VOLUME I - THE
FIRST PART.
________
BOOK V.
He explains the remainder of chap. iii. from ver. 20. the
whole of chap. iv. and the first two verses of chap. v.
[i]
1. THOUGH the
appointments of God are very much hidden from sight, why it is that in this
life it is sometimes ill with the good and well with the wicked, yet they
are then still more mysterious when it both goes well with the good here
below, and ill with the wicked. For when it goes ill with the good, and
well with the bad, this perhaps is found to be for that both the good, if
they have done wrong in any thing, receive punishment here that they may be
more completely freed from eternal damnation, and the wicked meet here with
the good things, which conduce to this life, that they may he dragged to
unmitigated torments hereafter. And hence these words are spoken to the
rich man, when burning in hell, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime
receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things. [Luke 16,
25] But when it is well with the good here and ill with the wicked, it is
very doubtfu1, whether the good for this reason receive good things, that
they may be set forward and advance to something better, or whether by a
just and secret appointment they receive here the reward of their deeds,
that they may prove void of the rewards of the life to come; and whether
afflictions for this reason come upon the wicked, in order that by
correcting, they may be the means of preserving them from everlasting
punishments, or whether their punishment only begins here, that, one day to
receive completion, it should lead to the final torments of hell.
Therefore, because in the midst of the divine appointments the human mind is
closed in by the great darkness of its uncertainty, holy men, when they see
this world's prosperity to be their lot, are disquieted with fearful
misgivings. For they fear lest they should receive here the fruits of their
labours. They fear lest Divine Justice should see in them a secret wound,
and in loading them with external blessings should withhold them from the
interior. But when they exactly consider, that they never do good saving
that they may please God only, nor triumph in the very exuberance of their
prosperity, then indeed they less fear hidden judgments to their hurt in
their good fortune, yet they ill endure that good fortune, in that it
impedes the interior purpose of the heart, and they reluctantly submit to
the caresses of this present life, forasmuch as they are not ignorant that
they are in some degree retarded thereby in their interior longing. For
honour in this world is more engrossing than the contempt thereof, and the
rise of prosperity weighs upon them more than the pressure of a hard
necessity. For sometimes when a man is outwardly straitened by the latter,
he is the more entirely set at liberty to fix his desire upon the interior
good; but by the other the mind, while forced to yield to the will of many,
is kept back from the race of its own desire. And hence it is that holy men
are in greater dread of prosperity in this world than of adversity. For
they know that while the mind is under soft and beguiling impressions, it is
sometimes apt to give itself up to be drawn away after external objects.
They know that oftentimes the secret thought of the heart so beguiles it,
that it does not see how it is changed. And they consider too, what the
eternal blessings are which they desire, and they see what a mere nothing
all is that courts and smiles upon us after the manner of things temporal,
and their mind bears the worse all the prosperity of this world, in
proportion as it is pierced with love of heavenly happiness; and it is
planted so much the more erect in contempt of the delightfulness of the
present life, the more it perceives that this is beguiling it by stealth in
the disregard of eternal glory. Hence when blessed Job, having his eye
fixed upon the rest above, had said, The small and great are there; and
the servant is free from his master. He therefore adds,
Ver. 20. Wherefore
is light given to one that is in misery?
[ii]
2. In holy Scripture
prosperity is sometimes represented by the title of light, and this world's
adversity by the name of night. Hence it is well said by the Psalmist,
As is its darkness, so also is its light. [Ps 139, 12. Vulg.] For as
holy men thus trample upon the prosperity of this state by contemning it, as
also they sustain its adverse fortune by trampling upon it, by an exceeding
highmindedness laying under their feet alike the good and the ill of the
world, they declare, As its darkness, so also is its light. As
though they said in plain words, ‘as its griefs do not force down the
resoluteness of our fixed mind, so neither can its caresses corrupt the
same.’ But since these last, as we have said above, though they fail to
lift up the mind of the righteous, do yet cause them disquietude; holy men,
who know themselves to be in misery in this wearisome exile, shrink from
shining in its prosperity. Hence it is well said at this time, Wherefore
is light given to one that is in misery? for ‘light is given to those
in misery,’ when they, who, by contemplating things above, see themselves to
be in misery in this our pilgrimage, have the brightness of transitory
prosperity bestowed upon them; and when they are deploring grievously, that
they are slow in returning to their country, they are over and above
constrained to bear the burthen of honours. The love of eternal things is
crushing them, and at the same time the glory of temporal things smiles upon
them. When these reflect what the things are, which keep them down below,
and what those are that they see not of the things above, what those are
that set them up on earth, and what they have lost of heavenly blessings,
they are stung with regret of their prosperity. For though they see that
they are never wholly overwhelmed thereby, yet they anxiously consider that
their thoughts are divided between the love of God, and the gifts of His
hand; and hence when he says, Wherefore is light given to him that is in
misery? he subjoins forthwith,
And life unto the bitter in soul?
[iii]
3. For all the Elect
are bitter in soul, in that either they never cease to punish themselves by
weeping for the transgressions they have committed, or they afflict
themselves with regrets, that banished here far from the face of their
Creator, they are not yet admitted to the bliss of the eternal country; and
of their hearts it is well said by Solomon, The heart knoweth its own
bitterness, and a stranger shall not intermeddle with his joy. For the
hearts of the reprobate are likewise in bitterness, for that they are
afflicted even by their very bad passions themselves. Yet they know not of
this very bitterness, because having voluntarily blinded their own eyes,
they cannot estimate what they are undergoing; but on the contrary the heart
of a good man knoweth its own bitterness, for it knows the hard condition of
this place of exile, wherein it is cast forth to be torn in pieces; and it
sees how tranquil is all that it has lost, how troubled the condition it has
fallen into. Yet this embittered heart is one day brought back to its own
joy, and a stranger shall not intermeddle therewith, in that he, who
now casts himself forth without, away from this sorrow of the heart, in his
aims, will then remain shut out from its interior festival.
4. They then that are
in bitterness of soul, long to be wholly dead to the world, that, as
they themselves aim at nothing in this present world, so they may not
henceforth be fettered by the world with any ties; and it very often happens
that a person has already ceased to retain the world in his affections, but
the world still ties down that person by its business, and he indeed is
already dead to the world, but the world is not yet dead to him. For in a
certain sense the world, still alive, regards [D. ‘desires him’ (as below)]
him, so long as it strives to carry him away in its actions, when he is bent
another way. Hence, since Paul both himself utterly contemned the world,
and saw that he was become such an one as this world could not possibly
desire, having burst the bonds of this life, and being henceforth at
liberty, he rightly exclaims, The world is crucified to me, and I unto
the world. For ‘the world was crucified to him,’ because being now dead
to his affections it was no longer an object of love to him; and he had
likewise ‘crucified himself to the world,’ in that he studied to shew
himself thereto in such a light, that, as though dead, he might never be
coveted by it. For if there be a dead person, and one alive in the same
place, though the dead sees not the living, yet the living person does see
the dead, but if both are dead, neither can possibly see the other. Thus
he, who no longer loves the world, but yet even against his will is loved by
the world, though he himself being as it were dead sees nothing of the
world, yet the world not being dead sees him; but if he neither himself
retains the world in his affections, nor again is retained in the affections
of the world, then both are mutually dead to one another; in that whereas
neither seeks the other, it is as if the dead heeded not the dead.
Therefore, because Paul neither sought the glory of the world, nor was
himself sought out by the same, he glories both in being himself crucified
to the world, and in the world being crucified to him. Now because there
are many that desire this, who yet do not altogether rise up to the very
extreme point of such a state of deadness, they may well lament and say;
Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter
in soul. For ‘life is given to those in bitterness,’ when the glory of
this world is bestowed upon the sad and sorrowful, in which same life they
do not spare themselves the chastening of most urgent fear; for though they
do not themselves hold to the world, yet they still dread being such as the
world holds to; and except they were living to it in some slight degree, it
would never surely love them for their serviceableness to its interests;
just as the sea keeps living bodies in her own bosom, but dead ones she
forthwith casts out from herself. It proceeds;
Ver. 21. Which
long for death, but it cometh not.
[iv]
5. For they desire to
mortify themselves wholly, and to be entirely extinct of the life of
temporal glory, but by the secret appointments of God they are often forced
either to take the lead in command, or to busy themselves with dignities
imposed on them, and in these circumstances they unceasingly look for a
perfect mortification, but this expected death cometh not; in that the use
of them is still alive to temporal glory even against their will, though
they submit to that glory from the fear of God, and while they inwardly
retain their aim after piety, they outwardly discharge the functions of
their station, that they should neither quit their perfection in their
inward purpose, nor set themselves against the dispensations of their
Creator in a spirit of pride. For by a marvellous pitifulness of the Divine
Nature it comes to pass, that, when he, who aims at contemplation with a
perfect heart, is busied with human affairs, his perfect mind at once
profits many that are weaker, and in whatever degree he sees himself to be
imperfect, he rises therefrom more perfect to the crowning point of
humility. For sometimes by the very same means, whereby holy men suffer
loss in their own longings, they bear off the larger profits by the
conversion of others, for, while it is not permitted them to give themselves
thereto as they desire, it is their grateful office to carry off along with
themselves others, whom they are associated with. And so it is effected by
a wonderful dispensation of pity, that by the same means, whereby they seem
to themselves to be the more undone [destructiores], they rise with
richer resources to the building up [constructionem] of their
heavenly Country.
6. Now sometimes they
fail to attain the desires, that they have conceived, for this reason, that
by the very interposing of the delay, they may be made to expand to the same
objects with an enlarged embrace of the mind, and by a striking dispensation
it is effected that that, which if fulfilled might perhaps become thin and
poor, being kept back, gains growth. For they desire so to mortify
themselves that, if it may be vouchsafed, they may already perfectly behold
the face of their Creator, but their desire is delayed that it may gain
increase, and it is fostered in the bosom of its slow advancement that it
may grow larger. Hence the Bride, panting with desire of her Bridegroom,
justly cries out, By night on my bed I sought him, whom my soul loveth: I
sought him, but I found him not. [Cant. 3, 1] The Spouse hides himself
when He is sought, that not being found He may be sought for with the more
ardent affection, and she in seeking is withheld, that she cannot find Him,
in order that being rendered of larger capacity by the delay she undergoes,
she may one day find a thousandfold what she sought. Hence when blessed Job
said, Which long for death, but it cometh not; that he might the more
minutely particularize this very desire of those seekers, he thereupon adds;
And dig for it as for hid treasures.
[v]
7. For all men that
seek for a treasure by digging, the deeper they have begun to go, kindle to
the work with the greater energy; for in the same proportion that they
reckon themselves to be now, at this moment, approaching the buried
treasure, they strive with increased efforts in digging for it. They, then,
that perfectly desire the mortification of themselves, seek it as they that
dig for hid treasures, for the nearer they are brought to their object, the
more ardent they shew themselves in the work. Therefore they never flag in
their labour, but increase the more in the exercise thereof; for that in the
degree, that they reckon on their reward as now nearer at hand, they spend
themselves the more gladly in the work. Hence Paul says well to some, that
were seeking the hid treasure of the eternal inheritance, Not forsaking
the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is; but consoling
[V. consolantes] one another, and so much the more as ye see the
day approaching. [Heb. 10, 25] For to give consolation to the labourer,
is to continue labouring in like manner to him, the sight of a fellow
labourer being the alleviation of our own labour, as, when a companion joins
us in a journey, the way itself is not shortened, yet the toilsomeness of
the way is alleviated by the society of a companion. Therefore, whereas
Paul looked for their consoling one another in their labours, he added these
words, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching. As though
he said, ‘let your labour increase the more, that now the reward of your
labour itself is nigh at hand.’ As if he expressed himself in plain words,
‘Do ye seek a treasure? Then ye should dig for it with the greater ardour,
that ye have by digging reached by this time close to the gold ye were in
quest of.’
8. Though this, that
he says, Which long for death and it cometh not; and dig for it as for
hid treasures, may be taken in another sense also. For in that we
cannot perfectly die to the world, unless we bury ourselves within the
invisible depths of our own heart from all things visible, they that long
for the mortifying of themselves, are well compared to those that dig for a
treasure. For we die to the world by means of an unseen wisdom, of which it
is said by Solomon, If thou seekest her as silver, and diggest for her as
for hid treasures. [Prov. 2, 4] Since wisdom lieth not on the surface
of things, for it is deep in the unseen. And we then lay hold on the
mortification of ourselves, in attaining wisdom, if, relinquishing visible
things, we bury ourselves in the invisible; if we so seek for her in the
digging of the heart, that every imagination, which the mind conceives, of
an earthly nature, she puts from her with the hand of holy discernment, and
acquaints herself with the treasure of virtue which was hidden from her.
For she soon finds a treasure in herself, if she thrust from her that heap
of earthly thoughts, which lay as a wretched load upon her. Now because he
describes death coveted as a treasure, he rightly subjoins;
Ver. 22. Which
rejoice exceedingly and are glad, when they can find the grave.
[vi]
9. For as the grave
is that place wherein the body is buried, so heavenly contemplation is a
kind of spiritual grave wherein the soul is buried. For in a certain sense
we still live to this world, when in spirit we roam abroad therein. But we
are buried in the grave as dead, when being mortified in things without, we
secrete ourselves in the depths of interior contemplation. And therefore
holy men never cease to mortify themselves with the sword of the sacred Word
to the importunate calls of earthly desires, to the throng of unprofitable
cares, and to the din of obstreperous tumults, and they bury themselves
within before God's presence in the bosom of the mind. Hence it is well
said by the Psalmist, And Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy
presence from the strife of tongues. [Ps. 31, 20] Which though it be
not until afterwards fully brought to pass, is yet even now in a great
measure accomplished, when with the feeling of delight they are caught away
into the inward parts from the strife of temporal desires, so that, whilst
their mind wholly expands in every part to the love of God, it is not rent
and torn by any useless anxiety. Hence it is that Paul had seen those
disciples as dead, and as it were buried in the grave by contemplation, to
whom he said, Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
[Col. 3, 3] He, then, that seeks for death rejoices when he finds the
grave; for whoso desires to mortify himself, is exceeding joyful on finding
the rest of contemplation; that being dead to the world he may lie hid, and
bury himself in the bosom of interior love from all the disquietudes of
external things.
10. But since in
addition to this, that he speaks of a treasure being dug up, the finding of
a grave is further introduced, it is needful that our mind's eye should keep
this in view, that the ancients buried their dead with their wealth. He,
then, that seeks for a treasure, ‘rejoices when he has found the grave,’ in
that when we, in quest of wisdom, turn the pages of Holy Writ, when we trace
out the examples of those that have gone before us, we as it were derive joy
from the grave, for we find the mind's wealth among the dead, who, because
they [several Mss. ‘for they who.’] are perfectly dead to this world, rest
in secret with their riches beside them. And so he is made rich by the
grave, who, following the example of the righteous, is raised up in the
excellency of contemplation. But when he asks, saying, Wherefore is
light given to him that is in misery? he intimates the reason for which
he ventures to put such a question, by saying,
Ver. 23. Why is
light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath encompassed with
darkness?
[vii]
11. For ‘man's way is
hid to him,’ in that though he already takes cognizance of the kind [qualitate]
of life that he is leading, he does not yet know to what issue it tends.
Though his affections are now fixed on things above, though he seeks them
with all his longings, he is yet ignorant whether he shall persevere in the
same longings. For forsaking our sins we strive after righteousness, and we
know whence we are come, but we know nothing whereunto we may arrive. We
know what we were yesterday, but we cannot tell what we may chance to be
to-morrow. ‘Man's way then is hid to him,’ in that he so sets the foot of
his labour, that, this notwithstanding, he can never foresee the issue of
the accomplishment thereof.
12. Now there is also
another ‘hiding of our way.’ For there are times when we are ignorant,
whether the very things which we believe we do aright, are rightly done in
the strict Judge's eye. For, as we have also said a long way above, it
often happens that an action of ours, which is cause for our condemnation,
passes with us for the aggrandizement of virtue. Often by the same act,
whereby we think to appease the Judge, He is urged to anger, when favourable.
As Solomon bears witness, saying, There is a way which seemeth right
unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of death. [Prov. 14, 12]
Hence, whilst holy men are getting the mastery over their evil habits,
their very good practices even become an object of dread to them, lest, when
they desire to do a good action, they be decoyed by a semblance of the
thing, lest the baleful canker of corruption lurk under the fair appearance
of a goodly colour. For they know that they are still charged with the
burthen of corruption, and cannot exactly discern the things that be good.
And when they bring before their eyes the standard of the final Judgment,
there are times when they fear the very things which they approve in
themselves; and indeed they are in mind wholly intent on the concerns of the
interior, yet alarmed from uncertainty about their doings, they know not
whither they are going. Hence after he had said, Wherefore is light
given to one that is in misery? it is with propriety added, to a man
whose way is hid? As though the words were, ‘Why has that man this
life's success for his portion, who knows not of his course of conduct, in
what esteem it is held by his Judge. And it is rightly subjoined, And
whom God hath encompassed with darkness. For man is ‘encompassed with
darkness,’ since howsoever he may burn with heavenly longings, he is
ignorant how it goes with him in the interior. And he is in great fear lest
aught concerning himself should meet him in the Judgment, which is now
hidden from himself in the aspirations of holy fervour. ‘Man is encompassed
with darkness,’ in that he is closed in by the clouds of his own ignorance.
Is not that man ‘encompassed with darkness,’ who most often neither
remembers the past, nor finds out the future, and scarce knows the present?
That wise man had seen himself to be encompassed with darkness, when he
said, And with labour do we find the things that are before us; but the
things that are in heaven who shall search out? [Wisd. 9, 16]
The Prophet beheld
himself ‘encompassed with’ such ‘darkness,’ when he was unable to discover
the interior springs of His inmost economy, saying, He made darkness His
secret place. [Ps. 18, 11] For the Author of our being, in that, when
we were cast out into this place of exile, He took from us the light of His
vision, buried Himself from our eyes as it were ‘in the secret place of
darkness.’
13. Now as often as
we attentively regard this same darkness of our blind estate, we stir up the
mind to lamentation. For it weeps for the state of blindness, which it is
under without, if it remember in humility that it is bereft of light in the
interior, and when it looks to the darkness which surrounds it, it is wrung
with ardent longing for the inward brightness, and rent with thought's whole
effort, and that light above, which as soon as created it relinquished, now
debarred, it makes the object of its search. Whence it very often happens
that that radiance of inward joy bursts out amidst those very tears of
piety; and that the mind, which had lain torpid in a state of blindness,
being fed with sighs, receives strength to gaze at the interior brightness.
Whence it rightly proceeds,
Ver. 24. For my
sighing cometh before I eat.
[viii]
14. For the soul's
‘eating’ is its being fed with the contemplations of the light above, and
thus it sighs before it eats, in that it first travails with the groanings
of sorrow, and afterwards is replenished with the cheer of contemplation.
For except it sigh, it eats not, in that he that refuses to humble himself,
in this exile we are in, by the groanings of heavenly desires, never tastes
the delights of the eternal inheritance. For all they are starved of the
food of truth, that take joy in the emptiness of this scene of our
pilgrimage, but he ‘sighs,’ that ‘eats,’ because all who are touched with
the love of truth, are at the same time fed with the refreshments of
contemplation. The Prophet ‘ate sighing,’ when he said, My tears
have been my bread. [Ps. 42, 3] For the soul is fed by its own grief,
when it is lifted up to the joys above by the tears, which it sheds, and
indeed it bears within its sorrowful sighings, but it receives food for its
refreshing, the more the force of its love gushes out in weeping. And hence
blessed Job still goes on with the violence of that weeping, adding,
And my roarings are poured out like overflowing waters.
[ix]
15. Waters, that
overflow, advance with a rush, and swell with billows evermore increasing.
Now whilst the Elect set the judgments of God before the eyes of their mind,
whilst they dread the secret sentence concerning them, whilst they trust to
attain to God, but yet are in fear lest they should not attain, while they
call to mind their past doings, which they weep over, whilst they shrink
from the events that still await them, in that they are unknown, there are
gathered in them as it were a kind of billows, as of water, which spend
themselves in the roarings of grief, as upon a shore beneath them. The holy
man then saw how great are the billows of our thoughts in our penitential
mourning, and he called the very waves of our grief overflowing waters,
saying, And my roarings are like overflowing waters. Now there are
times when the righteous, as we likewise said a little above, even in the
midst of their very good works, are affrighted and give themselves to
continual mourning, lest they should offend by some secret misdemeanour
therein. And when God's scourges suddenly take hold of them, they imagine
that they have done despite to the grace of their Maker, in that being
either impeded by infirmities, or weighed down with sadness, they are not
ready to perform works of mercy to their neighbours; and their heart turns
to mourning, for that the body is become slack to its devout ministration.
And whereas they see that they are not adding to their reward, they fear
that their past deeds also have been displeasing. Hence when blessed Job
described his roaring like overflowing waters, he thereupon added,
Ver. 25. For the
thing that I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I am afraid of
is come unto me.
[x]
16. The righteous
therefore lament and fear, and torment themselves with bitter lamentations,
because they dread to be given over, and though they rejoice in their own
correction [correptio], the correction itself disturbs their fearful
spirits, lest the evil, which they are undergoing should not be the merciful
stroke of discipline, but the righteous visitation of vengeance. And the
Psalmist reflecting thereupon says with justice, Who knoweth the power of
Thine anger? [Ps. 90, 11] For the power of God's anger cannot be
conceived by our faculties, in that His dispensation, by its undiscerned
provisions concerning us, often takes us up in that very point where it is
counted to abandon us, and in the very thing wherein it is supposed to take
us up, it forsakes us. So that very often that is rendered grace to us,
which we call wrath, and that is sometimes wrath, which we account to be
grace. For strokes of affliction are the correction of some men, but others
they lead to a frenzy of impatience, and there are some whom prosperity, in
that it soothes them, calms from a state of madness, while there are others
whom, seeing that it uplifts them, it wholly turns adrift from every hope of
conversion. Now vice forces all men down beneath, but some the more easily
return from thence, that they take the greater shame to themselves to have
fallen thereunto. And attainments in virtue in every case raise men on
high, yet sometimes some men, in that swelling thoughts are engendered from
their virtues, fall down by the very pathway of their rise. And so
forasmuch as the power of God's wrath is little known, under all
circumstances it must needs be unceasingly feared. It proceeds;
Ver. 26. Did I not
dissemble it? Did I not hold my peace? Did I not rest quiet? Yet wrath
came upon me.
[xi]
17. Though in every
situation of life, we sin in thought, word, and deed, the mind is then
hurried along in all these three ways with the greater freedom from control,
when it is lifted up with this world's good fortune. For when it sees that
it surpasses other men in power, feeling proudly, it thinks high things of
itself, and when no opposition is offered by any to the authority of its
word, the tongue has the more uncontrolled range along precipitous paths;
and while it is permitted to do all that it likes, it reckons all that it
likes to be lawfully permitted it. But good men, when supported by this
world's power, bring themselves under severer discipline of the mind, in
proportion as they know that, from the intolerance of power, they are
persuaded to unlicensed acts, as if they were more licensed to do them [vid.
b. xx.c.73.]. Thus they refrain their hearts from surveying their own
glory, they check their tongues from unrestrained talk, they guard their
actions from restless roaming. For it often happens that they that are in
power lose the good things that they do, because they entertain high
conceits, and while they reckon themselves to be of use for every purpose,
they blast the merit even of the usefulness they have laid out. For in
order that a man's deeds may be rendered of greater worth, they must needs
always appear worthless in his own esteem, lest the same good action elevate
the heart of the doer, and in elevating overthrow its author by self
elation, more effectually than it helps the very persons for whom it may
chance to be rendered. For it is hence that the King of Babylon, while he
was secretly revolving in his own mind, in the pride of his heart, saying,
Is not this great Babylon which I have builded? was suddenly turned
into an irrational beast. For he lost all that he had been made, because he
would not humbly keep back what he had done; and because in the Pride of his
heart he lifted himself up above men, he lost that very human faculty, which
he had in common with man. And often they that are in power burst out at
random into insulting language towards their dependants, and this merit,
viz. that they serve their office of authority with vigilance, they lose by
reason of their forwardness of speech, plainly considering with overlittle
dread the words of the Judge, that he who shall say to his brother
without cause Thou fool, [Matt. 5, 22] makes himself obnoxious to hell
fire. Often they that are in power, whereas they know not how to refrain
lawful actions, slide into such as are unlawful, and unquiet. For he alone
is never brought down in things unlawful, who is careful to restrain himself
at times even from things lawful. It is with the bands of this selfsame
restraint that Paul shewed himself to be bound for good, when he says,
All things are lawful to me, but all things are not expedient [1 Cor. 6,
12]; and in order to shew in what exceeding freedom of mind he was set at
large by reason of this very restraint, he thereupon added, All things
are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
For when the mind pursues after the desires that it entertains, it is
convicted of being enslaved to the things, by the love of which it is
subdued. But Paul, ‘to whom all things are lawful,’ is ‘brought under the
power of none;’ in that by restraining himself even from things lawful,
those very objects, which, if enjoyed, would weigh him down, being
contemned, he rises above.
18. Let blessed Job
then declare for our better instruction what he was when in power, in these
words, Did I not dissemble? For when we are in possession of power,
it is both to be taken account of for purposes of utility, and to be kept
out of sight because of Pride, in order that he that uses it, on the one
hand, that he may render service therewith, may be aware that he has the
power, and on the other, that he may not be elated, may not be aware that he
has the power. Now what he was in word of mouth, let him add in these
words, Was I not silent? What in respect of forbidden deeds, let him
further subjoin, Did I not rest quiet? But the being silent
and quiet admit of being yet more minutely examined into. Thus, to
be silent is to withhold the mind from the cry of earthly desires,
For all tumult of the breast is a strong and mighty clamouring.
19. Moreover they
rest, that bear themselves well in power, in that they prefer to lay aside,
at intervals, the din of earthly business for the love of God, lest whilst
the lowest objects incessantly occupy the mind, it should altogether fall
away from the highest. For they know that it can never be lifted up to
things above, if it be continually busied in those below with tumultuous
care and concern; for what should that mind gain concerning God in the midst
of business, which, even when at liberty, strives with difficulty to
apprehend aught that concerns Him? And it is well said by the Psalmist,
Keep yourselves aloof, and know that I am God. [Ps. 46, 10] For he that
neglects to keep himself aloof to God, by his own judgment upon himself
hides the light of God's vision from his eyes. Hence moreover it is
declared by Moses, that those fish that have no fins should not be eaten.
[Lev. 11, 10. 12.] For the fish, that have fins, are wont to make leaps
above the water. Thus they only pass into the body of the Elect in the
manner of food, who, whilst they yield themselves to the lowest charges, can
sometimes by the mind's leaps mount up to things on high, that they may not
always be buried in the deeps of care, and be reached by no breath of the
highest love as of the free air. They, then, who are busied in temporal
affairs, then only manage external things aright, when they betake them with
solicitude to those of the interior, when they take no delight in the
clamours of disquietudes without, but repose within themselves in the bosom
of tranquil rest.
20. For men of
depraved minds never cease to keep on the tumult of earthly business within
their own breasts, even when they are unemployed. For they retain pictured
in imagination the things, which their love is fixed on, and though they be
employed in no outward work, yet within themselves they are toiling and
labouring under the weight of an unquiet quiet. And if the management of
these same things be accorded to them, they wholly go forth from themselves,
and follow after these temporal and transient concerns by the path of their
purpose of mind, with the unintermitted steps of the thoughts. But pious
minds, on the one hand,. seek not such things when lacking, and on the
other, they bear them with difficulty, when present, for they fear lest by
the care of external things they be made to go out of themselves. Which
same is well represented in the life of those two brothers, concerning whom
it is written, And Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and
Jacob was a plain man dwelling in tents. [Gen. 25, 27. Vulg.] Or it is
said in the other translation [so lxx.], he dwelt at home. For what
is represented by Esau's hunting but the life of those, who, giving a loose
to themselves in external pleasures, follow the flesh? and, moreover, he is
described to be a man of the field, for the lovers of this world
cultivate the external in the same proportion, that they leave uncultivated
their internal parts. But Jacob is recorded to be a plain man, dwelling
in tents, or dwelling at home, in that, truly, all, that seek to
avoid being dissipated in external cares, abide plain men in the interior,
and in the dwelling place of their conscience; for to ‘dwell in tents,’ or
‘in the house,’ is to restrain one's self within the secrets of the heart,
nor ever to let themselves run loose without in their desires, lest, while
men gape after a multitude of objects without, they be led away from
themselves by the alienation of their thoughts. So let him, who was tried
and trained in prosperity, say, Did I not dissemble it? Did I not
hold my peace? Did I not rest quiet? For, as we have said above, when
holy men receive the smiles of transitory prosperity, they ‘dissemble’ the
favour of the world, as though they were ignorant of it, and with a resolute
step they inwardly trample upon that, whereby they are outwardly lifted up.
And they ‘hold their peace,’ in that they never clamour with the uproar of
wicked doings. For all iniquity has its voice belonging to it in the secret
judgments of God. Hence it is written, The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is
great. And they ‘rest quiet,’ when they are not only hurried away by no
unruly appetite of temporal desires, but over and above eschew the busying
themselves out of due measure with the necessary concerns of this present
life.
21. But while they do
this, they are still made to feel the strokes of a Father's hand, that they
may come to their inheritance the more perfect, in proportion as the rod,
striking in pity, is daily purifying them even from the very least sins.
Thus they are unceasingly doing righteous acts, yet are perpetually
undergoing severe troubles. For often our very righteousness itself, when
brought to the test of God's righteous eye, proves unrighteousness, and that
which is bright in the estimate of the doer, is foul in the Judge's
searching sight. Hence when Paul said, For I know nothing by myself;
he forthwith added, Yet am I not hereby justified; [1 Cor. 4, 4] and
immediately implying the reason wherefore he was not justified, he says,
But he that judgeth me is the Lord. As though he said, ‘For this reason
I say that I am not justified herein, viz. that I know nothing by myself
because I know that I am tested with greater exactness by Him, That judgeth
me.’ Therefore we must keep out of sight all that favours us outwardly, we
must keep under control whatsoever is clamorous within, we must eschew the
things that twine themselves about us as necessary, and yet in all of these
we must still fear the chastisements of a strict inquisition; since even our
very perfection itself does not lack sin, did not the severe Judge weigh the
same with mercy in the exact balance of His examination.
22. And it is well
added, Yet indignation came upon me. For with wonderful skilfulness
of instruction, when about to tell of the chastisements, he premised the
good deeds, that each man might hence be led to consider what punishments
await sinners hereafter, if the righteous even are chastised here with
strokes so strong. For it is hence that Peter says, For the time is come
that Judgment must begin at the house of God, And if the righteous scarcely
be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? [1 Peter 4, 17.
18.] Hence Paul, after he said many things in commendation of the
Thessalonians, straightway added, So that we ourselves glory in you in
the churches of God, for your patience and faith in all your persecutions
and tribulations that ye endure; Which is a manifest token of the righteous
judgment of God. [2 Thess. 1, 4. 5.] As if he said, ‘Whilst you, that
act so uprightly, undergo so many hardships, what else is it than that ye
are giving examples of the righteous judgment of God, since from your
punishment it is to be inferred in what sort He smites those with whom He is
wroth, if He suffers you to be thus afflicted, in whom He delights; or how
He will strike those towards whom He shews righteous judgment, if He thus
torments your own selves, whom with pitifulness He cherishes in reproving.
23. The first words,
then, of blessed Job being ended, his friends that had come in pity to
comfort him, set themselves by turns to the upbraiding of him; and while
they launch out to words of strife, they drop the purpose of pity, which
they had come for. And indeed they do this with no bad intent, but, though
they manifest feeling for the stricken man, they supposed him to be no
otherwise stricken than for his wickedness; and whereas guarded speech does
not follow that good intention, the very purpose of mercy is turned into the
sin of an offence. For it was their duty to consider to whom and on what
occasion they spake; in that he, to whom they had come, was a righteous man,
and besieged with the strokes of God's hand; and so they should from his
past life have estimated those words of his mouth, which they were unable to
understand, and not have convicted him from present strokes, but have
entertained fear for their own lives, and not as it were by reasoning have
lifted themselves above, but by lamenting joined themselves to that stricken
Saint, so that their knowledge might in no wise display itself in words, but
that great teacher, grief, might instruct the tongue of the comforters to
speak aright. And though they perchance might in any thing be of a
different mind, assuredly it was meet that they should express these
feelings with humility, lest by words without restraint they should
accumulate wounds upon the smitten soul.
24. For it often
happens that, because they cannot be understood, either the doings or the
sayings of the better men are displeasing to the worse; but they are not to
be rashly censured by them, inasmuch as they cannot be apprehended in their
true sense. Often that is done in pursuance of policy [‘dispensatorie,’
in economy] by greater men, which is accounted an error by their inferiors.
Often many things are said by the strong, which the weak only decide upon,
because they know nothing about them. And this is well represented by that
Ark of the Testament being inclined on one side by the kine kicking, which
the Levite desiring to set upright, because he thought it would fall, he
immediately received sentence of death. [2 Sam. 6, 7] For what is the mind
of the just man but the Ark of the Testament? which, as it is being
carried, is inclined by the kicking of the kine; in that it sometimes
happens that even he, who rules well, being shaken by the disorder of the
people subject to him, is moved by nought else than love to a condescension
in policy. But in this, which is done in policy, that very bending, that
is, of strength is accounted a fall by the inexperienced; and hence there
are some of those that are in subjection, who put out the hand of censure
against it, yet by that very rashness of theirs they forthwith drop from
life. Thus the Levite stretched forth his hand as it were in aid, but he
lost his life in being guilty of offence, in that while the weak sort
censure the deeds of the strong, they are themselves made outcasts from the
lot of the living. Sometimes too holy men say some things condescending to
the meanest subjects, while some things they deliver contemplating the
highest; and foolish men, because they know nothing of the meaning either of
such condescension or elevation, presumptuously censure them. And what is
it to desire to set a good man right for his condescension, but to lift up
the ark that is inclined with the presuming hand of rebuke? what is it to
censure a righteous man for unapprehended words, but to take the move he
makes in his strength for the downfall of error? But he loses his life, who
lifts up the ark of God with a high mind; in that no man would ever dare to
correct the upright acts of the Saints, unless he first thought better
things of himself. And hence this Levite is rightly called Oza, which same
is by interpretation ‘the strong one of the Lord,’ in that the presumptuous
severally, did they not audaciously conclude themselves ‘strong in the
Lord,’ would never condemn as weak the saying and doings of their betters.
Therefore while the friends of blessed Job leap forth against him, as if in
God's defence, they transgress the rule of God's ordinance in behaving
proudly.
25. But when any of
the doings of better men are displeasing to the less good, they are by no
means to hold their peace about the considerations which influence their
minds, but to give utterance thereto with a great degree of humility, so
that the purpose of him, whose feelings are pious, may, in a genuine manner,
keep the form of uprightness, in proportion as he goes by the pathway of
lowliness. Thus both all that we feel is to be freely expressed, and all
that we express is to be uttered with the deepest humility, lest even what
we intend aright we make other than right, by putting it forth in a spirit
of pride. Paul had spoken many things to his hearers with humility, but it
was with still more humility that he busied himself to appease them about
that humble exhortation itself, saying, And I beseech you, brethren,
suffer the word of exhortation: for I have written a letter unto you in few
words. [Heb. 13, 22] And likewise bidding farewell to the Ephesians at
Miletus, who were deeply grieved and loudly lamenting, he recalls his
humility to their remembrance, in these words, Therefore watch, and
remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn everyone
night and day with tears. [Acts 20, 31] Again he says to the same
persons by letter, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you
that ye walk worthy of the vocation, wherewith ye are called. [Eph. 4,
1] Therefore let him infer from hence, if he ever thinks rightly at all,
with what humility the disciple ought to address the Master, if the Master
of the Gentiles himself, in the very things which he proclaims with
authority, beseeches the disciples so submissively. Let everyone collect
from hence in what a spirit of humility he should communicate to those, from
whom he has received examples of good living, all that he perceives aright,
if Paul submitted himself in a humble strain to those, whom he himself
raised up to life.
26. But Eliphaz, who
is the first of the friends to speak, though he came with pity to console,
yet in that he departs from meekness of speech, is ignorant of the rules of
consoling; and while he neglects the guarding of his lips, he is guilty of
excess, even to offering insult to the afflicted man, saying, The tiger
hath perished for lack of prey, the roaring of the lion, and the voice of
the fierce lioness [V. thus], and the teeth of the young lions are
broken [Job 4, 10. 11.]: i.e. by the teeth of a tiger marking
out blessed Job, as it were, with the fault of variedness; by the roaring
of the lion, denoting that man's terribleness; by the voice of the
lioness, the loquacity of his wife; and by the broken teeth of the
young lions, signifying the gluttony of his sons brought to ruin. And
hence the sentence of God rightly reproves the feeling of the friends, which
had lifted itself up in swelling reproach, saying, Ye have not spoken of
Me the thing that is right, as My servant Job hath. [Job 42, 7]
27. But I see that we
must enquire, wherefore Paul makes use of their sentiments with so much
weight of authority, if these sentiments of theirs be nullified by the
Lord's rebuke? For they are the words of Eliphaz which he brought before
the Corinthians, saying, For it is written, He taketh the wise in their
own craftiness. [1 Cor. 3, 19. Job 5, 13] How then do we reject as evil
what Paul establishes by authority? or how shall we account that to be right
by the testimony of Paul, which the Lord by His own lips determined not to
be right? But we speedily learn how little the two are at variance
together, if we more exactly consider the words of that same Divine
sentence, which assuredly having declared, Ye have not spoken of Me the
thing that is right; thereupon added, as My servant Job. It is
clear then that some things contained in their sayings were right, but they
are overcome by comparison with one who was better; for among other things,
which they say without reason, there are many forcible sentences they utter
in addressing blessed Job; but when compared with his more forcible sayings
they lose the power of their forcibleness. And many things that they say
are admirable, were they not spoken against the afflicted condition of the
holy man. So that in themselves they are great, but because they aim to
pierce that righteous person, that greatness loses its weight, for with
whatever degree of strength, it is in vain that the javelin is sent to
strike the hard stones, since it glances off the further with blunted point,
the more it comes hurled with strength. Therefore, though the sayings of
Job's friends be very forcible in some points, yet, since they strike the
Saint's well-fenced life, they turn back all the point of their sharpness.
And therefore because they are both great in themselves, and yet ought never
to have been taken up against blessed Job, on the one hand let Paul,
weighing them by their intrinsic excellence, deliver them as authoritative,
and on the other let the Judge, forasmuch as they were delivered without
caution, censure them in respect of the quality of the individual.
28. But, as we have
said above that these same friends of blessed Job contain a figure of
heretics, let us now search out how their words agree with heretics; for
some of the opinions which they hold are very right, but in the midst of
these they fall away to corrupt notions; for heretics have this especial
peculiarity, that they mix good and evil, that so they may easily delude the
sense of the hearer. For if they always said wrong, soon discovered in
their wrongheadedness, they would be the less able to win a way for that,
which they desire. Again, if they always thought right, then, surely, they
would never have been heretics. But whilst with artfulness of deceiving
they engage themselves with either, both by the evil they vitiate the good,
and by the good they conceal the evil, to the end that it may be readily
admitted; just as he that presents a cup of poison, touches the brim of the
cup with honied sweets, and while this that has a sweet flavour is tasted at
the first sip, that too which brings death is unhesitatingly swallowed.
Thus heretics mix right with wrong, that by making a shew of good things,
they may draw hearers to themselves, and by setting forth evil they may
corrupt them with a secret pestilence. Yet it sometimes happens that being
collected by the preaching and admonitions of Holy Church, they are healed
from such a contradiction in views, and hence the friends of blessed Job
offer the sacrifice of their reconciliation by the hands of the same holy
man, and even under attainder they are restored to the favour of the Supreme
Judge. Of whom we have a fitting representation in that cleansing of the
ten lepers. [Luke 14, 15] For in leprosy both a portion of the skin is
brought to a bright hue, and a portion remains of a healthy colour. Lepers
therefore are a figure of heretics, for in that they blend evil with good,
they cover the complexion of health with spots. And hence that they may be
healed, they rightly cry out, Jesus, Master [Preceptor,
Vulg.]. For whereas they notify that they have gone wrong in His words,
they humbly call Him Master when they are to be healed, and so soon
as they return to acknowledge the Master, they are at once brought back to
the right state of health. But as on the sayings of his friends we have
carried the preface to our interpretation somewhat far, let us now consider
minutely the very words themselves which they spake, The account goes on ;
C. iv. 1, 2. Then
Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, If we assay to commune with thee,
wilt thou be grieved?
[xii]
29. It has been
a1ready declared above, what there is set forth in the interpretation of
these names. Therefore, because we are in haste to reach the unexamined
parts, we forbear to unfold again what has been already delivered.
According1y this is to be heedfully observed, that they, that bear the
semblance of heretics, begin to speak softly, saying, If we assay to
commune with thee, wilt thou, be grieved? For heretics dread to incense
their hearers at the outset of their communing with them, lest they be
listened to with ears on the watch, and they carefully shun the paining of
them, that they may catch their unguardedness, and what they put forward is
almost always mild, while that is harsh which they cunningly introduce in
going on. And hence at this time the friends of Job begin with the
reverence of a gentle address, but they burst forth even to launching the
darts of the bitterest invectives; for the roots of thorns themselves are
soft, yet from that very softness of their own they put forth that whereby
they pierce, It goes on;
But who can hold in
[thus V.] the discourse conceived?
30. There be three
kinds of men, which differ from one another by qualities carried forward in
gradation. For there are some, who at the same time that they conceive evil
sentiments to speak, restrain themselves in their speech by none of the
graveness of silence; and there are others, who, whereas they conceive evil
things, withhold themselves with a strong control of silence. And there are
some, who being made strong by the exercise of virtue, are advanced even to
so great a height, that, as to speaking, they do not even conceive any evil
thoughts in the heart, which they should have to restrain by keeping
silence. It is shewn then to which class Eliphaz belongs, who bears witness
that he cannot ‘withhold his conceived discourse.’ Wherein too he made
known this, that he knew that he would give offence by speaking. For he
would never be anxious to withhold words that he cannot, unless he were
assured beforehand that he would be inflicting wounds by the same; for good
men check precipitancy of speech with the reins of counsel, and they take
heedful thought, lest, by giving a loose to the wantonness of the tongue,
they should by heedlessness of speech pierce their hearer’s spirits [conscientiam];
hence it is well said by Solomon, He that letteth out water is a head of
strife. [Prov. 17, 14] For ‘the water is let out,’ when the flowing of
the tongue is let loose. And he that ‘letteth out water,’ is made the
‘beginning of strife,’ in that by the incontinency of the lips, the
commencement of discord is afforded. Thus, as the wicked are light in mind,
so they are precipitate in speech, and neglect to keep silence, thoroughly
considering what they should say. And what a light spirit [conscientia]
conceives, a lighter tongue delivers apace. Hence on this occasion Eliphaz
infers from his own experience a thing, which in a feeling of hopelessness
he believes concerning all men; saying, But who can withhold his
conceived discourse? It proceeds;
Ver. 3, 4. Behold,
thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands. Thy
words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the
feeble knees.
[xiv]
31. If the text of
the historical account be regarded in itself, it is of great service to the
reader, that in blessed Job, instead of the ripping up of vices, proclaim is
made of his virtues by his reviling friends; for the testimony to our manner
of life is never so strong, as when commendable things are told by him, who
aims to fasten guilt upon our head. But let us consider of what a lofty
height that man was, who by instructing the ignorant, strengthening the
weak, upholding the faltering, amid the cares of his household, amidst the
charge of countless concerns, amidst anxious feelings for his children,
amidst the pursuit of so many laborious occupations, devoted himself to
putting others in the right way. And being busied indeed, he executed these
offices, yet being free, he did service in the master's office of
instruction. By exercising superintendence, he disposed of temporal things,
by preaching, he announced eternal truths; uprightness of life, both by
practice he shewed to all beholders, and by speech he conveyed to all that
heard him. But all that are either heretics or bad men, in recording the
excellencies of the good, turn them into grounds of accusation. Hence
Eliphaz deduces occasion of reviling against blessed Job from the same
quarter, whence he related commendable things of him; for it goes on,
Ver. 5. But now it
is come upon thee, and thou faintest: it toucheth thee, and thou art
troubled.
[xv]
32. All men of
froward mind assail the life of the righteous in two ways; for either they
assert that what they say is wrong, or that what they say aright they never
observe; and hence blessed Job is reproved by his friends further on for his
mode of speech, whereas now he is torn in pieces for having spoken right
things, but not having observed them. And so at one time the speech, and at
another time the practice of the good meets with the disapproval of the
wicked, in order that either the tongue being rebuked may hold its peace, or
the life, being convicted by the testimony of that same tongue of theirs,
may give way under the charge. And mark that first they bring forward
commendations of the tongue, and afterwards complain of the weakness of the
life. For the wicked, that they may not openly shew themselves to be evil,
sometimes say such good things of the just, as they know to be already
received concerning them by others also. But as we have said above, these
very points they forthwith strain to the increase of guilt, and from hence,
that they spoke favourable things also, they point out that credit is to be
given them in the reverse, and with more seeming truth they intimate evil
things, in proportion as they commended the good with seeming zeal. Thus
they wrest words of favourable import to the service of accusation, in that
they afterwards more deeply wound the life of the righteous from the same
source, whence a little before in semblance they vindicated it. But it
often happens that their good qualities, which they first condemn when
possessed, they afterwards admire, as if departed. And hence Eliphaz, as he
declares them to be departed, subjoins the virtues of the holy man,
enumerating them, and saying,
Ver. 6. Where is
thy fear, thy strength, thy patience, and the perfectness of thy ways?
[thus V.]
[xvi]
33. All which same he
makes to succeed that sentence which he set before, saying, But now a
stroke is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art
troubled. Thus he declares that they were brought to nought all of them
together, in this, that he blames blessed Job's being troubled by the
scourge. Yet it is to be well taken notice of, that though he chides
unbefittingly, yet the ranks of virtues he fitly describes; for in
enumerating the virtues of blessed Job, he marked out his life in four
stages, in that he both added strength to fear, and patience to strength,
and to patience, perfection. Since one sets out in the way of the Lord with
fear, that he may go on to strength; for as in the world boldness begets
strength, so in the way of God boldness engenders weakness; and as in the
way of the world fear gives rise to weakness, so in the way of God fear
produces strength; as Solomon witnesses, who says, In the fear of the
Lord is strong confidence. [Prov. 14, 26] For ‘strong confidence’ is
said ‘to be in the fear of the Lord,’ in that, in truth, our mind so much
the more valorously sets at nought all the tenors of temporal vicissitudes,
the more thoroughly that it submits itself in fear to the Author of those
same temporal things. And being stablished in the fear of the Lord, it
encounters nothing without to fill it with alarm, in that whereas it is
united to the Creator of all things by a righteous fear, it is by a certain
powerful influence raised high above them all. For strength is never shewn
saving in adversity, and hence patience is immediately made to
succeed to strength. For every man proves himself in a much truer
sense to have advanced in ‘strength,’ in proportion as he bears with the
bolder heart the wrongs of other men. For he was little strong in himself,
who is brought to the ground by the wickedness of another. He, in that he
cannot bear to face opposition, lies pierced with the sword of his
cowardice. But forasmuch as perfection springs out of patience, immediately
after patience we have the perfectness of his ways introduced. For he is
really perfect, who feels no impatience towards the imperfection of his
neighbour; since he that goes off, not being able to bear the imperfection
of another, is his own witness against himself, that he is not yet perfectly
advanced. Hence Truth says in the Gospel, In your patience possess ye
your souls. [Luke 21, 19] For what is it to possess our souls, but to
live by the rule of perfection in all things, to command all the motions of
the mind from the citadel of virtue? He then that maintains patience
possesses his soul, in that from hence he is endued with strength to
encounter all adversities, whence even by overcoming himself he is made
master of himself; and as he quells himself in a manner worthy of all
praise, he comes forth unquelled with dauntless front, because by conquering
himself in his pleasures, he makes himself invincible to reverses. But as
Eliphaz rebuked him with reviling, so now he adds a few words, as if in
exhortation, saying,
Ver.7. Remember, I
pray thee, who ever perished being innocent? or where were the righteous cut
off?
[xvii]
34. Whether it be
heretics, of whom we have said that the friends of blessed Job bore an
image, or whether any of the froward ones, they are as blameable in their
admonitions, as they are immoderate in their condemnation. For he says,
Who ever perished being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?
Since it often happens that in this life both ‘the innocent perish,’ and
‘the righteous are ‘utterly cut off,’ yet in perishing they are reserved to
glory eternal. For if none that is innocent perished, the Prophet would not
say, The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart. [Is. 51,
1] If God in His providential dealings did not carry off the righteous,
Wisdom would never have said of the righteous man, Yea, speedily was he
taken away, lest that wickedness should alter his understanding. [Wisd.
4, 11] If no visitation ever smote the righteous, Peter would never
foretell it, saying, For the time is come that judgment must begin at the
house of God. [1 Pet. 4, 17] They then are really righteous, who are
furnished forth by the love of the Country above to meet all the ills of the
present life. For all that fear to endure ills here, for the sake of
eternal blessings, clearly are not righteous men. But Eliphaz does not take
account either that the righteous are cut off, or that the innocent perish
here, in that oftentimes they that serve God, not in the hope of heavenly
glory, but for an earthly recompense, make a fiction in their own head of
that which they are seeking after, and, taking upon themselves to be
instructors, in preaching earthly immunity, they shew by all their pains
what is the thing they love. It goes on ;
Ver. 8, 9. Even,
as I have seen, they that plough iniquity, and [V. so] sow sorrows,
and reap the same, by the blast of God do they perish, and by the breath of
His nostrils are they consumed.
[xviii]
35. To ‘sow griefs’
is to utter deceits, but to ‘reap griefs’ is to prevail by so speaking. Or,
surely, they ‘sow griefs,’ who do froward actions, they ‘reap griefs,’ when
they ate punished for this forwardness. For the harvest of grief is the
recompense of condemnation, and whereas it is immediately introduced that
they that ‘sow and reap griefs,’ ‘perish by the blast of God,’ and are
‘consumed by the breath of His nostrils,’ in this passage the ‘reaping of
grief’ is shewn to be not punishment as yet, but the still further
perfecting of wickedness, for in ‘the breath of His nostrils’ the punishment
of that ‘reaping’ is made to follow. Here then they ‘sow and reap griefs,’
in that all that they do is wicked, and they thrive in that very wickedness,
as is said of the wicked man by the Psalmist, His ways are always
grievous; Thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his
enemies, he puffeth at them. [Ps. 10, 5] And it is soon after added
concerning him, under his tongue is labour and grief. So then he ‘sows
griefs,’ when he does wicked things, he ‘reaps griefs,’ when from the same
wickednesses he grows to temporal greatness. How then is it that they
‘perish by the blast of God,’ who are for the most part permitted to abide
long here below, and in greater prosperity than the righteous? For hence it
is said of them again by the Psalmist, They are not in trouble as other
men, neither are they plagued like other folk. [Ps. 73, 5] Hence
Jeremiah saith, Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? [Jer.
12, 1] For because, as it is written, For the Lord is [Vulg.] a
long-suffering rewarder [Ecclus. 5, 4], He oftentimes for long bears
with those, whom He condemns for all eternity. Yet sometimes He strikes
quickly, in that He hastens to the succour of the pusillanimity of the
innocent. Therefore Almighty God sometimes permits the wicked to have their
own way for long, that the ways of the righteous may be more purely
cleansed. Yet sometimes He slays the unrighteous with speedy destruction,
and by their ruin He strengthens the hearts of the innocent. For if He were
now to smite all that do evil, on whom would He yet have to shew forth the
final Judgment? And if He never at any time smote any man, who would ever
have believed that God regarded human affairs? Sometimes then He strikes
the bad, that He may shew that He does not leave wickedness unpunished. But
sometimes He bears with the wicked for long, that He may teach the heedful
what judgment they are reserved for.
36. Thus this
sentence of the cutting off of the wicked, if it be not spoken of all men in
general at the end of this present state of being, is undoubtedly to a great
degree made void of the force of truth; but it will then be true, when
iniquity shall no longer have reprieve. And perchance it may be more
lightly taken in this sense, since neither ‘the innocent perishes’ nor ‘the
upright is cut off,’ in that though here he is worn out in the flesh, yet in
the sight of the eternal Judge he is renewed with true health. And they
that ‘sow and reap griefs,’ ‘perish by the blast of God,’ in that in
proportion as they go on here deeper in doing wickedly, they are the more
severely stricken with the damnation to follow. But whereas he premises
this sentence with the word, Remember, it is clearly evident that
something past is recalled to mind, and not any thing future proclaimed.
Then therefore Eliphaz would have spoken more truly, if he had believed that
these things were wrought on the head of the wicked in general by final
vengeance.
37. But this point,
that God is said to ‘breathe,’ claims to be more particularly made out. For
we, when we ‘breathe,’ draw the air from the outside within us, and, thus
drawn within, we give it forth without. God then is said to ‘breathe’ in
recompensing vengeance, in that from occasions without He conceives the
purpose of judgment within Him, and from the internal purpose sends forth
the sentence without. When God ‘breathes’ as it were, somewhat is drawn in
from things without, when He sees our evil ways without, and ordains
judgment within. And again as if by God ‘breathing,’ the breath is sent
forth from within, when from the internal conception of the purpose, the
outward decree of condemnation is delivered. And so it is rightly said that
they, that ‘sow griefs,’ perish ‘by the breath of God,’ for wherein they
execute wicked deeds outwardly, they are deservedly stricken from within.
Or, surely, when God is said to ‘breathe,’ in that the breath of His wrath
is immediately introduced, by the designation of His ‘breathing’ may be
denoted that very visitation of His. For when we are wroth, we kindle [d]
with the breath of rage. To shew the Lord then meditating vengeance, He is
said to ‘breathe’ in His indignation, not that in His own Nature He is
capable of turning or change, but that after long endurance, when He
executes vengeance upon the sinner, He, Who continueth tranquil in Himself,
seems in commotion to them that perish. For whereas the condemned soul sees
the Judge arrayed against its doings, He is exhibited to it as troubled, in
that it is itself troubled by its own guiltiness before His eyes. But after
he had in appearance exhorted him with clemency, he openly subjoins language
of reproach, saying,
Ver. 10. The
roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of the
young lions are broken.
[xix]
38. For what does he
call the roaring of the lion but, as we have said a little above, the
severe character of that man? what the voice of the lioness, but his
wife's loquacity? what the teeth of the young lions, but the
greediness of his children? For because his sons had perished when
feasting, they are denoted by the term of ‘teeth;’ and while unsparing
Eliphaz rejoices that they are all ‘broken,’ he denounces them as deservedly
condemned. And he yet further doubles the cruelty of his reproaches, when
he adds;
Ver. 11. The tiger
perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lions' whelps are scattered
abroad. [Vulg. thus]
[xx]
39. For whom does he
denote by the name of ‘tiger’ but blessed Job, marked with the stamp of
changeableness or covered with the spots of dissimulation? For every
dissembler, in that he desires to appear righteous, can never shew himself
pure in all things; for while he assumes some virtues in hypocrisy, and
secretly gives way to vicious habits, some concealed vices speedily break
out upon the surface, and exhibit the hide of overlaid hypocrisy, like a
coat for sight, varied with their admixture, so that it is very often a
marvel how one, who is seen to be master of such great virtues, should be at
the same time stained with such damnable deeds. But truly every hypocrite
is a tiger, in that while he derives a pure colour from pretence, it is
striped with the intermediate blackness of vicious habits. For it often
happens that while he is extolled for pureness of chastity, he renders
himself foul by the stain of avarice. Often while he makes a fair shew by
the good quality of bountifulness, he is stained with spots of lust. Often
while he is clad in the bright array of bountifulness and chastity, he is
blackened by ferociousness in cruelty, as if from a zealous sense of
justice. Often he is arrayed in bounty, chastity, pitifulness, in a fair
outside, but is marked with the interspersed darkness of pride. And thus it
comes to pass, that whereas by the intermixture of vicious habits, the
hypocrite does not present an unstained appearance in himself, the tiger, as
it were, cannot be of one colour. And this same ‘tiger’ seizes the prey, in
that he usurps to himself the glory of human applause. For he, that is
lifted up by usurped praise, is as it were glutted with the prey. And it is
well that the applause that hypocrites have is called ‘prey.’ For it is
nought else than a prey, when the things of another are taken away by
violence. Now every hypocrite, in that by counterfeiting the life of
righteousness he seizes for himself the praise that belongs to the
righteous, does in truth carry off what is another's. Thus Eliphaz, who
knew that blessed Job had walked in ways worthy to be praised in the period
of his wellbeing, concluded from the stroke that came after that he had
maintained these in hypocrisy, saying, The tiger perisheth for lack of
prey. As if he had said plainly, ‘The shifting of thine hypocrisy is at
end, because the homage of applause is also taken from thee, and thine
hypocrisy is in ‘lack of prey,’ in that being stricken by the hand of God,
it lacks the favourable regards of man.’
40. But in the
translation of the Septuagint, it is not said ‘the tiger,’ but ‘the
Myrmicoleon perisheth for lack of prey.’ For the Myrmicoleon is a very
little creature, a foe to ants, which hides itself under the dust, and kills
the ants laden with grains, and devours them thus destroyed. Now
‘Myrmicoleon’ is rendered in the Latin tongue either ‘the ants' lion,’ or
indeed more exactly ‘an ant and lion at once.’ Now it is lightly called ‘an
ant and lion;’ in that with reference to winged creatures, or to any other
small-sized animals, it is an ant, but with reference to the ants themselves
it is a lion. For it devours these like a lion, yet by the other sort it is
devoured like an ant. When then Eliphaz says, the Ant-lion perisheth, what
does he censure in blessed Job under the title of ‘Ant-lion’ but his
fearfulness and audacity? As if he said to him in plain words, ‘Thou art
not unjustly stricken, in that thou hast shewn thyself a coward towards the
lofty, a bully towards those beneath thee.’ As though he had said in plain
terms, ‘Fear made thee crouch towards the crafty sort, hardihood swelled
thee full towards the simple folk, but ‘the Ant-lion’ no longer hath prey,’
in that thy cowardly self elation, being beaten down with blows, is stayed
from doing injury to others.’ But forasmuch as we have said that the
friends of blessed Job contain a figure of Heretics, there is a pressing
necessity to shew how these same words of Eliphaz are to be understood in a
typical sense likewise.
[ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
Ver. 10. The
roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of the
young lions, are broken.
[xxi]
41. Forasmuch as the
nature of every thing is compounded of different elements, in Holy Writ
different things are allowably represented by anyone thing. For the lion
has magnanimity, it has also ferocity: by its magnanimity then it represents
the Lord, by its ferocity the devil. Hence it is declared of the Lord,
Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David hath prevailed.
[Rev. 5, 5] Hence it is written of the devil, Your adversary, the devil,
like a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. [1 Pet.
5, 8] But by the title of a ‘lioness’ sometimes Holy Church, sometimes
Babylon is represented to us. For on this account, that she is bold to
encounter all that withstand, the Church is called a ‘lioness,’ as is proved
by the words of blessed Job, who in pointing out Judaea forsaken by the
Church, says, The sons of the traders have not trodden, nor the lioness
passed by it. [Job 28, 8. Vulg.] And sometimes under the title of a
lioness is set forth the city of this world, which is Babylon, which ravins
against the life of the innocent with terribleness of ferocity, which being
wedded to our old enemy like the fiercest lion, conceives the seeds of his
froward counsel, and produces from her own body reprobate sons, as cruel
whelps, after his likeness. But the ‘lion's whelps’ are reprobate persons,
engendered to a life of sin by the misleading of evil spirits, who both all
of them together constitute that great city of the world which we have
declared before, even Babylon; and yet these same sons of Babylon severally
are called not ‘a lioness’ but ‘a lioness's whelps.’ For as the whole
Church together is denominated Sion, but the several individual Saints the
sons of Sion, so both the several individuals among the reprobate are called
the children of Babylon, and all the reprobate together are designated the
same Babylon.
42. But so long as
good men remain in this life, they keep watch over themselves with anxious
heed, lest the lion that goeth about surprise them by guile, i.e. lest our
old enemy slay them under some shew of virtue; lest the voice of the lioness
stun their ears, i.e. lest the glory of Babylon catch away their minds from
the love of the heavenly country; lest ‘the teeth of the young lions’ bite
them, i.e. lest the promptings of the reprobate gain power in their heart.
But, on the other hand, heretics are already as if secured touching
holiness, because they fancy that they have surmounted all obstacles by the
preeminent merit of their life. And hence it is said here, The roaring
of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth if the young lions
are broken. As though it were expressed in plain words; ‘We for this
reason are never beaten and bruised with any strokes, for that we tread
under at once the might of the old enemy, and the lust of earthly glory, and
the promptings of all the reprobate, overcoming them by the preeminence of
our life.’ Hence it is further added;
Ver. 11. The tiger
perisheth for lack of prey, and the lions' whelps are scattered abroad.
[xxii]
43. By the title of a
‘tiger’ he again represents him, whom he formerly designated by the name of
a ‘lion.’ For Satan both for his cruelty is called ‘a lion,’ and for the
variousness of his manifold cunning he is not unsuitably designated ‘a
tiger.’ For one while he presents himself to man's senses lost as he is,
one while he exhibits himself as an Angel of light, Now by caressing he
works upon the minds of the foolish sort, now by striking terror he forces
them to commit sin. At one time he labours to win men to evil ways without
disguise, at another time he cloaks himself in his promptings under the garb
of virtue. This beast, then, which is so variously spotted, is rightly
called ‘a tiger,’ being with the LXX called an ‘Ant-lion,’ as we have said
above. Which same creature, as we have before shewn, hiding itself in the
dust kills the ants carrying their corn, in that the Apostate Angel, being
cast out of heaven upon the earth, in the very pathway of their practice
besets the minds of the righteous, providing for themselves the provender of
good works, and whilst he overcomes them by his snares, he as it were kills
by surprise the ants carrying their grains. And he is rightly called
‘Ant-lion,’ i.e. ‘a lion and ant.’ For as we have said, to the ants he is
‘a lion,’ but to the birds of the air, ‘an ant,’ in that our old enemy, as
he is strong to encounter those that yield to him, is weak against such as
resist him. For if consent be yielded to his persuasions, like a lion he
can never be sustained, but if resistance be offered, like an ant he is
ground in the dust. Therefore to some he is ‘a lion,’ to others ‘an ant,’
in that carnal minds sustain his cruel assaults with difficulty, but
spiritual minds trample upon his weakness with virtue's foot. Heretics
then, because they are full of pride by pretension to sanctity, say as it
were in exultation, The Ant-lion, or probably, the tiger perisheth
for lack of prey. As though the words were plainly expressed, ‘The old
foe has no prey in us, in that, as far as regards our purposes, he already
lies defeated.’ Now it is for this reason that he is again mentioned under
the title of ‘an Ant lion,’ or of ‘a tiger,’ who had been already set forth
by the ‘roaring of the lion broken,’ because whatever is said in joy, is
repeated over and over. For when the mind is full of exultation, it
redoubles the expressions. And hence the Psalmist, from true joy,
frequently repeats this, that he was assured that he had been heard, saying,
the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord hath heard
my supplications. The Lord hath received my prayer. [Ps. 6, 8. 9.]
44. But when holy men
are glad of heart that they have been rescued from some evil habits, they
possess [Lit. ‘shake’] themselves with great fear even in that very
gladness. For though they be now rescued from the commotion of any single
storm, yet they call to mind that they are still tossing in the treacherous
waves of an uncertain sea, and they so exult in hope that they tremble in
fear, and so tremble in fear that they exult in confidence of hope. Whence
it is said by the same Psalmist, Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice
with trembling. [Ps. 2, 11] But on the other hand, they, whom a
specious shew of sanctity fills with big thoughts, when they get the better
of any one evil habit, immediately erect their heart in pride, and as it
were glory in the perfection of their lives, and for this, that perchance
they have been once snatched from the perils of the storm, they already
forget that they are still at sea, they look upon themselves as great in all
things, and imagine that they have wholly overcome their old adversary; they
regard all men below them, in that they believe that their wisdom places
them above all. Whence it is added;
Now a secret word was spoken to me.
[xxiii]
45. ‘A secret word,’
heretics pretend to hear, that they may bring a certain reverence for their
preaching over their hearers' minds. And hence they preach with a secret
meaning, that their preaching may seem to be holy, in proportion as it is at
the same time hidden. Now they are loath to have a common sort of
knowledge, lest they should be placed on a par with the rest of their
fellow-creatures, and they are ever making out new things, which whilst
others know nothing of, they plume their own selves on the preeminence of
their knowledge before inexperienced minds. And this knowledge, as we have
said, they teach is occult; for, that they may be able to shew it to be
wonderful, they affirm that they obtained it by secret means. Hence with
Solomon the woman, bearing the semblance of heretics, says, Stolen waters
are [Vulg.] sweeter, and bread eaten in secret is more pleasant.
[Prov. 9, 17] Whence in this place too it is added;
And mine ear as it were by stealth received the veins
[Vulg.] of the whispering thereof.
They ‘receive the
veins of whispers by stealth,’ in that abandoning the grace of knowledge in
fellowship, they do not enter thereinto by the door, as the Lord witnesses,
Who saith, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but
climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber; But he
that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. [John 10, 1.
2.] Therefore he ‘receives the veins of divine whispers by stealth,’ who,
whilst the door of public preaching for receiving the knowledge of His
excellency is forsaken, searches out the gaps and chinks of a froward
understanding. But because the thief and robber, who enters by another way,
both loves the darkness, and abhors the clearness of the light, it is
properly added;
Ver. 13. In the
horror of a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men.
[xxiv]
46. It often happens,
that while heretics are bent to discourse of things above them, they become
their own witnesses against themselves, that what they deliver is not true.
For in a vision of the night the sight is uncertain. Therefore they declare
that they received ‘the inklings [rimas] of whispers’ in ‘the tenor
of a vision of the night,’ for, that the things, which they teach, may be
made to appear sublime to others, they declare that they themselves can
scarcely comprehend them. But it may be inferred from hence how far that
can be rendered certain to their hearers, which they themselves beheld but
dubiously. And so is it marvellously ordered, that while they run on
speaking of sublime things, in the exposure of folly, they are entangled in
the very words of their sublimity. Now to what height they rear themselves
for singularity of wisdom, is shewn, when he adds in the same breath,
when deep sleep falleth upon men. As if it were openly said by
heretics, ‘When men are asleep beneath, we wake to receive heavenly truths,
in that to us all that is known, to the knowledge whereof the dull hearts of
men cannot arise.’ As if they said in plain words, ‘In things, wherein our
understanding rises erect, the faculties of the rest of the world lie
asleep.’ But sometimes, when they see that this is disregarded by the
hearer, they feign that they are themselves in fear of what they say.
Whence it is added;
Ver. 14. Fear came
upon me and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.
[xxvi]
47. For because they
desire to appear objects of wonder for the loftiness of their instructions,
they affect to be awed at the accounts which they make up. And whilst it is
a less difficulty to hear than to speak, they are bold enough to put forth
that, which, forsooth, they feign that they the very same persons were
scarcely able to hear. Whence it is added yet further;
Ver. 15, 16. And
when a spirit passed before my face, the hair of my flesh stood up. There
stood one, but I knew not the face of him.
48. That they may
shew that they have been made acquainted with incomprehensible mysteries,
they relate, not t
