Morals on the Book of Job (Moralia)

I consider I am afraid of Him.

50. He is rightly ' troubled at the presence of the Lord,' xl. who sets before the view of his eyes thi ti-rriUeness of

II Maj< -ly. and is throughly shaken by dread of His Righteousness, whilst he Bees that he is not fit to render his accounts it' he be judged with severity. Now it is rightly said, When I consider I am afraid of Him, because the force of the Divine visitation when a man considers little,

He dreada but little, and in this life is aa it were secure, in proportion as he is b stranger t" the consideration of the interior strictness. For the righteous are ever turning back into the secret chamber of the li< art, contemplating the power of the hidden strictness, presenting thems< Ires to the judgin. nt of the interior Majesty, that they may one day be the more secure, in proportion as they would not make themselves secure here so long as they lived. For when the minds of evildoers refuse to consider what they have to fear, sooner or later bj rejoicing they are brought t<> that, which tlie\ do n.it by fearing in any way escape. But n i in regard to blessed Job, we know that he was devoted to frequent sacrifices to God, that he was given up to acts of hospitality, to the necessities of the poor, that be was humble towards his own dependants even, kind towards those that opposed him, and vet he received such numberless Bcourgi s, n.»r now became secure amidst them, but still entertained fear, -till thinking of the power of the Divine Btrictnt ss he i» ma.l.- to tremble. What then shall we miserable creatures what shall we sinners Bay, if he bo fears, who so acted? But let him mak- known whether the weight of this great fear he has from himself. It goes on;

V. r. 16. For God maketh my heart wfttandthe Almighty xli. 51. By divine gift the heart of the righteous man is said to be mad.- Boft, in that it is penetrated with the fear of the judgment from Above. For that it is soft, which is capable of being penetrated, but that is haul, which cannot be

18, penetrated. Whence it is said l>\ Solomon, Happy is tin'

1 '• mini that feareih always, but he tlmt hardeneth his heart sluill fall into mischief. \nd so the merit of hi-.head he ascribes not to himself but to his Creator, who says, For God maketh my heart toft, and the Almighty troubleth me. Now tin- hearts of good men are not secure but troubled, in that

Whilst lh. J think on the heavy weight of the Inline reckoning, ih. \ do not seek to enjoy rest here, and thej interrupt their security by the thought of the interior severity. Which p. rsons nevertheless, in the midst of the verj chastenings of

I. ST, often recall their mind to the gifts, and that by comforting they may cheer themselves, amidst this which the) fear, they brine back the eye to the uril'ts which they have received. Book that hope may buoy up hini whom feai bears down, Hence

Ver. 17. Because I hart- not perished on account of the overhanging darkness; neither 1ml h the darkness covered my face.

52. For he, being sel under ihe scourge, dies off from the xlii. health of the body 'on account of the overhanging darkness,' who is for this reason smitten for the past that he may be shielded from future punishments. Foi scourges inflicted on the good either wipe <»ut evil things done, <»r parry off future ones which might have been done. But blessed.lob, forasmuch as when set under the rod he was neither purified from foregoing sins nor shielded from those that threatened, but only had his goodness increased under the stroke, says with confidence, Because I /tare not perished on account of the overhanging darkness, neither hath the darkness covered my face. For he that always had before his eyes the weight of divine dread, the face of his heart the darkness of sin never covered. And he whom no punishments followed, did not lose the health of the body ' on account of the overhanging darkness.1

53. And it is to be noted, that in his own person telling what had gone before, he never says ' neither hath darkness touched my face,1 but ' neither hath darkness covered my nice;1 for often even the hearts of the righteous do thoughts arising defile, and affect them with the gratifications of things earthly, but whereas they are sp< edily put away by the hand of holv discretion, it is quickly brought to pass that darkness should not cover the face of the heart, which was already touching it by unlawful enjoyment; for often in the very sacrifice of prayer urgent thoughts press themselves on us, that they should have force to carry off or pollute what we are sacrificing in ourselves to God with weeping eyes. Whence when Abraham at sunset was offering up the sacrifice, he was Bubjecl to birds setting on, which he diligently drove away, that they might not carry off the sacrifice which had been offered. So let us, when we oiler to God a holocuast upon the altar of our hearts, keep it from unclean birds, that the evil spirits and bad thoughts may not seize upon that

• irhicfa our mind hopes thai ii is offering up to God to a good ■ ' end. It goes mi;

( '. wi\. 1. Timet an not hidden from the Almighty; they

Eternity itself? irhicfa is sometimes described by die an-

-;. Donncemenl o1 ' ons day,' as where it is written, For one day in Thy courts is better than a thousand. I'm sometimes on urn.it iis li n^tli it is represented by the expn s-i f A t'-. l".'. huiiiIm r "i ila\ s, whereof it is written, Thy years are through' (mi nil generations. We then arc wrapped up within the divisions of time, through this that we arc created beings. But God, Who is the Creator of' all things, by His Eternity encompasses our times. And so he Bays, Times are nut hidden from the Almighty; they Unit know Him, know not ///- days; seeing that He, indeed, sees all of ours to the comprehending thereof, but all that is His we an' in no degree able to comprehend. I'm whereas the nature of God is simple, it is very much to he wondered at why he should that lie Himself is one thing and His 'days1 another; -in. e God is that thing which He hath. For He hath eternity, yet I le is 1 himself Eternity. I Ee hath Light, yet 1 [e is Himself His own Light. He hath brightness, yet He is Himself I lis own Brightness. And so in 1 lim it is not one thing to he, and another thing to have. What dot s it mean then to >ay, They Umt know Hi iii, know not His thtijx, except that even they that know Him, do not Know Him as j, t \

For even the) who already hold Him by faith, as yet know I lim not by appearance. Ami whereas He, Whom we truly believe, is Himself eternity to Himself, yet in what way there is that eternity of I lim we know not. For in the thing thai we hear touching the power of the Divine Nature, we arc sometimes ii-. d to imagine such thin— as we know by experience! Thus every ringle thing that begins and ends, is hounded by the beginning and ending. And if it hi' by any little delay ■ d from being ended, ii is called long; on which same length whilst a ni.iii cairn s hack the e\es o| his mind in recollectioil, and Stretches them out before in anticipation, as it were over a space of time he expands them in imagination. Ind when

I hit conceptions of ("><t always imperfect. 259 he hears the eternity of God mentioned in human sort, to his Boo« mind on the stretch lie sits forth long spaces of life, in which - same he may ever measure both what has gone aw ay in the rear as a thing lo be retained in the memory, and what remain:, before as a thing t<> he looked forward to in the intention.

oo. lint as oft( n as in the ease of eternity we have sneh thoughts, we do not as yet know eternity. For that which is neither commenced by a beginning nor finished by an ending, is there, where neither is there looked forward to that which shall come, nor does there pass by that which may he recalled to mind, but that alone is, which is everlasting BEING. Which though we and the Angels with a beginning begin to see to be, yet we see it to be without beginning, where it is to be always without end, in sneh a way, that the mind never extends itself to things following in a sequence, as if things that are were multiplied and made long. For though by the Spirit of Prophecy it is said, The Lord shall reignforever and1 forT£,xo&. worlds and further i alter the manner of Holy Writ, tin: J''.' A8' Spirit spoke in man's way to men, so as to speak of further' so. there, where looking forward could not enter. For eternii\ has no ' further,' which has it always to be, wherein no part of its length goes by that another part should take its place, but the whole at once is Being, that nothing should seem to be wanting to it, which it may not see, in which eternity every thing that is the mind sees to be at once not slow and long. But in speaking such things of the days ot eternity we are trying to see something more than we do see. And so let it be rightly said, They tlmt know I lint know not His days; in that though we already know God bv faith, yet how His Eternity is at once without a past before all ages, without a future after all ages, long without delay, an i everlasting without looking forward, we do not see. Thus blessed Job, whilst hearing a type of Holy Church, (because he restrains himself under a great bridling of knowledge, so as not to be wiser than he ought to be,) and testifying thai the days of (bxl can never be understood, directly brings back the view of the mind to the pride of Heretics who aim to be deeply enlightened, and what they are incapable of taking in at all, they boast that they know in perfect m.1- sure. Thus it goes on;

Joa 94, Vcr. 2. Ot here removt the landmarks; they violently takt i - away flock 9. and A ed them.

vjiv. 56. Whom does he denote by the title of1 others,1 saving

Heretics, win i to the bosom i.r 1 1 i.l \ Church are strangers? For the) the Bame persons remove landmarks, in that the constitutions of the Fathers they by walking awry do overstep. Concerning which Bame constitutions it is written,

\n<l these violently take away the flocks, and feed them, in that all the inexperienced. h\ nicked ]" rSUasionS, they draw in themselves, and with baneful 1< ssons nourish them for slaughtering. For that the ignorant multitudes arc represented by the designation of ' flocks,1 the words of the Spoils, hear witness, Who addresses Hi— Espoused, in the winds. Except thou know thyself, 0 beautiful amongst women, depart forth, and go after the footsteps of the flocks', i.e. 'excepting that by living well, thou knowest thine honour whereby thou art created after the likeness of God, depart forth from the sight of the contemplation of Me, and

»al. ' the follow the life1 of the unilistructed multitudes. It goes on:

\ i r. 3. They drive away the ass of tlte fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge.

xlv.,r>7. Whom do we understand by the fatherless in this place, bat the Elect nt God, who are set in tenderness of mind, are nourished with the ellicaeiou.s grace ot' faith, and do iml yet SOS the face of their Father, Who has already died in their behalf. And there are eery many in the Church, \\h" let certain persons aiming at the things of heaven, having all earthly things in contempt, and though they themselvi B are toiling with all their strength in this world's labours, yet to those whom tiny see panting after heavenly things, from the goods which they possess in this world, liny bring this life's aid and support. Ami though iln\ cannot themselves follow a spiritual life, yel to those hing forth to the things above thej gladly yield means of support For an ass is used to hear the hurtheiis of men. He then is as it Were a Kind of ass,,f the Elect, who whilst yielding himself to earthly course-, carries loads for the U86S of nun \ml often when Heretics turn aside any such pels. ai from the bosom of Holy Church, tiny an as it were

They lake tht?ox*ofiheundowed( 'hurchjogetmorefromher.261 driving off the ass of the fatherless, in thai when they force Bwpa bin into their own misbelief, they drive him away from '-

5*. Hut who is to be understood by the ' widow1 Baying Holy Church, who is bereft in the mean season of the sight of her slain Husband? Now ' the ox' of this ' widow' is every individual preacher. And it often chances that Heretics by their perverted tenets draw over even those very persons that appeared to be preachers. And so they ' take the widow's ox,' when they carry oil' from Holy Church even a person preaching. And it is rightly added here, for a 'pledge. For when a pledge is taken away, one thing indeed is held in our hands, but another yet further is sought for. And eerj often Heretics for this reason try to carry off those thfit preach, that tiny may draw to them their followers likewise. Thus ' the widow's ox is taken away lor a pledge,' when the same person that practised preaching is for this reason earned off, that others may follow after him. By whos< downfall it is very often brought about, that they also go forth from the bosom of Holy Church, who, imbued with godly habits in her, seemed to be meek and humble. Hence it is added;

Ver. 4. They have turned the needy out of the nay; and have oppressed together the meek of the earth.

59. For by the term of ' poverty,' humility is very often xlvi denoted; and very often they that appear gentle and humble, if they have not learnt to maintain discretion, fall by the examples of other men. 1 bit there are some Heretics, who eschew to mix themselves with the multitudes, and seek the retirement of a life of greater privacy, and these very often with the bane of their persuasion poison those that they meet with the more, in proportion as by the claims of their life they the more seem deserving of respect. Concerning whom it is subjoined;

Ver. 5. Others as wild asses1 in the desert go forth to1 onagri their work.

60. For the ' onager' is a wild ass; and in this place Heretics xlvi i. are rightly likened to ' wild asses,1 in that being let loose in their pleasures, they are strange to the fetters of faith and reason. Hence it is written; A wild ass used (<> the wilder- Jcr. 2, i ness that snuffelh up thi windqf hi* love at his pleasure. For he l- i wild mi used i" Lhe wilderness, wrho whilst he does not cultivate the ground ofbia heart w ith excelU nee ol discipline, there dwells, m here there ia do fruit Since he ' anuffi tli up the n ind ofhia love at bis pleasure,' in thai the things that from the desire <>i knowl< dge be conceives in lii- mind, are efficacious

1 1.8, to puff up but not i" < dify. Against whom it i^ said, Kn puffeth up, but charity ed^fieth. Hence here too the words an suitably brought in; they go forth to their work. I r it ia not the work <>r God, but their own work that thej do, whereas they follow not right doctrin* a, but their own

P 5. For it is written, He thai walketh in a perfect way,

So he that does not walk in;i perfect way. si rv< b himself nunc than the Lord, li goes on;

Watching for a prey, they provide bread for their child* ilviii. 61. They v watch for a prey,' who arc always trying t<> st ize the words of the righteous according t" their own I m if. ption, thai by them tbey may provide the bread of error for evil-minded children. Of which some bread it ia said in Solomon, in the words of the woman that bears the figure of

Pro*. 9, heretical wickedness, Stoh '• and bi eaten in secret is pleasant. li »n;

Ver. <i. They reap afield not their own, and the vineyard ■ i him whom they have oppressed by violence they gather.

62. By the name of a 'field1 may be denoted the wide compass of Holy Scripture, and Heretics ' reap' it not being their own, in that they cany away from it sentences which are infinitely removed from their own notions; which same is furthermore described by the title of a 'vineyard,' in that through the sentences "l truth it puts forth the clustei the virtues; tin owner of which vineyard, i. e. the originatoi of Holj Scripture, they as it were 'oppress with violen e,' use they endeavour violentl) to twist and turn a sense <.| I li^ upon' the wordaof 1 1«>1\ ^ N " i i i. as He aaith, But thou ijL^aaijhasi made \l< i<, serve with thy sins, thou hast </n-i>i IA labour in thim iniquity. And thej 'reap the vintage "I words.' that vineyard, in thai thej neap together therefrom clusters ntences after the bent of their own understanding, li and by oppressing in 1 lis members the Author ofit, ' gather the Booi vintage,1 in that in bearing down upon the grace of our -

Creator, whilst they seize off therefrom persons who seemed to be righteous, what else is this but that they carry off * ears1 or ' clusters' of souls: ()f whom it is yet further added;

Ver. 7. They tend men away naked\ taking away their garments, tr/i<> have nn covering in the cold.

<>•$. As garments cover the body, so d<> good works t he 1. soul. Whence it is said to one, Blessed it he thai watcheth Etar.is, and keepeth his garments, test he walk naked, and they see l ' his shame. So Heretics, when in the minds of any they destroy good works, manifestly take away the garments clothing; and it is well said, who have no covering in the colli. For c covering1 lias relation to righteousness, 'cold' to sin. And there are some that in some points commit sin, but in some points follow good works. He then tint does wrong by one set of actions, and practises righteousness by another, what is this man but clothed in the cold? I [e is cold, and he is covered, in that in one part of practice he is made warm for righteousness, in another he is made cold for sin. But whenever Heretics take away their good works from such persons, they bring it to pass that they have not in the cold wherewith to clothe themselves. Therefore it is rightly said, They send men attay naked, taking away their garments, who have no covering in lht> cold; that is, for the cold of -in b\ itself to kill those whom the warmth of a different practice in some degree covered. But it may be, that by the cold there is denoted desire, by the garment practice. And there are great numbers who are still agitated with wrong desires, but striving with themselves in the spirit, they fight against themselves by right works, and with good actions cover that which they perceive through temptation to spring against them of the wrong sort. And so these from the cause that they dt Bire what is evil are cold, and by the act by which they practise what is good, they are clothed. But when Heretics by wrong statements do away with the works of a right faith, what else do they bring to pass but that those that -till feel the cold of carnal desires should die without the clothing ol good works: h proc< i ds;

26 i Men lacking righteousness teek thi aid oj holy Mm tips.

Wet. K. Theft an u,t with the showers of the mamntaisu, mill • mbrace the stom - for want ot <t garment.

04. 'The showers "i toe mountains are 1 1 j < ■ word* ol Ibe learned Of which same ' moontains1 it ia delivered by the

Pa. l.M.M.i. r of ll"l\ Church; / lifted up mine eyes unto the hill*: and bo those persons,* the Bhowers of the mountaina uri,' in that the Btreama of the holy fathers till them to the full. Bui aa we have already said before, 'the garment1 we take for the covering of good practice, with which a man is covered, that in the eyes of Almighty God the nllhinessof his depravity Bhould be clothed over. Whence it ia written,

1 *»!• Blessed are they whose transgression is forgiven, whost sin it red. Whom do we understand by the title of ' the Bton< b1 but the Blrong ones within the bounda of Holy Church, to -•whuiii it ia declared by the first shepherd;)< alt i as lively stones are built u}> a spiritual house. And bo thoae who on the grounds of tin h own practice have do reliance, fly to the protection of the hoi) Martyrs, at their Bacred bodies themselves to \< ura, and entreat, at their intercessions, to obtain pardon*. What then do these do by such Belf-abasement, bul because they lack the covering of good practice 1 embrace the Btonea?' It,ur"e- on;

\ i i.!». They have done viol* nee in preying on thefatht rm, mill have spoiled ih> common folk of the /"/"/■'. 65. When Heretics lack the good fortune of the present lii. life, to weal minds they recommend by words of soft persuasion things that arc wrong; but if the good fortune of the present time at all Bmiles upon them, thej do not cease i ven by violence to draw tho86 they are able. So that 1>\ the title of4 fatherless1 they are denoted who are still delicate, being set within the pale of Sol) Church, whose life their merciful Father by dying preserved, who are already brought forward to a good purpose of mind, but are doI yet confirmed with,ui\ eiii. a« \ in good deeds. The Heretics, then, ' do violence in practice, nod in fact it is (band -^:> speaks of the remission of punishment at much earlier peri 5 5t.< hrys.on ft matter of degrees, and in Horn, in Et.

the Statues, H.v\.\ '..7. where he relates;i vision of

[*h( Church has never departed 88. Processus and Martinianm, he irniii irys. "ii l -:!>■• tin v promised the woman who i Horn. \lii. that m> inter- offered them alms t" do in the l n -i. iii Judgment ' what they could.'

I/i r< in v take the bread of truth from hungering souls. 266 preying on the fatherless,' in that upon the weak minds of hook the faithful they make assault with violence in words and— — - needs. But ' the common folk of the poor1 are the uninstructed multitude, which, if it had the riches of true knowledge, would nevi r part with the covering of its faith.

lor genuine teachers are like a kind of senators within the hounds o( Holy Church, who, while they multiply knowledge in the heart, abound in the true riches in themselves. But Heretics • spoil the common sort of the poor,' in that whilst the learned they cannot, all the unlearned by their pestilent preaching they strip naked of the covering of the faith. It goes on;

\ er. 10. From the naked, cuid those going without clothing and (i hungered) they have taken aunty the curs of corn.

66. \\ hat he calls iidked he repeats in the words without liii. clothing, but it is one thing to be naked and another thing to go naked. Thus every person that does neither what is good nor what is had is naked and idle; but he that does what is evil ' goes naked,1 in that without the covering of good practice he is going by the road of wickedness. But there are some who, as knowing the evil of their wickedness, are in haste to be filled with the bread of righteousness, and hunger to receive the sayings of Holy Scripture; and these, as often as they turn over in thought the sentences of the Fathers for the improvement of the mind, as it were from a good crop they carry ears of corn. And so ' from the naked and those going without clothing and a hungered, I lereticstake away ears of corn;' in that whether any persons be idle and never exercise themselves in any thing good, or whether they are going by the way of shamelessness without the covering of good practice, even if they at any time have now the desire to return to repentance, and long for the food of the word, from those same being a hungered they take away the ears of corn, because in the minds of those persons by mischievous persuasions they destroy the sentences of the Fathers. Nor do we improperly say that the ears of corn signify the sentences of the fathers, in that often whilst they are delivered in forms of figurative diction, we remove the covering of the Letter from them like the chaff of corn, that we may be regaled with the marrow of the Spirit. It goes on;

Heretic* join the tad the winepress of persecution.

tin v but ' tread the winepress?1 Which is allowed i" 1m l.\ the Divine appointment, that the clusters of souls maj flow oo1 mt" BpirituaJ wine, and being divested of the corruptible flesh run into the heavenly realms as into a receptaclei For whilst the unrighteous bear down the righteous, they a- n wen- put clusters of the grape beneath tin ir fa t. Ami the clusters being squeezed run over for the fulness of the heavenly least, which were before as if banging in the freedom of this air. Thus I >.i\ i • l the Prophet, regarding the chastening of Holy Church, writes the Psalm • for the winepn Now all thai bear hard upon the life of the faithful, tread and thirst, in that by doing things that are cruel they arc rendered the more savage; being blinded by just deserts of their ungodliness, they go about t<> do things more grievous the more they have already done grievous things. Bui Heretics, when they have nol themselves the power of persecuting, stir up the men oi this uorlilth.it have power, and incline their minds for the exercising persecution, and inflame them with what persuasions the] are able. And when they see these pursuing cruel measures against the lives of the Catholics, they as it were x si in the rery fervour of the Bun. Therefore it is well said now. They rest <tt mid-day amidst the heaps of thost thai thirst with the winepresses being troddeni in that they join the multitude of those whom they see already employed in hard nica-un B and still thir8ting after harder one-. And whiKt the fervour of these satisfies their desires, thej rest in the deeds of such as in the mid-day. It goes on;

\ < i. 12. They have caused >m n /<> groan out of the cities. k. 68. Whenas cities (civitates are bo called from the people living together, (conviventes,) by the designation of cities1 the churches of the true faith are not unfitly represented, which being Bettled in the different parts of the

They canse yriefin (In cities oj God by hurling llu weak. 287 world constitute one Catholic Church, in which all the Booi faithful thinking what is right concerning God live together in hanimm. For this \. ry harmony of people living together the Lord even by the distinguishing of places set forth in the Gospel, when being about to satisfy the people with five loaves, He bade them lie down by fifties or hundreds in ranks. BO that the crowd of the faithful might take its food at once separate in places, and united in ways. For the rest of the jubilee is contained in a mystery of the number fifty, and fifty is carried twice to be brought to a hundred.

Therefore because there is firsl res! from bad practice, that the soul may afterwards rest move perfectly in the thoughts, some lie down by fifties and some by hundreds, since there arc some that already enjoy the rest of practice from evil deeds, ami there are some that already enjoy the rest of the soul from evil thoughts. Wherefore since Heretics often, attaching themselves to the powerful evil-doers of this world, bear down upon the united life and harmony of the good, it is rightly said in this place, They have caused men to groan from the cities. Whom blessed Job rightly describes as • nun/ in that Ken tics rather go about to put an end to those, who with perfect steps run in the way of God not effeminately and loosely but manfully; who when they see the wound of misbelief inflicted in the mind of the faithful little ones, always fill back to crying out and groaning. And hence it is rightly said,

. b/'/ the soul of the wound*, d crieth, and Gvd suffereth him not to;/" unavenged.

69. For the soul of the righteous is ' wounded." when the Ivi. faith of the weak is unsettled, unto whom this identical thing ' to cry1 is to be now consumed for the downfall of another. lint God does not sutler him to go unavenged, in that though by just appointment he Buffers an unju8l thing to be done, yet He does not let that unjust thing go unavenged which \lc has justly permitted to be done, seeing that at oner by the injustice of the sons of perdition He Bmites c< ii.tin sins of the Elect, which He sees to be in them, and vet b\ Eternal Justice does ool neglect to smite the injustice of chose smiters. Ii goes on,

l/»/; refutt the light t mid then lose siyftt of it.

Job 94, 70. Very often wicked people at nine know the right — tiling tli it they ought to follow, ami yet neglect to follow xj| what thej Know; ami BO they arc 'rebellious against the light,' in that following their desires, they contemn the good that they Know. They then that do wrong not from ignorance] but pride, present the shield of their exaltation against the darts of truth, that they may not be Stricken in heart tO their good. By which same pride of theirs it is brought to pass, that whereas they will not do the things that they Know, neither do they now Know the g 1 they should do, hut that their own blindness should utterly exclude them from the light of truth. And lance it is fitly subjoined,

They know not the ways thereof, nor have returned by the hiii. 71. For they that are first rebels Knowing it, are afterwards blinded so as not to Know; as it is said of certain, Bom. i, Because that when they knew God they glorified Him not as

Qoo\ neither were thankful. Of whom it is added a little v—"- while afterwards, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which we nut convenient. For because they would not glorify Him Whom tiny knew, being given over to a reprobate sense, thej were left to this fate, that they should not any longer Know how to estimate the evil things they did. And it is well said, They know not the ways thereof) neither have returned by the paths thereof.

For a l path' is narrower than a ' way.' Now those that care not to do the plainer good works, never attain to the understanding of the more refined. Hut Almighty God waited that they might go ' by the paths thereof.' Ami would that the) had heen minded even to have ' returned' hy them, that the paths of life which they would not Keep hy innocency they might at least Keep by repentance. Wherein of what great mercifulness are the howels of God is shewn, in that those whom He sees departing from Him, He seeks that tiny may return. Hence after the sins of those doing wrong having heen enumerated, He calls back the Synaj«r.8,4.gogue b) the voice of Prophecy, saying. Therefore at least from tins time cry unto Mey My Father, Thou ait the guide if my youth. 1 1 proceeds;

Tito nicked murderous in his day oj power. '2(>;'

Vcr. 14. The murderer rising with the light killeth the Boos poor and needy y and in the night is as a thief.

72. Whereas the murderer in the killing of his neighbours \\x is wont to come upon them chiefly in the silence of the night, why is it that lie is said in this place to ' rise with the light' in order to ' kill the poor and needy,' whilst ' in the night' he is described ' to be as a thief?' Now forasmuch as the letter in the hare words alone is not consistent with itself, we are called baek for the investigating the hidden meanings of the Spirit. In Holy Scripture the ' morning' is sometimes used to be put for the coming of the Lord's Incarnation, sometimes for the coming of the henceforth dreadful and searching Judge, sometimes for the prosperity of the present life. Thus the coming of the Lord's Incarnation proved a ' morning,' as the Prophet saith, The morning Is. 21, cometh, and also the night; in that both the beginnings of the new light shone forth in the appearing of our Redeemer, and yet the shades of their misbelief were not cleared off from the hearts of the persecutors. Again, by the ' morning' the coming of the Judge is denoted. Whence it is said by the Psalmist, Early I will destroy all the Vs. ioi, niched of the land. As also when personating the Elect, " he says, In the morning will I stand in 'Thy presence, and p*. 5,3. trill look up. Again, by the ' morning' this life's prosperity is represented; as where it is said by Solomon, Woe to thee,~EccAO, O land,ivlien thy Kiny is a child, and thy princes eat in (he morning. For whereas the morning is the first part of the day and the evening the last, we ought not ever to be regaled by this life's prosperity which goes first, but by those things which at the end of the day, that is at the termination of the world, follow after. Thus those ' cat in the morning,1 who by this world's successes are lifted up, and whilst they passionately interest themselves with present things, pay no heed to the things of the future. For whosoever 1 John hateth his brother is a murderer. So the ' murderer rises'5- l6, i!]) with the earliest dawn,' in that every wicked man is set up in the glory of the present life, and bears down the life of those, who whilst they thirst after the glory to follow, as it were anxiously look out to be filled in the evening. For the bad man in this world whilst seizing on the dignity of

M enacting ol what is i nl, m proportion as there ia do man be Lores in the bowels ofcharitj • For as often as in the thoughts "l his heart In- ia maddened against tin- good, bo often does be kill the life of the innocent

And if, God ordaining it. he Buddenlj lose the glorj of the power he baa gotten, hi changes hi^ place but not his disposition, for he directly falls awaj t<> that, which is subjoined,.///'/ in the night it as u thief. For in the night «>i bis tribulation and Bunkennesa, though be has no power to |iut forth the hand of cruelty, yet t" those whom be seea to l). empowered, he recommends counsels of wickedness, and a about hither and thither, and prompts whatever things be ia able toward the injuring of the good. And be is rightly called 'as a thief,' because in all those verj evil counsels of Ins he dreads lest he Bbould be caught out. II. then thai towards the poor and needj is a murderer in the morning, in the night like a thief is hidden out of Bight, in that ever) bad man, who in this life's prosperity by bearing down kills the life of the humble, being in adversity and abasement, bi evil counsels does mischiei in a concealed way, and what he is unable t" accomplish by himself, that he puts in practice bj attaching himself to the powerful cues "I this world. It goe8 <>n:

lx. 7 i. Then- is nothing to hinder bul that tliis may he under- Btood even afiter the latter, seeing thai hi' who desires t" commit adultery, seeks out the dark, lint whereas il ia a sentence uttered againal '. it i^ mi el that this thing which ia declared be understood in a mystical sense. Tims I '.ml sai s. I i we are not a* many Hmi adulterate* ih<- /cord

1 Vui.v of God. For the adulterer seeks not offspring, bul pleasure,,,„,,,; in the act of carnal copulation. And every bad man, and th.it i- also a Bla\ <• (.. vain-glorj. is rightlj Baid t<» ' adulterate1 the word "i tind, because bj the sacred word of Revelation he desires not i<> beget children to God, bul to exhibit hia own knowledge. For he that is drawn i • i Bpeas b) lust "i glory, bestows hia pains rathi r on gratification than the pro dnction "t children \ in 1 it is rightly added there, No >y shall see me; because the adultery which is committed in Boo« tlit^ interior is eery hard indeed that it should be penetrated by the eye of man. Which same the froward soul commits with the more assurance, in proportion as it does not fear l)i sing Been 1>\ men, whom it may blush at. Moreover it is to be known that as he that commits adultery joins t<> himself unlawfully the flesh <>f another man's wife, so all heretics, while they carry off the faithful soul into their own error, are as it were bearing off another's wife, in this way: because the soul which is spiritually wedded t" God and joined to Him as it' in a kind of bridech amber of love, when by wicked persuasions it is led on into corruptness of doctrine, is as it were like the wife of another defiled by the corrupter. And it is well added;

And disguise th his face.

75. It is for this reason that the adulterer ' disguises his lxi face,1 that he may not be known. Now every man who either in thinking: or in acting lives badly, ' disguises his face,' because by corruptness in doctrine or in practice he is tending to this, that he should not be able to be recognised in the Judgment by Almighty God. Hence He shall say to certain persons at the end, / never knew you; depart from M<\ >/<' that /fork iniquity. And what is the' lace' of the"'' human heart, save the likeness of God? which same face the bad man ' disguiseth,' that he may not be able to be known, when his life he discomposes either by bad deeds, or by the error of misbelief. But every such person when he sees the righteous upheld by this world's good fortune, never ventures to prompt what is wrong to them, but it' any storm of adversity (alls upon th >se persons, he directly breaks out into words of pestilent persuasion. And hence it is added;

Ver. 16. hi the dink they <li<i through housess which they had marked for themselves in tht day time; they know not I he light.

"a. For what is there h< re denoted by the title of houses' Ixii. but consciences, wherein we dwell, when we do any thing, busying ourselve8 with it r Whence ii i> said to one <>n being healed. Return to thine own house, and shew hou I great things (l<>d hath done unto thee', i.e. henceforth.'' secure from the evil habit of sin, turn back to thy conscience,

272 '/'/" wich dchi ■ /.' d and alarmed by good men't tprospt rity.

.i..h _m.:iii<l be thou rooted into tin- roice of preaching.' And m

"'"' when in the present world the rigfateona are brightened by the day of prosperity, to those persons the leaden of raise teneta are afraid to recommend what is wrong. Bnt they rch out counsels, with all care they await the abasement of their prosperity, that in the darkness of adversity they may by ili.ir persuading dig through the minds of those, to whom whilst tiring prosperously tin \ never presumed to apeak wrong things, whom as soon as tbej see under adversity tin \ rise up and maintain, that no otm rwise sai ing in d of their sins those Buffer such things; because loving the glory of the present life alone, the stroke thej take for condemnation. S.» l in the dark they dig through In. use-,' in that the minds of the good by tin ir mere misfortune alone to corrupt is their endeavour. Now it is well said, tehich they l<<i<l marked in the day (»sse,in that when they saw the righteous to have been made to Bhine with the light of prospt i it \, because they were prevented Bpeaking, they were only at libertj for concocting malevolent designs againsl them. Hut whether it be heretics or any bad persons, they rejoice when ih, \ v,, the righteous in s depressed condition, when as ul,,n they see those break forth to the height ot power fine ruling, they are confounded, they are filled with tears, they arc consumed with misery. And hence it is added,

Ver. 17. If the morning suddenly appear t it is to them i us the shadow of death. lxiii. 77. F«.r the wicked look for the afflicting of the righteous, and long tO see them in distreBB, and ' in the dark 1 1 1. \ dig through houses,1 when the heart of the innocent but weak ones th. \ corrupt in the season of then casting down by the iroret mode of discourse* But it commonly happens that win n thej se< the good in a Bunken Btate, on a Budden, by the secret aj.point men t of find, any righteous one th.n seemed to be borne down is upheld by some share of (he world's power, and the prosperity of the pn Bent life smiles on him, whom the darkness of adversity before overlaid. Which same prosperity of that man when the wicked behold, as ii has I,,, i, said, the\ are troubled. For direcUj they nun back in their own hearts, they bring bacli before their minds' eye whatevei the) remember themselves to have done amiss, thej ilu wicked love this dark flute as ij it werv light. 276

Fear for even particular sinful habit to be avenged in them, i1""* made t<> shine, the had in. in who dreads i<> be corrected i^ darkened in sorrow. And so it is well said. If the morning suddenly appi ar,they l h ink if in the shadow of death, I'm 'the morning1 is the mind of tin' righteous man, which quitting the darkness of its sin. now breaks out into the light of eternity. as it i^ -aii'i of Holy Chun h likewise; Who is she ilmi leokefk Song ■■! forth as the morning f Therefore in the same measure that ],,' every righteous person shining with the light of righteously ss is in the present life reared to a height with honours, in the Bame measure befori - <>!' the wicked comes the ' darkness of death,1 in that they who remember thai they have done had things are in (ear of being corrected. lor they desire always to have a loose given them in their iniquities, to live free from correction, and from sin to have delight; whose fatal mirth is itself appropriately described in the words that ate directly introduced,

And tin-)/ walk so in darkness, as in the light.

78. For with a fro ward mind they delight in deeds of lxiv. wickedness, through their sin they are day by day being dragged to punishment, and are full of assurance. Hence it is said by Solomon, And there err wicked men Unit are o#Eccl.8, secure as if they had the thai* of the righteous. Concerning ' whom it is written again, Who rejoice t<> <l<> evil, <m<l delight in the most wicked doings. Thus 'they walk in darkness as in the light.' in that they so delight in the night of sin as if the light of righteousness spread around them. Or otherwise, whereas darkness not inappropriately represents the present life, wherein the consciences of other men are not seen, whilst our light is th, eternal land, in which when we look at fates, our hearts within us we mutually see; ami because the wicked so love the present life, and embraci these times of exile, as if they already reigned in their native country, it is lightly said, They walk in darkness as iii tinlight, in that they are as full of gladness in the present state of blindness, as if they already enjoyed the light of the eternal country. It goes on;

"!». From tlie plural Dumber he returns to the singular, lxv.

numbers b^ imitating him follow after, but tin- fault is pn« marily his, who lo the bad men following after furnished examples of wickedness; and hence th< sentence frequently returns lo htm who was the leader in Bin. Non the Burface of water ia carried hither and thither b) tin breath of the air, ami not being steadied with any fixedness ia pal in motion ev< rj where. And so the mind of the wicked man is ' lighter than the Burface of water,1 in thai ever) breath of temptation that touches it. draws it on without any retarding of resistance. For ii we imagine the unstable heart of any bad man, what do we discover but a surface ol wati r set in the w ind: For that man one w hile the bn ath of anger drives on, now tin breath of pride, now the breath of lust, now the breath of envy, now the breath of falsehood forces along, tad so In is • light above the Burface of the water,' whom ever) wind of error when it comes drive8 before it. N\ hence too it i- well said by the Psalmist, <> my Goa\ make them like a wheel, at the itubble before the wind. For the wicked are 'made like a wheel,' in that being sent into the round of labour, whilst tin things that arc before the) neglect, and those which ought to be given up they follow, in the hind parts thei are lifted up, and in the fore parts they fall. And the) are likewise rightly compared to ' stdbble before the face ot the wind,1 in that, when the breath of temptation comes upon them, having no principle of gravity to rest upon, the) are only lifted uj> to be dashed to the ground, and they often account themselves of some merit in proportion as the blast of error bears them on high. It goes on;

1 1 1 their portion be cursed in the earth; and let him not /in//, In/ the way of the vineyards* 'xv' so. Whoever in the present life doea what is right and units with misfortunes, is set n indeed to travail in adver sii\, but for the blessing "l the everlasting inheritance he is finished complete; but whoever does what is had and yet mi its with good fortune, and docs not even b) the bountifulnegfi of blessings withhold himself from wicked deeds, ia seen indeed i" prosper, but is tied fast by the bond of everlasting cursing. Hence it is right!) said now, Let Hair portion be cursed in th\ earthy in that though he is blessed for a time,

\ oi guided by tin Churchy they go from error to i rror. 275