Morals on the Book of Job (Moralia)

50. For what was the Jewish people but a ' servant,' which xlii. never obeyed the Lord with the love of a son, but the fear of a slave? Contrariwise it is said to us by Paul, For ye Rom. 8 hare not received the spirit of bondage again; but ye have15' received the spirit qf adaption, whereby ice cry Abba, Father. And so this ' servant' the Lord ' called,' in that by benefits vouchsafed, as by voices given out, He strove to bring it to Himself; but it ' answered not,' in that it was indifferent to render back deeds corn —ponding to His gifts. For God 'calls' us, when He presents us with His gifts; and answer' to this calling, when we serve Him worthily according to the benefits we have been vouchsafed; therefore because He prevented the people with so many benefits, let him say, I called my servant, and because even after such

Job 19, numberless benefits, it contemned Him, let him add; ttnd

/ i ntreated htm wtth my men mouth. xliii. 51. Aj though he said more plainly; ' I, the Same that before Mj [ncarnation had given it in charge bo many precepts to be practised, by the months of the Prophets, coming to it [ncarnate, entreated it with my own mouth.1 And hence Matthew, when lit* was telling of precepts being Matt 5, delivered bj Him on the Mount, says. \,,<l II< opened His 2- mouth, <ui(l taught. As if he said in plain speech; ' Then He opened His own mouth, Who before had opened the mouths of the Prophets;1 it is hence too that it is said of Cant i, Him by the Spouse longing for His presence, Lei Him kin 2- me uiili the kisses of His mouth; since for all the precepts which she learnt by His preaching, Holy Church, as it were, received so many 'kisses of his mouth.' Now it is well said, / entreated; in that being exhibited in the flesh, whilst II. spoke the precepts of life with humility, He, a.s it were, besought His servant filled with pride that he would come; and hence it is fitly added;

My w(fe shuddered at my breath.

xliv. 52. What does the '-wife1 of the Lord mean save the

Synagogue, subject to Him in the Cov< nam of the Law with a carnal perception? Now the breath is from the flesh, and the unbelieving people understood the incarnation of the Lord in a carnal manner; in that it took Him for mere man; and so His 'wife shuddered at His breath,1 in that the Synagogue was afraid to take Him for God, Whom it saw to he man; and when it heard the words from His mouth by bodily utterance, it refused to perceive in Him the mystifies of the Divine Nature, and would not believe Him to he

Creator, Whom it saw to be created; and so the carnal 'wife shuddered at the breath' of the carnal body, in that being given over to carnal senses, it did not take knowledge of the mystery of the Incarnation. It goes on; / entreated the children of mine own womb. \K. 53. In God, Who is not circumscribed by the figure oft body, the members of the body, i. e. the hand, the eye, the womb, are named in sueli a way, that by the designation ol the members, the effects of His Lower are represented. \ •

He is said lo have eyes, in tliat He sees all things: He is h<h>k described as having hands, in that He works all things. ' -

Now in the womb the offspring 18 conceived, which is brought forth in this lite; what then are we to take the ' womb' of God for, but His counsel, wherein before time we wore conceived by predestination, that being created in lime we might be brought into the world? And so God, Who abides before time,' besought the children of His womb;' in that those, whom lie created with power by His Divine nature, coming Incarnate He besought with humility; but because in that same flesh, wherein lie appeared, He was contemned in their estimation, it is subjoined;

54. The wise falling away from faith in the truth, there is xlvi. an addition rightly made concerning ' fools1 as well; in that when the Pharisees and the Lawyers despised the Lord, the rabble of the people too followed the example of their incredulousness, which herein, that it saw Him a man, slighted the announcements of the Redeemer of the world. For often by the title of fools, are denoted those who are poor among the common people; whence too it is said by Jeremiah, There- Jet. 5, fore I said, perchance these are poor, and foolish ones, that4' know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their (iod. Hut leaving the rich and wise of the world, our Redeemer came to seek the poor and foolish, whence it is now said, as if for the heightening of grief, The foolish despised me. As if it were expressed in plain speech; ' Even those very persons despised Me, for whose healing I took to Me the foolishness of preaching.' As it is written, For after that iCor. 1, in I lie wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God,21' it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the ' Word' is ' the Wisdom of God,1 but ' the foolishness' of this ' Wisdom,' the Flesh of the Word is called; that whereas the carnal severally could not by craft of the flesh attain to the wisdom of God, by the foolishness of preaching, i- e. by the incarnation of the Word, they might be healed. Therefore lie says, The foolish too despised me. As if it were expressed in plain words; ' Even by those very persons I was despised, for whose sake I was not afraid to be counted foolish.' And whereas the Jewish multitude,

19, when it Baw the miracles of our Redeemer, honoured Bim for ILs miracles, Baying, This is the Christ; but when it beheld the infirmities of His human nature, it disdained to ■»'•! mt llim the Creator,, Nay, but He deceiveth tin iitly subjoined;

And idn a I departed from them, they spake against mc xhii.."».".. For ill— Lord as it were drew near to the hearts of people, when!!<• displayed miracles to them; and He as it were ' departed from them,1 when 1 1, shewed them no signs; imt tlicv s]i ist the Lord - i * departing,1 when they refused to yield their faith to Him thus resting from miracles; but what wonder that He met v. iili such treatment from the common folk, when those very persons, who appeared t" be teachers of the Law, who gave it out that He was to he made Incarnate in the words of Prophecy, both beheld Him made Incarnate, and yet were parted from Him by the disjoining of unbelief? Concerning whom it is added;

\. r. 19. They that trere once my counsellors abhorred mi. and lw u horn J loved most turned away from me.

xlviii. 56. It is plain to.ill people, that God does not stand in need of counsellors, Who to man's very counsellors them-

Eom.xi. selves too vouchsafes the counsel of wisdom. Of whom loreover it is written, Who hath known the mind oj the

13. Lmd, or who hath been His counsellor? but as when bread or clothing is besl >wed on one that lacks them, the Lord hears witness that lie Himself has received them; so when right counsel is given to one that is ignorant of it, lie Himself receives it, of Whom that man is a member, is so instructed; for all we, that are of the number of the faithful, are members of our Redeemer; and as He Himself is fed in our persons bv the pitying of liberality, so He is Himself aided in our persons by the counselling of instruction; and so the scribes and doctors of the Law who used to instruct the people with r< spec! to life, what else were they but 'counsellors' of the Rede mer, Who was t> come? Who, nevertheli i they beheld the Lord become

Incarnate, separated numbers from faith in Him bj their counsels, though before they had seemed to teach numbers by the word- ol the Prophi La to believe the mysterj of His [ncarnation; and becausi with God he is more in His love, who draws tin- greatest number to the love of Him, it is Boob further added <>i' that same order of the doctors of the Law— 1 and the Pharisees; and he whom I loved most, turned away from hi<\ For that very order, through the prompting of unbelief, was turned aside from faith in the truth, winch 1> tore, while serving in the labours of preaching, was most beloved, which same not only to the extent of not believing the Lord, but even of persecuting Him as well, the rabble of the common people followed, and was kindled with the firebrands of cruelty to the very deed of His Passion; in which very Passion too the hearts of the disciples were troubled; whence also it is here added;

Ver. 20. My bone cleaveth to my skin, through my flesh being wasted.

bl. By ' bone' we have Btrength, and by flesh weakness xlix..

of the body denoted; therefore, whereas Christ and the

Chinch are one person, what is signified by the ' bone' but the Lord Himself? what by the ' flesh' save the disciples, who in the hour of His Passion were weakly disposed? but by the ' skin,' which in the body remains more outward than the flesh, what is represented but those holy women, who with the view to furnish the stays of the body, served the

Lord by outward offices of ministration? for when His disciples, though not yet firm, were preaching faith to the people, the flesh kept close to its bone; and when the holy women prepared the outward things that were necessary, they as it wen: like ' a skin' remained on the body outwards; but when it came to the hour of the Cross, exceeding great fear, caused by the persecution of the Jews, took possession of

His disciples: they severally fled, the women ' stuck close,' the Lord clave to its skin,' in that His strength, when the disciples fled in the hour of the Passion, had the women close beside it. Peter indeed stood for some time, but yel afterwards being affrighted he denied Him. John too stood, to whom at the very time of the Cross it was said, BehoUl J<^hni9, thy mother. But he could not persevere; since it is also written concerning him '. Aiut then followed Him a certain Mart

154 tLApelefi to tet Hi,' when they dt tpairea\yi t spake of Him.

Job i '.'. young man, having a linen cloth cast about hit naked bodyt and the i/oii/i;/ nun laid hold of him. Ami he left the limn clothfand fled from them naked; wrho although afterwards, to hear the words of his Redeemer, he returned at the hour of the Cross, yet first he iras affrighted and fled; but the iromen are related not only not to have been afraid nor to hare fled, but even t<> have stood fast even to the sepulchre) and so let liim say. My hone cleaveth lo my shin, through the flesh beingvxuted; i. e. ( they that ought to have attached themselves closer to My strength, in the season of My Passion were consumed with dread: and those vrhom I Bet in external ministrations, in.My Passion 1 found attached themselves faithfully to Me without fear." And here it is plainly implied that these words are delivered in mystery, in that it follows;

And the lips only are If it about my teeth*

1- 58. For what do we have ' about our teeth,' but ' lips,' even if we Buffer no scourges of affliction? but what is signified by ' the lips' but talk, what by ' teeth1 but the holy Apostles? who are with this intention Bel in this body of the Church, that they may bite ai the life of the earnal by correction, and break it in pieces from the hardness of its obstinae\; and In nee it is said to thai first of the fill. But because, at the time of His Passion, these ' teeth1 from fear of death lost the biting of correction, lost the assurance of strength, lost the efficiency of practice of everj soil, so that two of them as they walked, after Mis death

Luki'24, an(| resurrection, talked b\' the way and said, Hid iff 21.

trusted Hint H should have been he which should have redeemed Israeli it is rightly said here. And the lips only are left about my teeth. They were still conv< rsing about Him, but now they no longer at all believed in Him; and BO ' tin' lips only remained about His teeth." in that they had parted with the efficii ncj of good practice, and only retained words of converse about Him. They had lost the bite Of Correction, and possessed the mooting Of speech. Therefore,' the lips only were hit about the teeth,'' in that lo i 1 1 K about Him indeed they knew still, but to pivaeh linn now, or to bite the bad \\a\s of unbelievers, they were ifraid. Therefore these particulars being finished, which lie

Job beseeches, thouyh uronyed. Persecution how from God. 15.J spoke in the voice of the Head, blessed -I < » 1 > is brought bade Book to his own words, saying; — -

Ver. 21. Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, <> ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.

59. The mind of godly men is used to have this peculiar h. to itself, that when it Buffers unjust treatment at the hands of enemies, it is not so much moved to wrath as to prayer; that if the wickedness of those persons could he made to subside to a calm, they would choose rather to beseech than to be wroth; whence it is rightly said in this place, Have pity upon me, hare pity ujtoit me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me. Observe, those by whom he sees that he is ever being treated with insults, he calls ' friends,' in that to godly minds the very things that seem contrary are made favourable; for any that are wicked are cither converted by the sweetness of the good so as to turn back, and by this alone they are friends, viz. that they are made good, or they persevere in their wickedness, and herein also even against their will they are ' friends,' in that, if there be any transgressions of the good, by their persecutions they purge them away even unknowingly. Observe too, that with these things which are done with God in secret, the words of the blessed man openly spoken are quite of a piece. Thus he had been smitten by Satan, yet he did not ascribe his being smitten to Satan, but he calls himself ' touched by the hand of God,' as Satan himself too had said; But put forth c* 2, 6. thine hand note and touch his bone and his flesh, and see if he bless Thee not to Thy face. For the holy man knew that in that very thing which Satan had done towards him with an evil will, he derived his power not from himself, but from the Lord. It goes on;

Ver. 22. Why do ye persecute me as God; and are Jilted with my flesh?

60. It is not at variance with the style of piety that he liii. tells that he is persecuted by God. For there is a good persecutor; as when the Lord says of Himself by the lips of the Prophet, Him (hat privily slandereth his neighbour, Pa. 101, him did I persecute. But when any Saint is suffered to be°" stricken, he knows that he is undergoing persecution, sent against evil he has been guilty of, from the interior ordering.

1 jti Men should be sparing where God plainly chastii

Job i»,Now the savage minds of the persecutors, when they desir< — z: — the power i<> smite, arc inflamed against the life of the good not with the ardour of purifying, but with the firebrands of envy; and they do that indeed, which Almighty God allows to b in that while there is one cans,- with God transacted too by their agency, yet there is not one will maintained in that cause, since whilst Almighty God, in loving, is • nforcing purification, the wickedness of the unjust i^ exercising malice in raging. This then that is said, Why do ye persecute me as God? he spoke with refi rence to the rnal smiting, not to the interior intention, in that though they execute that externally which God ordained to be done, yet in their doing it they do not Beek thai which God docs, viz. that good men should be purified by m< ans of affliction. Which too may likewise be underst 1 in another

3< nse aKd. For Almighty God chastens the < \ il qualities of others so much the more justly in proportion as lie has no whit of evil qualities in Elimself; hut men when they strike others in the course of discipline, ought SO to chasten the frailty of another, that they should at the same time have lcamt the habit to recall their eyes to their own frailty, bo as to consider from themselves how thej ought to spare in Bmiting others, seeing that thej are not unaware that the) themselves ton are worthy of stripes. And so it is said in tins case, Why do CUte me OS <!<>'t ' As if it were expressed in plain words; ' Ye do so afflict me on the grounds of my frailties, as if ye yourselves after the manner ■ ■i God owned nought of infirmity:' whence it is to he considered, that if perchance thi re he persons that need sharpness 'i correction, hard correction is then to lie used to them by us, when the hand of God ceases from using the rod; hut when strokes from above are upon them, from us there is now due no longer correction hut consolation, lest, while in their grief we join our reproach, We put smiting to Bmiting.

61. Now il is well added, Ami are filled with mi/ Jfrs/i:

The mind which hungers for the punishing of a neighbour, Buri ly seeks t<> be ' filled with the flesh' of another. Moreo\i i it i- n< ( essary to be Known, that those also who ked on the Blandei ol another's life, are as surely ' tilled with the flesh' of another. Whence it is said by Solomon; Bo not hook in the /eastings of winebibbers; nor eat with those, >>■/,,, Xl^ • &n'«<7 together flesh to eat. Fot to ' bring together flesh to 23 20.

eat,' is, in the parlance of disparagement to tell by turns the bad qualities of neighbours j concerning whose punishment ii is directly added there, they that are given to cups, andib. 21. that give a contribution, shall be consumed, and drowsiness shall clothe >> man with rajs. They are ' given to cnps1 who make themselves drunk1 with slander of* another's life; l ' but to ' give a contribution2,' is in the same way that each •.•sv'm|„1. individual is used to contribute provisions for his share to be1""1- eaten, so in the parlance of slander to contribute words. But ' they that are given to cups and that give a contribution shall be consumed,' in that as it is written, Every v„ n.K, 1. slanderer shall be rooted out; but ' drowsiness shall cover a.

Prov. man with rags,' in that his death finds him an object of con- 16, "jtempt and empty of all good works, whom the sickly habit3]

of detraction took possession of here for the raking out the '• misdem lanours of another man's life. But all those hardships which blessed Job undergoes it is not meet should be let pass in silence, and that the obscurity of ignorance should cover them from man's knowledge; for so many may be edified for the preserving of patience, as they who, by grace from above replenishing them, may be made acquainted with the achievements of his patience. And hence ili.' same bless '1 Job would have the strokes which he feels carried into an example, in that he immediately adds, saying;

Ver. 23, 24. 0 that my words wore now written! O that they were graven in a book with an iron pen., and a plate of hunt, or surety that they were hewed in the flint!

62. Whereas all that blessed Job underwent, that heavy Uij Jewish people, being instructed by the strong declaration of the Fathers, was brought to know, they were written with ' an iron pen' and ' a plate of lead;' but whereas the hard hearts of the Centiles also were made acquainted with them, what is this but that we see them ' hewn in the flint?' And observe, that what is written on lead, by the mere softness of the metal, is quickly obliterated; but upon the flint letters may be more slowly stamped indeed, but more hardly obli-

158 Ltad is heavy, but takes n<> abiding marks, Job 10, tcraU'd. Therefore it is not unsuitably that by ' the plate of r— - lead* Judaea is represented, which at once received the precepts ofGod without labour, and lost them with speed; and rightly by ' the flint? the Gentile world is represented, which could with difficulty receive the words of sacred revelation to keep, hut kepi them when received fixedly. Now by tlie

' iron pen1 what else is denoted save the strong B hi nee of

Jer. 17, God? Whence too it is said by the Prophet, The sin of

1 ansae J"'^"^ 's Written With " pen of irmi mi n atomond /mil1. The end of the body is in the nail, and a diamond is so hard a stone, that it cannot he cut with iron. Now by k an iron pen1 there is denoted a Btrong sentence, hut by a ' diamond nail' the eternal end; so the sin of.ludah is said to he written with a ' pen of iron upon a diamond nail,' in that the guilt of the Jews is reserved by the strong sentence of God for an end that is endless.

63. Rightly too by ' a plate of lead1 we understand those, whom the load of avarice weighs down, to whom it is said by the Prophet witli upbraiding, O ye sons of men, how long heavy in heart! For by had, the nature whereof is of a heavy weight, the sin of avarice is in a special manner denoted, which renders the mind it has infected so heavy, that it can never he raised to aim at tilings on high. Hence Zech. 6, it is written in Zeehariah, Lift Vjt nine thine eyes, and

5—s- what is this that goeth forth. And I said. What is it? And i >• he said, This is an ephah* that goeth forth* He said morera* ' over, This is their eye throughout all tin' earth. And behold there was lifted up a talent of lead, and, /". one woman sitlin'i in (Jir midst of tin' ephah. Ami he s<u<i. This is wickedness; and he east her into tin' midst of tin' ephah,

3 mini; ninl In' rust the weight Of lent,,,i her face*. And with vnmii, reference to this vision of ' the ephah,1 and 'the woman,' thereof, and ' the lead,' that he might shew more fully what he had v.9-11. i,,.,.,, made to know, he yet further added going on. Then lifted I i'/i mini' eyes, and looked, and behold there cams nut inn women, and a spirit was in their wings, for they In nt wings like the wings of a kite, and tiny lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven. Then said I t" tlm angel thai talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephahf Ami he said, To build it mi house in the land of

Shinar. Which testimony of the Prophet we have brought Rook forward as a proof of the lead to no purpose, if we do not XIVj also explain it going over it again. Thus he says, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goethforlh; and I said, What is this? And he said, ll is an ephah thai goeth forth. God desiring to shew to the Prophet, by what sin above all others the human race fell away from Him, by the figure of an ephah as it were denoted the wide-opened month of avarice. For avarice is like an ephah, in that it keeps the month of the heart open and agape on the stretch1, "inam- And he said, This is their eye through nil the world. We ltu see many men of dull sense, and yet we sec them sharp in bad practices, as the Prophet too testifies, who saith, They Jcr. 4, are icise to do evil; but In do good they have no knowledge. And so these are dull in sense, but in those things which they desire, they are urged on by the goads of avarice; and they that are blind to see good, under the incitements of rewards are quick-eyed to the doing evil things. Hence it is rightly said of this same avarice, This is their eye in all the world. And behold there icas lifted up a talent of lead. What is; a talent of lead' but the weight of sin from that very avarice. And, lo, one woman sitting in the midst of the ephah. Which same woman, lest perchance we should doubt who she was, the Angel thereupon made known; for it follows there immediately, And he said, This is impiety; and he cast her into the midst of the ephah. Tmpietv is ' cast into the midst of the ephah,' in that in avarice there is always impiety taken in. And he cast the weight of lead, on her face. The mass of lead is cast on the woman's face, in that the impiety of avarice is borne down by the very weight of its own sin; for if it did not reach after things that are below, it would never prove impious towards God and our neighbour

64. Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and behold there came out two women, and a spirit was in their wings. What do we understand by these * two women' but the two principal vices, i. e. pride and vain glory, which are without any doubt united to impiety r Which two are described as having ' a spirit in their wings;' in that they are subservient to the will of Satan in their actions; for the Prophet calls

•'"" i!", that one ' a spirit,' concerning whom Solomon Baith, If the spirit of him that hath power /isr above thee, leave not thy place; and of whom tin Lord Baith in the Gospel; When

|g V1, tin' unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places. ' \ Bpirit is in their wings/ in that in whatsoever they do, pride and vain glory r< nder obedience to the will <»l in. And they had wings like the wings of a kite. the kite is always busied in plotting against the chicken land. So these women have * wings like the wings of a kite,1 in that surely tlnir doings arc like- the devil, who is always plotting cjiltnJi between Hi" earth and ///<■ heaven. Pride and rain glory have this peculiar to them, that whosoever is infected by them, they lift up in his own conceit above the n si i I his fellow creatures: at one time by pursuit of the gifts of fortune, at another time by the desire of dignities) the man whom they have once gotten captive, they, as it were, lilt up into the height of honour. And he that is between the earth and the heaven, at once leaves things below, and fails altogether to attain the things on high.

<;."). These women, then, ''lift up the ephah between the earth and the heaven/ in that pride and vain -lory so e\alt the mind taken captive through greediness of honour, that looking down upon all their neighbours, men do, as it were, leave things below, and in proud boasting seek high things. I >ut all such persons, while thej give themselves up to pride, at once in imagination mount above those, with whom they are placed, and are far from ever being united to the citizens above. Thus the ephah is said to be ' lifted up between earth and heaven,1 in that all covetous persons through pride and vain glory at once despise their neighbours at their side, and never lay hold of the things above, which are beyond them; and so they are carried - between the earth and the heaven,1 in that they neither keep equality of brotherhood in tin- lower world l>\ charity, nor yet are able to attain the world above by setting themselves up. //"/ / said in tin- Angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear theephah y innl he said, To build it n// house in the hunt hinar. That same ephah has a • house built it in the land of Shinar,1 lor ' Shinar1 is rendered ' their ill savour;' ami as there is a sweet savour from virtue, as Paul bears Boob witness, who saith; and maketh manifest tin savour of His knowledge by us in every place; For u-e are unto (/nil au, sweet savour of Christ; so reversely there is an ill savour from vice. For covetousness is the root of all evil. And 1T"'"-G, whereas every thing evil is engendered by avarice, it is meet that the house of avarice should be erected in ' ill savour.1 Moreover it is necessary to be known that ' Shinar' is a very wide valley, wherein the tower was begun to be built by men giving themselves to pride, which, when the diversity of tongues was brought to pass, came to destruction; which same tower was called Babylon, forsooth on account of that very confusion of minds and tongues: nor is it inappropriately that the ' ephah' of avarice is placed there, where ' Babylon,' i. e. '' confusion,' is building, in that whereas it is certain that from avarice and impiety all things bad have their origin, this same avarice and impiety are rightly described as dwelling in confusion.

66. We have said these things in few words out of course, that we might shew that the weight of sin is set forth by the ' plate of lead.' Yet these very words of blessed Job are also applicable to Holy Church, who while keeping the two testaments of sacred revelation, as it were begs a second time that her words should be written, saying, Oh! that my words were now written! Oh! that they were printed in a book! Which same, in that she speaks with a strong sentence at one time to hearts heavy from the weight of avarice, at another time to hardened hearts, ' writes with a pen of iron upon a plate of lead,' or, surely, ' upon the flint.' Now we say with justice that blessed Job uses the accents of our Redeemer and His Church, if we find any thing that he says explicitly of that same Redeemer of us men; for how is it to be believed that he teaches us any thing connected with Him in a figure, if he does not point Him out to us in express words? But now let him disclose to us what he is sensible of concerning Him, and let him take away from us all misgivings in our thoughts. It goes on;

67. For he who does not say, ' Creator,' but ' Redeemer,' liv expressly tells of Him, Who after He created all things,

1<;-j Job belli ved ■■in Lord's Resurrection, and his own Job 19, appeared Incarnate amongst us. that He might redeem us from a state of bondage, and by Mis Passion Bet us free from dr. ah everlasting; and marl with what sure faith he makes himself Becnre iu tin power "I 1 lis Divine Nature of Whom 2 Cor. \i;8 s;,i,i i,v Paul, For though ll< was crucified through weakm m, '/' I He liveth by the power of God. For be says, For I know that my Redeemer liveth, As it' be said in express terms; 'The unbelievers may know that He was scourged, mocked, struck with the palms of the hand, red with a crown of thorns, besmeared with spittings, crucified, dead: I, with sure faith, believe Him t<> live after death; I confess with unreserved voice, ' that my Redeemer liveth,1 Who died by the hands of wicked men.' And how, O blessed.Job, through II is Resurrection, thou truste8l to the resurrection of thine own flesh, declare, I pray, in Open ch.!t goes on; And that J simll rise <tt the last day from the earth. lv. 68. That is, because the resurrection which He manifested in lli> own Person, He will one day bring to pass in ourselves as well; for the resurrection, which lie exhibited in Himself', He pledgi 1 to us; seeing that the members follow the glorj of their Head. Thus our Redeemer underwent death, that we might not fear to die; He manifested the resurrection, that we might have a sure hope that we are capable of rising again. And hence He would not have that death to be of more than thn e days1 duration, lest it' the resurrection wen- deferred in Him, it should be altogether despaired of in ourselves; and this is righth said of Him by p§. i io, the Prophet; He *ImlI drink <>' the brook in the way, therefore shall he lift iij> the head. For He in a manner condesc< uded to drink of thai current as it were of our Buffering, not in an abiding place, but ' in the way,' in that lie met death in a transitory way, i.e. for three days, and in that death which He met He did not, like ourselves, remain unto the end of the world. And so, whereas He rose again on the third day, what then is to come after in Mis body, i.e. in the Church, He makes appear; for He shewed in example, what lb promisi ' in reward, that as believers knew and owned that lie had I i imself risen again, so thev might hope for the irds of the resurrection in themselves at the end of the world. Lo, we, through the death of the flesh, remain in the B< dust until the end of the world, but He on the third dav—'X budded into life from the dryness of death, that by the very renewal of His flesh by itself He might shew the power of His Divine Nature. Which is well shewn in Moses by the twelve rods placed in the Tabernacle: for when the priesthood of Aaron, who was of the tribe of Levi, was despised, and the tribe was not accounted worthy to offer up burnt-offerings, twelve rods according to the twelve tribes were ordered to be put in the Tabernacle, and, lo, the rod of Levi budded, Num.) 7, and shewed what efficacy Aaron had in the office. By8, which same sign what is conveyed, but that all we who lie in the arms of death until the very end of the world, remain like the nst of the rods in a state of barrenness? But when all the rods remained in a state of dryness, the rod of Levi returned to flowering, in that the body of our Lord, i. e. our true Priest, being set in the dryness of death, burst into the flower of the Resurrection. By which same flowering Aaron is rightly known to be the Priest, in that by this glory of the Resurrection our Redeemer, Who sprung from the tribe of.Tudah and Levi1, is shewn to be an Intercessor in our behalf. 'Lukei; And so, lo! the rod of Aaron buds now after dryness, but°' the rods of the twelve tribes remain in a dry state, in that already indeed the body of the Lord lives after death, but our bodies are kept back from the glory of the resurrection until the end of the world. Whence he carefully introduced this same delay, by saying, And that I shall rise at the last9 day from the earth. * novis-

69. Therefore we have a hope of our own resurrection, by considering the glory of our Head. But lest any one say perhaps merely in the secret thought of his heart, that it was in this way that He rose again from the dead, viz. that being God and Man in one and the same Person, the death, which He underwent in His Human Nature, He overcame by His Divine Nature, while we, who are mere men, are not able to rise from the curse of death; it happened rightly that, in the season of His resurrection, the bodies of many of the Saints arose at the same time, that both in Himself He might shew us an example, and by the resurrection of others who were like to ourselves in respect of a mere human nature, He might ive us a sure confirmation, that whereas man despaired o( lii^ obtaining what lie thai iraa God and.Man had exhibited in 1 1 i-~ > >\\ 1 1 Person, he might presume that that was capable of being brought i" pass in lii^ own case, which he kn< a to hare been brought about in the case "i those rery persons, who be doubted not were but simple human beings*

7ii. But there are some who, observing that the spirit i^ parted from the flesh, that the il« -li is turned into corruption, tliat its corruption is reduced t<» dust, that tliis dust is x<> dissolved into elementary parts that it is incapable of being seen bj the eyes of man, despair of the possibility of the resurrection being broughl t<> pass, and whilst they gaze on the dry bones, thej distrust its being possible for these to 1"' clothed with flesh, and again Bushing into life; which persons, if they do not ln>M the resurrection of the body on the principle of obedii nee, ought certainly to hold it on the principle of reason. For what does the universe every day, but imitate in its elements our resurrection? Thus bj the lapse <>l the minuti - of the day the temporal light itself as it were dies, when, the shade ol night coming on, that light which was beheld is withdrawn from Bight, and it daily rises again as it were, when the lighl that was withdrawn from our eyes, upon the night being suppressed is renewed afresh. For the progress of the seasons too, we see the Bhrubs lose the greenness of their foliage, and ceaa from putting forth frail; and on a Budden as it" from dried up wood, by a kind of resurrection coming we see the leaves burst forth, the fruit grow big, and the whole nee clothed with renewed beauty; we unci asingly behold the small seeds of tret - committed to the moistness of the groundj wherefrom not long afterwards we behold large trees arise, and bring forth l< av< - and fruit Let us then consider the little seedot ani tree,,,, i whatever, which is thrown into the gronnd, for a tree to be 1 ■ produced therefrom, and let us take in, if we are capable <>f it, where in that exceeding littleness of the seed that most enormons tree was buried, which proceeded from it? where was the wood? where the bark? where the rerdure of the foliage ( where the abundance of the fruit? Was there an} thing of the kind perceived in the seed) when it was thrown into the ground? \nd yet 1»\ the secret krtificei of all

J nb a faith shames doutu after our Lord's Rising. 165 things ordering all in a wonderful manner, both in the Boft- Boob di ss "i the seed there lay buried the roughness of the bark,— '- and in its tenderness there was hidden the strength nt' its timber, and in its dryness fertility of productiveness. What win i der, then, if that finest dust, which to our eyes is resolved into the elements, lie. when He is minded, fashioneth again into the human being, Who from the finest seeds resuscitates the largest trees? And so. seeing thai we have been created reasoning beings, we ought to collect the hope of our own resurrection from the mere aspect and contemplation of the objects of nature. But forasmuch as the faculty of reason was deaden* d in us, the grace of the Redeemer came in for an example. For our Creator came. lie tool death upon Him. He exhibited the Resurrection, in order that we, who would not hold the hope of the Resurrection by reason, might hold it by His succour and example; and so let blessed Job say; / knoto that my Redeemer li relit, and that I slaill rise at the last day from the earth. And let anv one that despairs of the possibility that the power of the Resurrection should be brought to pass in himself, blush at the words of a believing person set in the midst of the Gentile world, and let him reflect with what a weight of punishment he deserves to be stricken, if he still does not believe his own resurrection, who now knows the resurrection of the Lord which has taken place, if even he believed his own. who as yet expected the resurrection of the Lord Jesus to be brought to pass.

71. But see, I hear ot the resurrection, but it is the effect of the resurrection that 1 am searching out. For I believe that I shall rise again, but I wish that 1 might hear what kind of person; since it is a thing I ought to know, whether I shall rise again perhaps in some other subtle or ethereal body, or in that body wherein I shall die. But it I shall rise again in an ethereal body, it will no longer be myself, who rise again. For how can that lie a true resurrection, if there may not be true flesh? so that plain reason suggests, that if it shall not be tine flesh, assuredly it will not be a true resurrection; for neither can it be rightly termed a resurrection, when it is not what fell that rises again. Hnt in this too tor ns, 0 blessed Job, do thou remove these

160 The body shall truly >is<. Error of Eutychius.

ro» 19, clouds of misgiving, and whereas through the grace ot the -"' Hob Spirit vouchsafed thee thou bast begun to Bpeai to m of the hope of our resurrection, shew in plain words it our flesh shall really rise again. It follows,

Yri. 26. And 1 shall be again encompassed with my skin. hi. 7-2. Whereas the k skin' is expressly earned, all doubt of a true resurrection is removed; in that our body will not, as Eutychius the Bishop of Constantinople wrote, in that gloriousness of the resurrection be impalpable, and more subtle than the wind and air: for in that glorionsness of the resurrection our body will be subtle indeed by the efficacy of a spiritual power, but palpable by the reality of its nature; whence also our Redeemer, when the disciples doubted oi His resurrection, shewed them His hands and feet, and offered Luke His bones and flesh to be touched, saying, Handle Me and see; Jar a spirit hath not flesh and hones as ye see Me hare. And when, being placed in the city of Constantinople, 1 brought before Eutychius this testimony of truth from the Gospel, he said, ' For this reason the Lord did this, that He might take away all doubt of the resurrection from the hearts of the disciples.1 To whom I said; ' This is a very extraordinary thing that you assert, that doubting should arise to ourselves from the same quarter, whence the hearts of the disciples were cured of doubting.' For what can be said worse than that that is made doubtful to us relating to His true flesh, whereby His disciples were restored anew to faith from all doubting? For if He is declared not to have had that, which He manifested; from the same source, from whence the faith of His disciples is confirmed, ours is destroyed. And he further added, saying, ' He had that body which He shewed a palpable body; but after the hearts of those that handled it were confirmed, all that in the Lord which was capable of being handled, was reduced into a certain subtle quality.1 To which same I answered, saying; Rum. •'•, ' [t is written, Knowing thai Christ being raised from thr dead dieth no wore, death hath no more dominion OVCi Him. It then there was aught in the Body which was capable of being altered after His resurrection, contrary to th« truly spoken declaration of Paul, the Lord after His resurrection returned into death; and what fool wvn would

The Flesh will be the same in substance, nut in passions. 107 venture to sav this, save he that denies the true resurrection h<><.k of His flesh?' Then he ohjected to me, saying, k Whereas it is _ — - written; Flesh and bloud cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, I Cor. by whal means is it to be supposed that the flesh truly rises again?' To whom I say; ' In Holy Writ flesh is named in one way according to nature, and in another way according to sin or corruption.' For there is flesh according to nature, as where it is written, This is now bone of my bones, and &**'*> flesh of my flesh. And, The Word was made flesh, andjohni, dwelt among us. But there is flesh according to sin, as l4' where it is written, My Spirit shall not always abide in those Gen. 6, men, for that they are flesh. And as the Psalmist saith; For He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind thafPa. 78, passeth away, and cometh not again. Whence too Paul said to the disciples; But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Rom. a spirit. For it was not that these persons were not in the1'- flesh, to whom he was sending letters, but for that they had subdued the motions of carnal passions, henceforth, free through the efficacy of the Spirit, they ' were not in the flesh.' Therefore in respect to what Paul says, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, he would have flesh to be understood as applied to sin, not flesh as applied to nature. Hence directly afterwards that he was speaking of flesh after sin he makes plain, by adding; Neither doth corruption inherit iucorruption. Therefore in that glory of the heavenly kingdom there will be flesh according to nature, but not flesh according to the desire of the passions; in that the sting of death being overcome, it will reign in eternal incorruptibility.'

73. To which words the same Eutychius directly answered that he assented, yet still he denied that the body could rise again a palpable body. Who in the treatise too which he had written concerning the resurrection, had put in the testimony of the Apostle Paul, when he says; That which \ Cor. thou soicesl is not quickened except it die. Anil thai which]!' thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall he, but bare grain. Being eager to shew this, that the flesh will either be impalpable ", or will not be itself identically, seeing iii^ Eulychius convinced through Job's words.

job 19, that the holy Apostle, when treating of the glory of the

-''• resurrection, says that ' it was not sown the body that it shall

' be.' But the answer to this is Boon made. For the Apostle

Paul, when he says, Thou sourest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, i- telling as of what we see; viz. that the grain, which is sown without a stalk or leaves, BpringS up with a stalk and leaves; so that he, in heightening the glory of the resurrection, did not say that what it was is wanting to it, but that what it was not is present: but this man, whereas he denies the real body to rise again, docs not Bay that what was wanting is there, but that what it was is wanting.

74. Upon this, then, we being led on in long disputing on this point, we began to recoil from one another with the greatest animosity, when the Emperor Tiberius Constantino, of religious memory, bringing myself and him to a private audience, learnt what dispute was being carried on between ii"., and weighing the statement of both sides, and by his own allegations as well disproving that same book which he had written concerning the resurrection, determined that it ought to be consumed in the flames. Upon our leaving whom, [ was seized with a grievous sickness, while to that same Kutychius sickness and death shortly followed. And when he was dead, because there was well nigh no one who followed his statements, I held back from prosecuting what I had commenced, lest I should seem to be darting words at his ashes, but while he was still alive, and I sick of violent fever, if any of my acquaintance went to him for the sake of greeting him, as 1 learnt from their relation, he used to take- hold mi tin- shin of his hand before their eyes, saying, 'I confess that we shall all rise again in this flesh;" W Inch as they themselves avowed lu- was before wont altogether to deny.

7"». But let us, laying aside these considerations, minuteh S< arch out in tin; words of blessed Job, if there will be a true resurrection, ami the true body in that n surrection; for, lo, we are no longer able to doubt of the hope of the lesurrection, in that he says. Ami thai I shall rise at lite las/ daij from I li<' earth. Moreover lie has removed all doubting of the true renewal of the body, in that he says, And I shall l>,,i</(i/n encompassed u ith my skin. And he still further

Sure faith in Christ's rising implies our own. Hf'J adds, with the view of removing the misgivings of out Boob thought;

And in my flesh shall I see God.

in explicit words. What is there left then, by which our mind should have occasion to doubt? If this holy man then before the fact of the Lord's resurrection, believed in the flesh being destined to be brought back to its entire state, what will be the guilt of our doubting, if the true resurrection of the flesh not even after the proof of our Redeemer obtains credit? For if after the resurrection there will not be a palpable body, surely another person rises again than dies: which is profane to say; viz. to believe that it is I who die, and another that doth rise again1. Wherefore I entreat thee, blessed Job, 'ABCD, add how thou art minded, and remove from us all ground of s'hall scruple on this point. It follows; rise.'

Ver. 27. Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, mul not another.

77. For if, as certain votaries of false opinions believe, after the resurrection there shall be no palpable body, but the subtle quality of an invisible body shall be called the flesh, though there be no substance of flesh, then surely he that dies is one person, and he that rises again is another. But blessed Job destroys this assertion for them by a truthtelling voice, in that he says, Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another. But we, following the faith that blessed Job held, and truly believing the palpable Body of our Redeemer after His resurrection, confess that our flesh after the resurrection will be at once both the same and different, the same in respect of nature, different in respect of glory, the same in its reality, different in its power. Thus it will be subtle, in that it will be incorruptible; it will be palpable, in that it will not lose the essence of its very and true nature. But that same assurance of the resurrection the holy man subjoins with what sure hope he holds it, with what certainty he awaits it. It goes on;

This my hope is laid hj, in my bosom.

78. We suppose that we hold nothing more surely than hiii. what we have in our bosom; and so he kept ' hope laid up in his bosom,' in that he laid hold beforehand on true cer-

Job ii», tainty concerning the hope of the resurrection. But whereas ' ' he made known thai the day of the resurrection would come,

In now, whether in his own voice, or in a figure of the holy and universal ( Ihurch, reproves the deeds of the wicked, and foretells 1 1 1 « - Judgment which ensues on ili<- day of the resurrection. For he Btraigbtway adds;

w, ute Iidii. a ml find OUt the TOOt of the nurd against himf

Fly I In reforefrom the face of the sword, for the sword is an avenger of wickedness; and know that there is a judgment. lix. 7!». For in the first sentence he reproved the deeds of the wicked, while in the following he made known the punishments proceeding from the Divine judgment Tims he Baith, Wherefore then do ye now say; Let us persecute /tint mid find out ilt<> root of the word against /tint/ Wicked persons, because they hear with wrong earnestness things will put forth, and seek to find in the tongue of tin- righteous an inlet for accusation, what else do they hut ' seek the root "I the word against him/ from which same they may take the commencement of speaking, and in the accusing of him expand the branches of evil talkativeness! But when the holy man meets with such things at the hands of wicked men, it is not against them hut rather lot them that he feels sorrow, and reproves the things wickedly harboured in the heart, and shews them evil for them to escape, saving, Fly therefore from the face of the sword; for (In1 sword is the avenger if wickedness; and know i/ntl there is a judgment. Ever) our that does wicked things, e\ en herein, that he is too indifferent to fear this, does not know of there being a judgmenl of God.

For if he diil know that this was a thing to he lean d, he would never do things that are destined to lie punished in it. For there aic very nianv who know that there is a final Judgmenl as far a- the words go, hut h\ acting wickedly the] hear w itness that thej do not know it. Since whereas he does not dread this as he ought, h doe- not yet know with 1.-il. ' be what a tempest of terror it will conic. lor it he had ' been taught to estimate the weight of the dreadful scrutiny, Burely m fearing he would guard against the da\ ol wrath. Moivover, k to Hv from the face of the Bword,' is to propitiate the sentence of the strict visitation before it appears. For th< terribleness of the Judge cannot be avoided savins before the Book Judgment. Now He is not discerned, but is appeased by— - prayers. But when He shall sit on that dreadful inquest, He is both able to be seen and not able any longer to be propitiated; in that the doings of the wicked which He bore long while in silence, He shall pay back all of them together in wrath. Whence it is necessary to fear the Judge now, while He does not yet execute judgment, while He bears patiently for long, while He still tolerates the wickedness that He sees, lest when He has once plucked out I lis hand in the awarding of vengeance, He strike the more severely in judgment, in proportion as He waited longer before judgment.

Thai the friends of blessed.h>l> could never have been bad men, the words of Zophar the Naamathite bear witness, win) on hearing from his lips the terribleness of the Judgment to come, adds directly;

Ver. 1. Therefore do my thoughts changefully succeed one another, and my mind is transported diverse ways.

i. 1. As though li« said in plain words; k Hecause I sec the

''"• terribleness of the last Judgment, therefore I am confounded in a state <>f consternation by the tumults of mv thoughts.1 For the mind spreads itself wider in its range of thought, the more it considers In >\\ dreadful that is which threatens it. And 'the mind is transported diverse ways,' when with anxious alarm she weighs and considi rs, one while the evil Delias done, at another time the good she has Left undone, now all the blameable practices that —he remains in. and now the righl habits that she sees to he lacking to her. Hut though the friends ol blessed Job, instructed by habituation to his life, knew how to live well, yet, being uninstructed to form an exacl estimate ol God's judgments, that any one of the righteous can he susceptible of ills here below, they did not believe possible. And hence they imagined that holy man to he wicked, whom 1 1 1 < y saw scourged, and. in consequence of this suspicion, it came to pass that they slijit aside into the upbraiding of him as well, whereunto nevertheless they do not di scend, Bave under the guise of a kind of respects Hence Zophar adds in these words;

Zophar truly calls the triumph of the wicked short. 178 the spirit of my understanding.1 Pot they lhat disregard the Booi w.»nls of the teacher, emploj bis teaching not lor an assist-— ance bat for an occasion of contention, rather that they may criticise the things heard than to follow them. This thru being premised with a sort of restraint, he now springs out into the open reviling of the blessed man, when he adds;

Ver. 4, 5. / know this of old, since man was placed upon mirth, that tin- triumphing of the wicked is short, and the Joy of the hypocrite but for a moment.

8. Now it is clear to be Been that being puffed up with withe spirit of his understanding, he warps the sentences, which he pronounces against the ungodly, to the reproving of blessed Job. For in him whom he first saw following right ways, and afterwards undergoing punishment, he reckons all thai he saw to have been but hypocrisy, in that he did not believe it possible for a just servant to be put to distress by a jusl God. But those same sentences, which, being right, he did not pronounce in a right way, let us go through, weighing them with earnest intentness of mind; and setting at nought what he says untrue against blessed Job, let us consider how true are the things he speaks, if he were speaking them against the ungodly. / know this of old, since man was placed upon earth, that the triumphing of the wicked is short. Going to tell the shortness of the present life, he carried back the eye of the interior to the outset of the commencement, in order to collect from the past how nothing all things are, that while they continue to be, seem to be something. For if we carry the eyes of our imagination from the very commencement of the human race up to the present time in which we now are, we see how short all was that was of a nature to come to an end. Let us imagine a man to have lived from the first day of the world's creation to this present day, yet on this day to end the life, which he seemed to have continued to so gnat a length, lo, the end is come, the things past are already become nought, in that every thing has passed away. For the future in this world is nought, in that not a moment, or the very shortest particle of time remains to our life. Where then is that long time, which, comprehended between the beginning and the end, is so wasted in substance, just as if it had not evebeen even short in duration:

17 1 The hypocriU i joy is in things ilml abide nnf.

i. Therefore because the nicked have their heart centered in tliiv life, Barely t; i j Bel th< m& Ives up therein and seek to win appl in-'- 1 1 1 < \ are lifted op by the il itterj of tin' lips, having do desire lo be g 1. but only to be called so.

Which praise ih \ think iv of a great length while thej r< ceive it, bat understand to have been brief* hen they lose it Whence it i- will said against these wicked \« rsons, Tnis I knote of old \ since wan was placed upon earth} that the triumphing of ih,- wicked is thorti and it is well added,.///'/ the jog tit the hypocrite l>ut fn- a moment. It often happens thai while the hypocrite passes himself off for holy, without a fear tit" letting himself appear wicked, be is honoured of all men, and the high credit of holiness is awarded to him, by those who can make out the outside, but have no eyes to look into the interior of things. Whence it happens, that he triumphs in having the first Beat, is overjoyed in getting the first couch, filled with pride at receiving the first imitation, elevab d at the respectful address of his followers, swoln in the pride of bis heart at the observance of his dependents, Mat.23, as is said of such by the voice of Truth Himself. Bui all / works they do for to be seen of men.• they mak broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, <ni<i to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi, lint all this joy of theirs, compared with eternity, what will become of it, when, the Cli8i8 of death being upon them, it perishes, BS though it had never been? Of which same joy the mirth is all gone, the i canm, punishment remains, and when the thing is lost, the gnilt1 m>™ endures. And it is well —aid; The joy of the hypocrite like a point. I or in making a point the Btyle is lifted up as soon BS set down, and there is no lingering, that it may be drawn along a line to be described. And bo the joy of the hypocrite ' is like a point,' in that it appears for a moment, and is gone for ever; and just as the style, in the ease of a point, while Bel down is lifted up in one, bo the hypocrite, whilst he touches, parts with the joys of the prevent life. ( 'one. ruing whom il is also added;

Ver. <;, 7. Tltough his pride mount up unto the heavens, find h>* head reach unto the clouds: Yet ho s),<ill)u >i*h at last like the dunghill.

5. The pride of the hypocrite is said to ' mount op unto Booi the heavens,' when his bigh-mindedness has the appearance.^ ' of leading a heavenly life; and his • head as ii were reach) - unto the clouds,1 when the leading part. i. e. his intellect, is thought to equal Ihe merits of the Saints that have gone before. Yet he ' perishes at last like the dunghill,' because at his death, when he is led to torments, being full of the dung of evil habits, he is trodden under foot of evil spirits. For the joys of the present life, which the unrighteous account great good, righteous men look upon as dung. Whence it is written; A slothful man is stoned with ffcEceUu. dung of oxen. Thus he that will not follow God is made slothful in the love of the life everlasting. And as often as he is stricken with the loss of temporal goods, he is surely troubled on the score of those things, which the righteous look down upon as fc dung:" what else is it with him, then, that is bruised with the buffeting of things earthly, than that he ' is stoned with the dung of oxen?' And the hypocrite is justly described like a dunghill, in that while he aims to obtain temporal glory, at one time in the imagination of his heart he swells within himself, at another tin: i he grudges that same glory to some, and laughs at others having it really. For all the evil qualities then that he is full of, his breast as it were is defiled with so much dung, in the eye of the Eternal Judge. Therefore it ma) tid, Though his pride mount up nnt>> the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds, yet he shall perish at last It he the dunghill. Which same, though he feign to lead a heavenly life, though he shew his view of truth to accord with the true preachers, yet he ' perishes like a dunghill in tin end,' in that his soul is damned for the stench of his evil qualities. It goes on;

They which had seen him shall say, Where is he? C. It generally happens that the life of the hypocrite is v. even by all men discov< red at the end to be damnable, for it to be made appear by plainer marks now what sort they were of. They then that saw him elate at this present time shall say of him when dead, Whi re is hef lor neither is he seen here where he was elated, nor yet in the rest of eternity, which he was supposed to be of. Concerning the shortness of whose life it is yet further added with fitn<

— — found: y©e*, he shall be chased away as a vision "/' the

\i. 7. Wli.it else is the life of the hypocrite but the \ i - i < n i of a phantom, which exhibits that in Berablance which it does not possess in truth? Whence too it is justly)iken< d to ' a dream,* in that all praise and glorj is, as it were, gone from him whilst it is being held. For oftentimes in a ' vision of the night,1 some thai are ]><><>r are full of wonder thai they are made rich, thej see honours awarded to them, they behold Ik a]is of riches, a multitude of attendants, the most beautiful garments, abundance of food presented n> them. They are delighted to have escaped poverty, which they bore with a grieved spirit; but on a sudden, when they wake, they find how false all the joy was which they felt, and tiny air -a<l that they have awoke, in that real want gripi e them awake. Thus the mind* of hypocrites, whilst what they do is one thing, and what they exhibit to men another, win applause by the mere exhibiting of holy Living; in the este< in ot men tiny arc set before numbers that are better, and whilst they are bighminded with the BCCrel thought within, they exhibit themselves without as humble. tad whereas they arc excessn ely commended by men, they imagine that in the eyes ot (rod also they are such, as they delight to make themselves known tobe to their fellow-creatures. I lence it comes to pass that they assume that they will likewise obtain the rewards of eternal lite, and they who triumph here below, upon the commendations of their fellow-creatures, doubt not lot a moment that they will have rest there; hut in the midst of this the secret hour of their call creeps upon them, and while they shut the eves of the flesb they open those of the spirit, and SO BOOn;is the\ have,urotli n eternal punishments, they there Bee, that ihej were rich in tin n pule for virtues only in Bleep. Well then is it said of such a hypocrite, Yeathe shall be chased away as a vision (if the night. For this, that he sees himself for a brief space rich in man's esteem, is of the show of a phantasm, not of the

1 •!•' of substance of virtue1. lor when his soul wakes up at the dissolution of tie' flesh, it learns, assuredly, that it was in a sleeping state that it saw the partial regards of men about

Ver. 9. The eve alto which saw him shall nee him no I!""K more: neither shall his place any more behold him.

B. What is the ' place1 of the hypocrite, saving the heart vii. of his Batterers? For there he rests, where li<' finds partialities towards him. Therefore ' the rye that saw him shall see him no more,1 because being removed by death, he is bidden from liis foolish lovers, who were wont to behold him, admiring him. ' Neither shall his place any more behold him,' because the tongues of his flatterers do not follow him with their partialities to the Judgment. Yet so long as he lives he does not cease to teach his followers likewise the things that h • practises himself; and through the frowardness of his erring way he begets others also in a likeness to that false pretension which he shews forth. Concerning whom it is fitly added in this place,