, xlvi. but God Who justifieth the righteous, Who should freely go down to (what was) the punishment of mankind, and by the efficacy of His righteousness set free the captives of death? For they never ceased to expect His appearing with intent expectation; they knew that it was to come, but they sought for it to come quickly. Wherefore he does not say, ' Where, then, is my expectation?' but, where then is now my expectation? For in that he adds, now, he shewed that what was to come one day, he desired might come without delay. It goes on,

And who con aider eth my patience?

52. He expressed the longing desire, wherewith whilst set xlvii. in the flesh he hastes to be redeemed, and brought back from hell to the regions above. And indeed it belonged to but few men to enter into the consideration of these things, that they should learn to think of the labours of the present life, or of the subsequent delay after death. Both of which the just grieved to be subject to before the coming of our Redeemer. And hence it is rightly said, And who considereih mt/ patience? Verily, there is not lacking One, to ' consider patience.' But when God does not hear quickly, He is said, as it were, not ' to consider.' For the Redemption of mankind itself, which came at the end of the world, by those who came before from the beginning of the world was accounted slow, in that during a long period of time they were severed from the recompensing of theheavenly things, as Truth testifies, Which saith, Man;/ prophets and kings hare desired to,<,w Lukeio,

Jim \.7} those things which ye seet and hath not teen them-. And bo.is in tint which is now said, Who considereth my patten the Iti athings of fervent desire are laid open. For neither, as we said before, does God forbear t<> consider the patience of ili«' righteous; but not 'to have regard/ in a manner, means tn appear less quicklj answering to the aspirations nt longing desire, and by lengthened periods of time t » > delay the grace of His Dispensation. Therefore let him say, Who consideri th my patience f in that what is short to Him that ordereth, is long to bim that loves. Hence, still reflecting • ■a the privations «»i' Ins delay, lie repeats that which he had already said before; and being destined to descend below, he redoubles the voice "l his grief, saying,

Ver. l<i. All of mine shall descend into the lowest hell, xhiii. 53. Whereas it appears that among those below the righteous arc held hmind not in places of punishment, hut in the bosom of tranquillity above, an important question springs up before us, why it is that blessed.'oh declares, saying, All oj mine shall descend into the lowest hell; who even if before the Advent of the Mediator between God and man he had to descend into In 11, yet it is plain that int. i the ' lowest hell' he had not to descend. Dues be call the very higher regions of hell,' the lowest hell?' Plainly because in relation to the loftiness ol heaven, the region of this sky may not unappropriated he called the lower region. Whence when the Apostate Angels were plunged from the seats of heaven into this darksome region of the air, the Apostle

2 Pet. 2, Peter says. For //' God spared not th<- Angels that sin '■ hiit delivered them, dragged down with infernal chain*) into lull, in!,<■ reserved/or torments in tin' Judgment, If then relatively to the height of heaven this darksome air is infernal, relatively to the elevation of this air, the earth which lies helow may he taken both as infernal, and as deep; and relative^ to the height of that earth, even those parts of hell which are higher than the other mansions of the place below, maj in this place not unsuitably be denoted by the designation of the lowest hell; in that what the sky is to heaven, and the earth to the sky, the same is that higher hollow of the regions helow to the earth.

."-I. But that is very wonderful which he subjoins, All of mine shall descend; for whereas the soul alone shall descend Rook into the regions of hell, how is it that the holy man tells that

' all of his' shall descend there, but that he saw himself to be there entire where he perceives the great weight of his recompense? seeing that this which he leaves of himself without sense on the earth, until he returns to the incorruption of the resurrection, he does not feel to be himself. And so he declares that ' all of his will descend into the lowest hell,' whither he sees his soul only shall descend; in that the whole of him is there, where he is capable of having a sense of that which he has got. Or, surely, ' all of his did descend into hell,' in that the recompensing of all his toils was as yet expected to be received only in the rest of hell; and all that he has done as it were ' descends' there, in that there he finds rest in his recompensing for all things. Whence also the expected rest is itself added, when the words are thereupon introduced,

Dost, thou think at least there will be rest for me there?

55. By which same words he both makes known what he xlix. desires, and yet marks that he is still doubtful of receiving the rest, lest he whose holy works so many scourges followed, should by the hidden judgment of the heavenly Judge, after temporal scourges, have lasting torments likewise following him. Wherein it behoves ourselves to consider with exceeding fear which of us is now secure of the everlasting rest, if even he still trembles for it, proclaim of whose virtue the very Judge, Who smites, does Himself sound. For if the iPet.4, righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the sinner and the ungodly appear? For blessed Job knew that he should attain to rest after the strokes of affliction, but that he might shake our hearts with fear, he himself seemed to doubt about the recompensing of Eternal rest, when he sajs, Dost thou think? plainly that we might think well with what exceeding apprehension we ought ever to dread the Judgment to come, if even he, who was commended by the Judge, was not yet in his own words secure of the rewards of the Judgment.

i. 1. In a former pari of this work we have handled the point,

1,1~1' that Almighty God, in order to amend the hearts of those under the law, brought forward the life of blessed Job for a testimony] who knew not the law and yet kept it. who observed the precepts of life, which he had not received in writing. This man'— conduct is first extolled by God's bearing witness t" it, and is afterwards suffered n> be put to tlic proof by the devil's plotting against it, that he might prove 1>\ the trials of tribulation, how much he bad attained before in a Btate oi peace. This man's life the adversary of th«- human race, evil disposed after his manner, both knew to be commended by the attestation of God, and yet asked for to prove it. And when he could m>t Bucceed in bringing him to the ground, smitten with so mam losses in his sul>- atancej so many bereavements, he set on his wife against him in the goading of mispersuasion, that at all events by the words of his own household he might ruin him. whom he could never bring down by so many torments of tidings. 1 > i it whereas what bj woman's aid he won against Adam first in paradise, he could not male good against this second man sitting on a dunghill, he betook himself to other appliances of tempting, that he should bring in his friends as if administering consolation, ami yet Btir up their feelings in bitterness of upbraiding, that him whose patii nee scourges had failed to subdue, at least hitter words m the midst of those Bcourges might sneered in overcoming. Hut the adversary, while laying his plots with craft, was a \ietiin to the deceit, which he had contrived against the holy man, in that for all the occasions of ruin that lie brought upon the Boob liolv niau, he supplied him with as many occasions ol victory. - 1

For against torments he maintained patience, against words, wisdom, in that he at once sustained the pains of stripes with resignation, and restrained the foolishness of ill advisers with wisdom. But whereas in those very sufferings and well-instructed speeches he bears a figure of Holy Church, by his friends, as we have already often said, uttering some things right and some foolish, heretics are not unjustly represented, who in respect of this, that they are friends of the holy man, say many things right of the wicked, but in respect of this, that they bear a likeness of heretics, very often transgress in the excesses of the lips, and they smite the breast of the holy man with the darts of their words, but are tired out by their very own smiting against his indomitable spirit. So then it is our business to distinguish with exact discrimination, both what there is in their words that they think aright concerning the lost, and what that they sound that is foolish as directed against blessed Job.

Ver. 1, '2. Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said, Unto what end will ye vast abroad words? understand first, and so iet us speak.

2. All heretics think that in some things that are known ii. to her Holy Church is full of pride, while some things they AlLEOfancy that she does not even understand. Whence Bildad the Shuhite, as it were, asserts that blessed Job had broken out into pride, when be declares ' that he l casts abroad words.' ' ' fate- But he gives a token with what pride he was himself swoln,usec) who supposed that blessed Job spoke things that he did notthus understand; and whereas all heretics complain that they are despised by Holy Church in her estimate of them, it is fitly subjoined,

Ver. 3. Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed as die in your sight f

3. It is natural to the human mind to suppose that the iii. thing that it does is done to itself. Thus they believe themselves to be despised, who are used to despise the ways of the good; and whereas in such things as are capable of being understood by reason, the Church proves against heretics that what they make up is unreasonable, they imagine them-

JoBi8,8elvea n> be counted its' iu her view. <>n which

— — supposition of their being despised, they directl) break out in disdain, and are urged to abuse of thai Church* Whence it i- added;

\ i. Why <l>">' tlt<>>( ruin thy tout in thy fury f iv. I. Heretics esteem whether a bo >ug feeling for the rule ol right, "i- ilif spiritual grace <>l holy preaching, not as weight <>!' virtue, but as the madm ss of fury. By which same fury tbej believe that ' the souls of the faithful arc ruined,1 in that they imagine that the life of the Church is destroyed by the very same means whereby they Bee Bhe is made to kindle against themselves. It goes on; Shall the earth t>r forsakt n/br thei f v. For they think that they themselves worship God ev< i\ where, that they themselves have occupied the whole world. What is it then to say, Shall the earth he forsaken for thee? but what they often Bay to the faithful, viz. ' that if this thing which you say be true, all the earth is forsaken by God, which we ourselves already occupy from the multitude of us.' Now the holy Church universal proclaims thai God cannot be truly worshipped saving within herself, asserting that all they that are without her shall in ver be saved. But conversely heretics, who are confident that it is possible for them to be saved even without her pale, maintain that the Divine aid is rendered to them in every place. Win nee they. simll the earth be forsaken for thee? i. <■. ' is it so, that whosoever is out of thee cannot be saved?' Whence it is added further; l/n/ shall the rocks be moved out <;/'f/<( ir place? \i. 6. Heretics call those persons " rocks1 who in their views by the Bublimity of their thoughts stand oul in the human race, which same they glory that they have for teachers. Bui w hen I [oly Church addresses herself to the task of gathering together the differeni erring preachers within the bosom of the righl faith, what else is this but thai she • removes the picks from their places,' thai having a right view of things, the\ m;i\ lie down ill humility within her. who aforetime were Btanding stiff in their own wrong notions i But hen tics altogether make against the doing of this, and withstand the moi ed out of their plac< - on account of her

Afflictions of good men mistaken for Judgments. 12 J voice, because they arc averse that they, who among them- Boob selves, being lifted op in their thoughts, were embued with-: '■ false doctrine, by coming to her should think what is true in a humble spirit.

7. Now it very often happens that heretics, when they see any persons within the bosom of Holy Church travailing whether with want or calamities, lift themselves up directly in the presumption of righteousness, and whatsoever they see to have happened of an adverse hind to the faithful, they suppose it is done for their iniquities, not knowing doubtless that the complexion of the present life does not in the least degree prove the worth of men's conduct. For very often both, good things befal the bad, and bad ones befal the good, on the very principle that real goods are reserved for the good, and real ills for the bad, in the season of the eternal recompensing. Thus Bildad bearing a figure of heretics, who lift themselves up on the grounds of this life's good fortune, swells against the strokes of blessed Job, as if with their voice in opposition to the reproach of the righteous, and expressly he is arguing against the ungodly indeed, but how wickedly he speaks in such terms against a good man, he is not aware. Thus he added, saying,

Ver. 5. Shall not the Uylit of the nicked be put out, and the flame of his fire cease to shine?

8. If he says this in describing the present life, he is mis- vii. taken; in that very often both the light of prosperity is seen in the ungodly, and the darkness of ignominy and poverty envelopes the godly. But if his discourse points to this, viz. to shew what the ungodly meet with in their end, it is said with truth, Shalt not the tight of the tricked be put out, and the fame of his fire cease to shine? Which if it might have been rightly spoken in regard to an ungodly man, ought never to have been delivered against a holy man set fast in the midst of scourges. But let us, considering well the powers of his arm in delivering sentences, reflect how strongly he hurls the darts, and let us cease to look at him whom, while so hurling them, he aims to hit, knowing surely that he strikes a stone with foiled blows. So let him say; Shall not the light of the wicked oc put out? For even the ungodly have their ' light,' i. c. the good fortune of the present to« is, life. Hut ' thr light of the tricked sbaU be put oat,1 in that.. - this present life's rood fortune is Bpeedilj terminated along

:» For i very ungodly man has a ' flame «>t' his own fire,' wliich In- kindles in his heart from the beat of temporal desires, w hilst be burns now w itb these now w ith those lusts, and fans his thoughts into a biggei flame by the diverse flatteries ol the world. Hm if a fire has no flame, it does not shine by Bhedding any light And so the flame of the Are is liis outward beauty or power, which comes from liis burning within. For what he anxiously desires to get, be v< rj often wins, t(. the heaping up of his own ruin; and whether in the pow< r of the loftiest pitch, or in the wealth <>t multiplied increase, he as it were shines in external glory, 15m ' the flame "I his fire shall not shine/ in that, in tin- day "1 his departure hence, all the fair shew without is removed, and he is consumed by his own burning within alone. And ' bo the flame1 is n moved from the ' tin/ when his exterior glory is separated from his interior burning. Even the righteous too have a flame of their fire; but one doubtless to shine bright, in this respect, that their desires give li.udit in ll< >« "I works. But the light <>f the wicked does not shine in the least, in that hereby, \ix. that they aim at what is evil, thej are foTCI d to darkm BS. \nd heiiee it follow 8,

\Cr. (>. The light shall he dark in hi* tabernacle. viii. in li' we eery frequently take darkness for sorrow, we ought without unfairness to take light for joy. \nd so ' the light is dark in his tain rnacle,1 in that in his conscii which he inhabits in wickedness, the joy which he had from things temporal is brought to an end. Win nee too it is fitly add< d; in i the candle thai is over hint shall be put out.

Foi i i speak in language grounded <»n the usage of many, itaoernaa * candle11 is a light in an earthi n vessel, but a light in an earthen v< ss< I, is delight in the flesh. And so ' the candle that is over him is put out,1 in that when the recompensing

>i his wickednesses comes upon the ungodly man, carnal delight is brought i" nought in his heart Now n is well that it is not said of this candle, ' which is by him,1 hut

The Wicked work theii turn confusion \1'6

• whirl) is over him," in that earthly enjoyments possess the Boos mind of the had, ami bo swallow it uj) in delight, that Ihey arc ' over' it, and not ' by' it. Hut the righteous even when they have the good fortune <>(' the present life, arc taughl to force it to bow beneath them, that this, viz. that they arc made glad in themselves with good things, they may get above by the counsel of a steadied mind, and surmount by the control of virtue. And so ' the candle' of the wicked man, ' which is over him, is put out,' in that Ins joy is quickly brought to an end, which possessed him wholly in this life, and the man, who now wickedly lets himself out at large in pleasures, punishment hereafter closely encompasses round about in woe. Whence it is yet further added; Ver. 7. The steps of his strength shall be straitened.

11. For now as it were he puts forth ' the steps of his ix. strength,' as often as he executes the violent acts of his power. Hut ' the steps of his strength shall be straitened,' in that the resources of his wickedness, which he now displays in his own gratification, punishment hereafter binds fast. It goes on;

And his own counsel shall cast him down.

12. Every bad man makes it his counsel now to aim at xpresent things, to abandon the things of eternity, to do what is unjust, to sneer at what is just; but when the Judge of the just and unjust shall come, every ungodly person is ' cast down by his counsel,' in that for this that he chose to go after here with bad intent, he is drowned in the darkness of eternal woe. For that man whom temporal glory uplifts here, punishment without end there sinks down. He who here revels in self-gratification, is there tortured with everlasting vengeance. And it often happens that the very prosperity of this life, which is so eagerly hankered after by the ungodly, so clogs their steps, that even when they have the mind to return to good works, they are scarcely able: in that they have not the power to do what is right, while they fear to displease the lovers of this world. Whence it is brought to pass, that through that glory which the ungodly man derives from sin, his sins are yet further doubled and redoubled. Which Bildad rightly sets forth, when he adds;

Xl 13. He, who ' puts his Feet into a net, cannot get them

M M.ont, when he has;i mind; so he lhat lets himself down into habits of sin, cannot rise up the moment he wishes ii; and he ' that walketh in the m< sins of a net,1 entangles his Bteps in walking, and when he tries to extricate himself to walk, be is tied and bound that he cannot. ' For it eery often happens that a man, beguiled by the delightfulness of this world, reaches aftei the gloriousness of th<' honour thereof, that he attains to the effecting <>t' his desires, and rejoii have attained the object which he sought after; but seeing that the good tilings of this world, whi n not possi ssed, arc objects of love, and very often, when | i. grow worth-

. he learns by the act of obtaining how worthli bs that is which he sought alter. Whence being broughl back to himself, he looks «>!it how without mm to get <[uit of that which he sees himself to have gotten with sin; but the verj same dignity which entangled him, holds him fast, and he cannot without further sins flee from thence, when unto he came not without Bin. Ami so be has ' put his feet into the net, and walketh in the meshes thereof,1 in that when he Btrives to get quit, he then sees in a true light with what hard knots he is held bound. For we do not even know of our binding in a true sense, save when in striving to ^>i free, we as it were trj to lift our feet And hence he makes known this same binding, by adding,

\. r. 9. The gin shall take him by the heel; in that the end sliall he made last in sin. And because ihe euemy of mankind, "hen he hinds up in sin the life of i individual, eagerly pants alter his death, it is rightly

And thirst shall burn furiously against him. x"- I i. For our old enemy, when he ensnares the life in sin, thirsts that he maj drink the death of the sinner. Which howevi i uu\ als.. be understood in another b< ns<, For the evil mind when it sees that it has keen brought into sin, seeks with a certain Buperncialnesa of thought tu escape out oi tin snares oJ sin; but fearing either the threats or re- proaches of men, it chooses rather to < 1 i * * for ever, than Boob to undergo a little of adversitj for a season, whence it- - abandons itself wholly to evil ways, in which it perceives itself to be already once bound. And so he whose lit'- is bound fast in sin even to the end, has his * heel h Id by the gin.1 But forasmuch as in the same degree that he minds that he is tied and bound with evil habits, ho is in despair of his return, by that very despairing he henceforth kindles more fiercely to the lusts of this world, the heat of desire arises within him, and the mind having been ensnared by previous sins, is inflamed to even worse transgressions. And hence it is added; And thirst shall bum furiously against hint. For in his mind there is a ' thirst that bums out against him,' in that in proportion as he is used to do wicked thu he is the more vehemently on lire to drink down evil. Since for the ungodly man to ' thirst' is to lust after the good things of this world. And hence our Redeemer cures the man with the dropsy before the Pharisee's house, and when he was arguing against avarice, it is written, And the Pharisees alsoLuVe\6, who were covetous heard all things; and they derided Him. What does it mean then that the man with the dropsy is cured before the house of the Pharisee, but that by the sickness of one man's body the sickness of heart in another is represented? For one sick of a dropsy, the more he drinks, thirsts the move, and every covetous person redoubles his thirst by drinking, in that when he lias got the things he desires, he pants the more in desiring others. For he that by getting is made to long for more, has his thirst increased by drinking. It goes on;

Ver. 10. His snare is buried in (he earthy and his tr<ij> upon (lie way.

15. His ' snare is buried in the earth,1 when sin is hidden xiii. under earthly interests. For our enemy in executing his plots shews to the human mind something to long alter in earthly gain, and hides the snare of sin, that it may bind his soul tight, so that he should sec indeed what he might sel his heart on, and yet never see in what a snare of sin he is putting his foot. Now a trap1 has its name from entrapping. i,ieci- And ' a trap is' then ' placed' by our old enemy ' upon the Pula way.' when in the course of this world's practice, which the

9, mind is bent to follow, the snare of siu is prepared, which same would not bo easily entrap, if it were possible t" be seen.

For a trap is so Bet, ili.it, while the meat is displayed, it is not itself seen by the pass* rs by. 1 or 1 i K < • to meal in I trap in with Bin, and the prosperity of this world with wickedness; and bo when gain is sought aftei by one with a covetous view, ii is as it the trap which is not Been laid h<>M of the foot of the mind. Thus there are often set before the mind along with sin, honours, riches, health, and temporal life, which, while the weak mind Bees like 1 1, and does do! Bee the trap, by the meat, which on seeing it longs after, it i^ caughl fast in the sin, which is nol Been. For there are kinds of tempers which border upon certain had qualities.

Thus harsh tempers arc usually found to be united cither to cruelty or to pride; but tempers that arc Boft, and joyous beyond what is becoming, are sometimes allied to lust and dissoluteness. Then tore the enemy of mankind surveys the t' mpers of each individual, to see what had quality thej are allied to. and he s. ts those objects before the face, which he

Bees the mind is; lily inclined to, so that to the BOfl and joyous tempers he often proposes dissoluteness, and sometimes vainglory, but to harsh dispositions he proposes pride or cruelty, and bo ih re he sets a trap, where he the path of the mind to he. in that he there introduces peril by deception, w here he has found that there is the ' way" of a kindred turn of thought. And, whereas all that the had man do< s, he fears to undergo too, and reckons that to lie doing by all othi is toward himself, which he himself prepares for all others, w 1 1-.in he is able, it rightly follow s;

\ i r. 1 1. Terrors shall make him afraid en every side.

1<». For he imagines all men to he such toward himself, a- he himself strives to he towards all. And what effect these sinie terrors have in his conduct, is broughl in, when it is saiil;

I//'/ shall entangle his f,,:. For if the feet he entangled,1 they cannot have free steps, and are no1 able to accomplish any journi \; in that their own entanglements hold them fast Therefort had desires force nit' riles! practice, and vilest practice holds fast in terror; which ime tenor entangles the feet, that the) should havi no

Past sin holds man ensnared. If<s ' strength hungerbitten.'1 127 power to Btep out into right practice! And it often happens ' that a person for this reason fears to be good, thai he may ool himself suffer that at the hands ofthe wicked, which he remembers himself to have done to the good; and whereas he dreads to undergo that thing which he has himself done, on every side affrighted, on every side full of misgiving, he as it were has his fe< t entangled, who is ensnared by fear; he is able to do nothing freely; in that be has in a manner lost his going in good practice by the same act, whereby he stepped out of the line into the evil which he set his heart on. It goes on;