[John 5, 18] Of this force of waters He exclaims by the Prophet, They came round about Me all the day like water, they
compassed
Me about together.
St Gregory - Moralia - Job
[2 Cor.
2, 15.
16.
] He saw then that his word, by which he beheld some roused from their iniquity, and others on the contrary lulled to sleep in their iniquity, was both the morning and the evening star to its hearers.
And because this takes place by the secret judgment of God, which cannot be comprehended by men in this life, he rightly there subjoined; And who is sufficient for these things?
As if he were saying; We are sufficient indeed to consider that these
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things occur, but we are not sufficient to investigate why they occur. Whence also, the Lord in this place, because He had said that the morning star is brought forth for some, but that the evening star rises for others, that man might not dare to scan the secret judgments of God, immediately subjoins; Ver. 33. Knowest thou the course of heaven, and wilt thou set down the reason thereof on the earth?
[xxxiii]
77. To know the course of heaven, is to see the secret predestinations of the heavenly disposals. But to set down the reason thereof on the earth is to lay open before the hearts of men the causes of such secrets. To set down, namely, the reason of heaven on the earth, is either to examine the mysteries of the heavenly judgments, by consideration, or to make them manifest in words. Which certainly no one can do who is placed in this life. For, to pass from little to greater things, who can understand what is the secret reason, that a just man frequently returns from a trial, not only unavenged, but even punished besides, and that his wicked adversary escapes, not only without punishment, but even victorious? Who can understand why one man, who plots for the deaths of his neighbours, survives, and another, who would be likely to preserve the lives of many, dies ? One man, who is only eager to do hurt, attains the height of power, another only desires to defend the injured, and yet he himself is lying under oppression. One man wishes for leisure, and is involved in innumerable occupations, another wishes to be engaged in employments, and is compelled to be disengaged. One beginning badly is drawn on from worse to worse, even to the end of his life; another beginning well, proceeds through a long period of time to the increase of his merits. But, on the other hand, one, who is an evil liver, is spared for a long time, in order that he may improve; but another seems to be living properly, but continues in this life till he breaks out into evil ways. One, who has been born in the error of unbelief, perishes in his error; another, who has been born in the soundness of the Catholic faith, is perfected in the soundness of the Catholic faith. But, on the other hand, one, who has come forth from the womb of a Catholic Mother, is swallowed up, at the close of his life, in the gulph of error, but another terminates his life in Catholic piety, who, born in misbelief, had sucked in the poison of error with his mother's milk. One both wishes, and is able, to aim at the loftiness of holy living; another is neither willing nor able. One wishes, and is not able; another is able, and is not willing. Who then can examine into these secrets of the heavenly judgments? Who can understand the secret balance of hidden equity? For no one attains to understand these recesses of secret judgments. Let this be said then to a man, that he may learn his own ignorance; let him know his own ignorance, that he may fear; let him fear, that he may be humbled; let him be humbled, that he may not trust in himself; let him trust not in himself, that he may seek for the assistance of his Creator, and that he who is dead from trusting in himself, may seek the assistance of his Maker, and live. Let the righteous man, then, who knows himself indeed, but who still knows not those things which are above him, hear the words, Knowest thou the course of heaven, and wilt thou set down the reason thereof upon the earth? That is, Dost thou comprehend the secret courses of the heavenly judgments, or art thou able to disclose them to the ears of men? Blessed Job therefore is questioned concerning his investigation of the incomprehensible judgments, as if it were plainly said to him, All things which thou sufferest, thou oughtest to endure the more patiently, the more, in thy ignorance of heavenly secrets, thou knowest not why thou sufferest them.
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______________________________ Note from §. 74 above:
St. Gregory speaks here of our Lord as Man, and therefore naturally mentions only the Procession from The Father. Elsewhere he uses the same language with the later Latin Church very distinctly, though there is nothing to shew that he does it in any sense which the more candid Greeks would not allow. We have had already in Mor. i. §. 30. p. 48. the expression, “He bestowed the Holy Spirit, Which proceeds from Him- self, upon the hearts of His disciples,” and in Mor. xxvii. §. 34. p. 224, an implication to the same effect. In Dial. ii. near the end. Ben. p. 275. Lat. 276, we have, “Whereas it is acknowledged that the Paraclete Spirit ever proceeds from the Father and the Son, why saith the Son, that He will depart, that He may come Who never departs from the Son? ” which stands at present in the Greek, “ever proceeds from the Father, and abides in the Son. ” John Diaconus accuses the Greeks of having falsified Pope Zachary's version. See also p. 375 of this volume. Hom, in Ev. xxvi. p. 1554. B. he has, “Although ‘to be sent’ may also be understood after the nature of the Godhead. For thereby is the Son said to be sent by the Father, in that He is begotten (generatur) of the Father. For the Holy Spirit also, Who being coequal with the Father and the Son, yet was not Incarnate, the same Son declareth Himself to send, saying: When the Comforter is come, Whom I will send unto you from the Father. (John 15, 26. ) For if to be sent must be understood merely to be Incarnate, the Holy Spirit doubtless would by no means be said to be sent, who was not at all Incarnate. But His ‘being sent’ is the very Procession whereby He proceeds from the Father and the Son. As therefore the Spirit is said to be sent because He proceeds; so also is the Son not unfitly said to be sent because He is begotten. ” Which is quoted by Theodulfus, in the 8th century, and could not have been interpolated by simply adding of ‘And the Son,’ as the context requires those words.
St. Augustine uses sometimes rather the Greek, sometimes rather the Latin way of speaking; the two, fairly understood, not being contradictory. See Enchiridion, §. 3 Tr. p. 90. (where the reading is doubtful) and note g.
Tertullian, against Praxeas, c. iv. has, ‘I consider the Spirit not to be other-whence than from the Father, by the Son:’ and c. viii. ‘The Spirit is Third from God and (qu. ‘of,’ ex for, et? ) the Son, as the fruit is of (ex) the tree, third from the root, and the stream, of (ex) the river, third from the Fountain, and the point, of (ex) the ray, third from the sun. ’ Similarly St. Athanasius explains Ps. 36, 9. In Thy Light shall we see Light, because ‘the Son in the Father, is the Fountain of the Spirit. ’ De Inc. et contr. Ar. §. 9. Ben. p. 877. St. Hilary De Trin. viii. 20. allows liberty of language as to whether the Spirit is of the Father or the Son, but says that His very Procession from the Father is ‘receiving that which is the Son’s,’ by which he seems to mean, participation of that essence which is already the Son’s. This doctrine is what the Greeks would allow, but one which seems also to bear out the Latin form of expression, and to be in fact what is commonly meant by those who make use of it. Thus Petavius De Trin. vii. 3. §. 8, on a passage of St. Cyr. Al. Thes. c. 34. t. v. p. 345. “When therefore the Holy Ghost, become within us, makes us conformed to God, and proceeds from the Father and the Son; it is plain that It is of the Divine Essence (or Substance), Essentially (or substantially) in It and from It proceeding. As in fact is the breath that flows forth from the mouth of man, to use a poor illustration. ” “ This Procession of the Holy Spirit,” says Petavius, “can be supposed no other than that Essential, in which He is said to proceed from the Father and the Son, , as he presently explains it, ‘Essentially from It proceeding,’ making it the same to proceed from the Father and the Son, as to proceed from the Essence of the Father and the Son. ” He cites other passages of St. Cyril. St. Leo seems to imply the same doctrine, Ser. 2 de Pentec. where, in explaining John xvi. 13, he says, “What the Spirit receives, the Father giving, the Son gives. ”
The doctrine of St. Basil was a subject of dispute in the Council of Florence, the question turning much on the reading of a passage in book 3, against Eunomius, §. 1, in which according to some copies the Spirit is said to ‘have His Being of the Son. ’ The Benedictines argue that this must have been his meaning, at any rate, from the argument at the end of book 2, against Eunomius ascribing the Spirit to the Son only, as His creature, whereas He is truly the Spirit of the Father and the Son. He also in other places speaks of the Holy Spirit as related to the Son as the Son is to the Father; not, of course, strictly. De Sp. S. §. 43. t. iii. p. 36.
That the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Son, as well as of the Father, is acknowledged by all, and hence it is very natural that many should never have written so distinctly on the point as to say whether He is of the Son in the sense of from the Son. St. Epiphanius, however, Ancorat. 67, has, But if Christ is believed to be of the Father, God of God, and the Spirit of () Christ, or from () Both; as Christ says, Which proceedeth from the Father, and He shall take of Mine. ” And Haer. Ixxiv. 7. “And the Holy Spirit is from () Both, Spirit from () Spirit. ” St. Greg. Nyss. end of
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B. 1, against Eunom. says, that the Son is “viewed as prior to the Spirit in order of causation,” which comes to the same point. See Petavius 1. c. , Leo Allat. Gr. Orthod. , Forbes Inst. Hist. Theol. vi. Pearson on the Creed, Art. viii. , adds further testimony to the Latin doctrine.
BOOK XXX.
Contains an exposition of the last eight verses of the thirty-eighth chapter, and of the same number of the thirty-ninth: where the holy Doctor discusses very many questions in a pious and learned manner, especially concerning the preaching of the Gospel.
[i]
1. Blessed Job is asked by God, Who questions him, whether he has done such things as man is surely unable to do; in order that, when he discovers that he cannot do them, he may fly for refuge to Him, Whom he understands to be the only One Who is able to do them, and that he may appear more powerful before the eyes of his Judge, if he learns more truly his own infirmities. Of that then which is well known to be wonderfully wrought by God, Job is questioned by the Divine Voice; and it is said to him;
Ver. 34. Wilt thou lift up thy voice in the cloud, and shall the force of the waters cover thee?
2. For God in truth lifts up His voice in the cloud, when He frames His exhortation to the darkened hearts of unbelievers, by the tongues of His preachers. And the force of the waters covers Him, when the crowd of opposing people oppresses His members who are acting rightly. For hence is that which is written, The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, Stand in the court of the Lord’s house, speaking to all the cities of Judah, from which men come to worship in the Lords house, all the words that I have commanded thee. [Jer. 26, 1. 2. ] And a little after, And the priests, and the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. And when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking, the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, took him, saying, Let him surely die, why hath he prophesied in the name of the Lord? [ib. 7-9] Behold, the Lord lifted up His voice in a cloud, because He reproved the darkened minds of the haughty by sending the Prophet against them. Behold, the face of the waters covered Him immediately; because He Himself, Who commanded the words of reproof, suffered all things in the person of Jeremiah from the people who rose against him, and were provoked by reason of their reproof. The Lord also raised up His voice in a cloud by Himself, when on exhibiting Himself before us in His assumed body, He preached many things to His persecutors, but veiled in enigmatical figures. He raised up His voice in a cloud, because He uttered His truth, as if in darkness, to unbelievers who would not follow Him. Whence also it is well written in the Books of Kings, The cloud filled the house of the Lord, and the priests were not able to minister because of the cloud. [1 Kings 8, 10. 11. ] For while the proud high priests of the Jews hear the divine mysteries in parables, as their merits demand, the priests were unable, as it were, to minister in the house of the Lord on account of the cloud. For when they scorn to examine, amid the obscure darkness of allegories, the mystical meanings which are covered with the veil of the letter in the Old Testament, they lost on account of the cloud the ministry which they deserved by their faith.
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To whom the Lord even now uttered His voice in a cloud, when He spoke even plainly concerning Himself. For what is plainer than, I and My Father are One? [John 10, 30] What plainer to utter, than, Before Abraham was, 1 am? [John 8, 58] But because the darkness of unbelief had filled the minds of His hearers, an intervening cloud was concealing, as it were, the ray of the sun which had been shot forth.
3. For the face of the waters immediately covered Him, at this elevation of voice, because the raging crowd of the people at once rose up against Him. For it is written, Therefore the Jews sought to kill Him, because He not only brake the Sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.
[John 5, 18] Of this force of waters He exclaims by the Prophet, They came round about Me all the day like water, they compassed Me about together. [Ps. 88, 17] And again, Saw Me, O God, for the waters have come in even unto My soul. [Ps. 69, 1] Which waters He surely endured in Himself before His death, but in His own people, even after His Ascension. For hence is that which He exclaims from above, Said, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? [Acts 9, 4] Behold, He had already ascended into heaven, and yet Saul, still pursuing Him with the force of unbelieving waters, was touching Him, even as a wave swelling above the rest. For it is He in truth Who speaks right things by the good, He Who is wounded in the sufferings of the godly. In order then to shew, by the wondrous unity of charity, that it is He Who preaches by the mouths of His Saints to unworthy hearers, the Lord says, Wilt thou lift up thy voice in the cloud? But to shew that it was He Who was enduring all kinds of adversity in His Saints, He subjoined, And shall the face of the waters cover thee? Thou understandest, As Myself, Whom all the wicked neither understand to be speaking by holy men when preaching, nor see to be suffering by them when dying. The Lord relates therefore what He suffers from men, that the pain of the afflicted man may be mitigated, as if He openly said to him, Weigh carefully My sufferings, and temper thine own with patience. For it is much less for thee to bear wounds, than for Me to bear the sufferings of men. [‘humans’]
4. But we can consider these words still more minutely, if we anxiously examine our hearts, in the midst of heavenly gifts. We are at this time indeed faithful, we now believe the heavenly truths which we hear, we now love the things which we believe. But when we are oppressed by some unnecessary cares, we are darkened by a confusion spread over us; and when God suggests to us, even when such, some wonderful notions respecting Himself, He lifts up, as it were, His voice in a cloud. While He speaks of Himself to our benighted minds, He, Who is not seen, is heard, as it were, in a cloud. For most exalted are the truths which we know of Him, but we do not yet behold Him by that secret inspiration, with which we are instructed. He therefore Who speaks indeed to our hearts, but conceals His shape, forms His voice, as it were, in a cloud. But, lo! we now hear the words of God speaking of Himself within, and we now know with what perseverance and with what zeal we ought to cling to His love; and yet we fall back from the height of inward consideration to our usual ways, from the very changeableness of this mortal condition, and are assaulted by the perverse importunity of impending sins. When, therefore, He insinuates subtle thoughts of Himself in our darkened minds, He raises up His voice in a cloud.
5. But when our very notion of God is overpowered by the temptation of sins, God is covered, as it were, in His voice, by the force of waters. For we cast as many waters over Him, as many forbidden thoughts as we dwell on in our heart, after the inspiration of His grace. But yet He 1 ‘op- forsakes us not even when overwhelmed [‘oppressos,’ al. ‘oppressus. ’]; for He returns immediately to our mind, He disperses the mists of temptations, He pours on us the shower of compunction, and
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brings back the sun of subtle understanding. And He thus shews how much He loves us, Who forsakes us not, even when He is rejected; in order that the human mind may, at least when thus instructed, blush to admit temptation within, since its Redeemer ceases not to love it even when wandering. This He endures in us by Himself, this does He daily hear from unbelievers through His preachers. For His gift is cast out by the rising of temptation within us, and yet He is not kept back by our infirmity from pouring into us His gifts. His words are publicly rejected, and yet He is not restrained, by any wickedness of unbelievers, from bestowing the abundance of His grace. For when wicked men despise preaching, He adds miracles also, for them to reverence. Whence after the voice has been uttered, and the force of the overwhelming waters, it is fitly subjoined;
Ver. 35. Wilt thou send lightnings, and will they go, and will they return and say to thee, Here we are?
[ii]
6. For lightnings come forth from the clouds, just as wonderful works are displayed by holy preachers. Who, as we have often said, are therefore wont to be called ‘clouds,’ because they flash forth with miracles, and rain with words. And that the hearts of men, after being unmoved by preaching, are confounded by these flashes of miracles, we have learned by the witness of the Prophet, who says, Thou with multiply Thy lightnings, and with discomfit them. [Ps. 18, 14] As if he were saying, Whilst they hear not the words of Thy preaching, they are confounded by the miracles of the preachers. Whence it is written elsewhere, Thine arrows will go in the light, in the splendour of the glittering of Thine arms. [Hab. 3, 11] For the arrows of God to go forth in light, is for His words to resound with manifest truth. But because men frequently despise the words of life, even when understood, miracles are likewise added. Whence he there subjoined, For the splendour of the glittering of Thine arms. For the glittering of arms is the brightness of miracles. For we protect ourselves with arms, we destroy our opponents with arrows. Arms then, with arrows, are miracles together with preaching. For holy preachers strike their adversaries with their words, as if with darts, but they protect themselves with arms, that is, with miracles; in order that as far as they are to be heard, they may sound forth by the force of their darts, and as far as they are to be reverenced, glitter with the arms of miracles. It is said therefore to blessed Job, Wilt thou send lightnings, and will they go, and will they return and say to thee, Here we are? Thou understandest, ‘As to Me. ’ For the lightnings go forth when preachers glitter with miracles, and transfix the hearts of their hearers with heavenly awe. But they return and say, Here we are, when they attribute not to themselves, but to the strength of God, whatever they know they have done powerfully. What is then their saying to God, ‘Here we are? ’ For a kind of obedience is declared in this word. For holy preachers then to return and say, ‘Here we are,’ is for them to ascribe the glory of grace to Him, from Whom they feel that they have received victory in the contest; lest they attribute to themselves that which they do. And lightnings can go forth in doing their work, but they cannot return in pride.
7. Let us see then the lightning going forth. Peter says to a certain lame man; Silver and gold have I none, but what I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and raised him up: and immediately his feet and soles received strength, and he leaping up stood, and walked. [Acts 3, 6-8] But when the multitude of the Jews had been disturbed by this which had been done, let us now see the returning lightning, which says; Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this, or why look ye on us, as though by our own strength or power we have made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob,
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the God of our fathers hath glorified His Son Jesus. [ibid. 12] And a little after; Whereof we are witnesses; and His name, through faith in His name, hath made this man strong, Whom ye have seen and known; and the faith which is by Him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. [Acts 3, 15. 16. ] The lightning therefore went forth, when Peter worked a miracle, it returned when he attributed what he had done, not to himself but to its Author. The lightnings go forth when holy preachers display wonderful deeds, but they say on their return, ‘Here we are,’ when, in that which they do, they refer to the power of its Author.
8. But this can he understood in another sense also. For holy men, as was said before, are sent and go forth as lightnings, when they come forth from the retirement of contemplation, to the public life of employment. They are sent and they go, when, from the secresy of inward meditation, they spread forth into the wide space of active life. But they return and say to God; ‘Here we are,’ because after the outward works which they perform, they always return to the bosom of contemplation, there to revive the flame of their zeal, and to glow as it were from the touch of heavenly brightness. For they would freeze too speedily amid their outward works, good though they be, did they not constantly return with anxious earnestness to the fire of contemplation. Whence it is well said by Solomon, Unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return, to flow again. [Eccles. 1, 7] For they are there called rivers, who are here called lightnings. For because they water the hearts of the hearers, they are called rivers, but because they kindle them, they are called lightnings. Of whom it is written elsewhere, The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice. [Ps. 93, 3] And again, His lightnings enlightened the world. [Ps. 97, 4] The rivers therefore return to the place from which they go forth; because holy men, (though they come forth, for our sakes, from the sight of their Creator, Whose brightness they endeavour to behold with their mind, to the ministry of active life,) yet unceasingly recur to the holy study of contemplation, and if in their preaching they pour themselves into our ears by bodily words from without, yet do they ever return in their silent thoughts to consider the Fount of life Itself. Of whom it is also well said, to flow again. For did they not constantly return with anxious mind to the contemplation of God, their inward drought would doubtless dry up even their outward words of preaching. But while they thirst unceasingly to behold God, rivers are ever springing up, as it were, within, to flow forth without, in order that they may there derive by love the means of flowing down to us in preaching. Let it be said therefore rightly; Wilt thou send forth the lightnings, and will they go, and will they return and say to thee, Here we are? Thou understandest, as Myself, Who adapt My preachers, when I will, after the grace of contemplation, to the ministry of active life. And yet I ever call them back from outward good deeds, to the inward height of contemplation, in order that they may one while go forth, when commanded, to perform their tasks, and that at another they may dwell with Me more familiarly when recalled to the pursuit of meditation. They return therefore and say, ‘Here we are,’ because, though they may seem through their outward acts to be deficient for a little in contemplation, yet by the ardent desires which they ever kindle in their minds, they make known their presence to God, by obeying Him. For to say, ‘Here we are,’ is to shew that they are present by their love. It follows;
Ver. 36. Who hath placed wisdom in the inward parts of a man? or who hath given the cock understanding?
[iii]
9. Who else are designated in this place by the name of the cock, but these same holy preachers,
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mentioned again in another way, who strive amid the darkness of this present life to announce by their preaching, as if by their notes, the approaching light? For they say; the night is far spent, but the day is at hand. [Rom. 13, 12] Who by their voices arouse the sleep of our sluggishness, exclaiming; It is now the hour for us to arise from sleep. [ib. 11] And again; Awake, ye righteous, and sin not. [1 Cor. 15, 34] Of this cock it is written again; There be three things that go well, and a fourth which goeth prosperously: a lion, the strongest of beasts, will not be afraid at the onset of any; a cock girt in the loins; and a ram, whom there is no king who can resist. [Prov. 30, 29-31] For He is in this place mentioned as a lion, of Whom it is written; The lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed, [Rev, 5, 5] Who is called the strongest of beasts, because in Him the weakness of God is stronger than men. Who is not afraid at the onset of any one; for He says; The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me. [John 14, 30] The cock girt in the loins, that is, holy preachers announcing the true morn amid the darkness of this night. Who are girt in the loins, because they keep away from their members the looseness of lust. For it is in the loins in truth that there is lust. Whence it is said to the same persons by the Lord: Let your loins he girt about. [Luke 12, 35] And a ram, whom there is no king who can resist. Whom else in this place do we understand by a ram, but the first rank of priests in the Church? Of whom it is written: Bring to the Lord the offspring of rams; [Ps. 29, 1] who lead the people which is walking after their examples like a flock of sheep following them. And whom, if they live spiritually and rightly, no king is at all able to resist; because whatever persecutor may stand in their way, he is not able to hinder their intention. For they know both how to run anxiously to Him, Whom they long for, and to come to Him by dying. The lion is therefore placed first, the cock second, the ram last. For Christ appeared, next the holy preachers, the Apostles, and then at length the spiritual fathers, the rulers of the Churches, the leaders, namely, of the flocks, because they are the teachers of the peoples who follow them.
10. But we enforce these points still better, if we subjoin an exposition of the remainder of the same passage. For since after these things Antichrist will also appear, he added there a fourth point, saying; And he who appeared a fool, after he had been lifted up on high. For if he had understood, he would have laid his hand on his mouth. [Prov. 30, 32] For he in truth will he lifted up on high when he will feign that he is God. But he will appear a fool when lifted up on high, because he will fail in his very loftiness through the coming of the true Judge. But if he had understood this, he would have laid his hand on his mouth: that is, if he had foreseen his punishment, when he began to be proud, having been once fashioned aright, he would not have been raised up to the boastfulness of such great pride. And let not that move us which has been said of him above; A fourth, which goeth prosperously. For he said that three went well, and a fourth prosperously. For not every thing which goeth ‘prosperously’ goeth ‘well,’ nor in this life does every thing which goeth ‘well,’ go ‘prosperously. ’ For a lion, a cock, and a ram, go indeed well: but not prosperously here, for they suffer the assaults of persecutions. But the fourth goeth prosperously, and not well: because Antichrist will go on in his craft, but his craft will be prosperous for a short space of this present life, as was said of him under the person of Antiochus by Daniel; Strength was given him against the continual sacrifice by reason of transgression, and truth shall be cast down in the earth, and he shall do and shall prosper. [Dan. 8, 12] That which Solomon says, goeth prosperously: this Daniel says, shall prosper. According to this testimony therefore which is stated by Solomon, A cock girt in its loins, we fitly understood in this place also holy preachers by the cock. The Lord therefore referring all things to Himself, says; Who hath placed wisdom in the inward parts of a man? or who hath given the cock understanding? As if He were saying, Who hath infused into the heart of a
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man, who savours of human things, the grace of heavenly wisdom? Or who, but Myself, hath given understanding even to holy preachers themselves, to know when, or to whom, they ought to announce the coming morn? For they understand both what to do, and when, for the very reason that they know it, through My revealing it, within. But it must he observed, that divinely inspired wisdom is placed in the inward parts of a man; because, doubtless, as far as concerns the number of the Elect, it is given not in voices only, but also in the thoughts, in order that the conscience may live according to what the tongue speaks, and that its light may shine forth the more brightly on the surface, the more truly it glows in the heart.
11. But it is a matter of great labour to examine with still more minute exposition, that which is added; Or who hath given the cock understanding? For the understanding of teachers ought to be the more subtle, the more it exercises itself in penetrating things invisible, the more it discusses nothing material, the more, even when speaking by the voice of the body, it transcends every thing which is of the body. For it would not, in truth, be at all suited to the loftiest subjects, did not the Creator Himself of things above, bestow it on the cock which crows, that is, on the teacher who preaches. The cock also received understanding, first to distinguish the hours of the night season, and then at last to utter the awakening voice. Because, in truth, every holy preacher first considers in his hearers the quality of their life, and afterwards frames the voice of preaching, fitted to instruct them. For to decide on the qualities of sins is, as it were, to distinguish the hours of night, to reprove the darknesses of actions with fit voices of reproof is, as it were, to distinguish the hours of night. Understanding is therefore given to the cock from above, because to the teacher of truth there is given from above the virtue of discretion, for him to know to whom, what, when, or how to introduce his instruction.
12. For one and the same exhortation is not suited to all; because the same kind of habits does not bind all. For those things that benefit some, often hurt others. For frequently even herbs, which refresh some animals, kill others, and a gentle hiss pacifies horses, urges on dogs; and medicine which lessens one disease, gives strength to another: and bread which strengthens the life of the strong, destroys that of the young. The speech therefore of teachers ought to he fashioned according to the quality of the hearers, in order to suit each class according to their own case, and yet never to fail in the art of general edification. For what are the attentive minds of hearers, but certain strings which are strained tight in a harp? which the skilful performer touches in different ways, that they may not produce a discordant sound. And the strings give back an harmonious sound, because they are struck with one plectrum, but with different force. Whence also every teacher, in order to build up all in one virtue of charity, ought not to touch the hearts of his hearers with one and the same exhortation.
13. For men must he admonished in one way, and women in another; the young in one way, the old in another; in one way the poor, and in another the rich; in one way the cheerful, and in another the gloomy; in one way subjects, in another rulers; in one way servants, in another masters; in one way the wise of this world, in another the dull; in one way the shameless, in another the modest; in one way the insolent, in another the retiring; in one way the impatient, in another the patient; in one way the well-wishing, in another the envious; in one way the pure, in another the unclean; in one way the healthy, in another the sick; in one way those who fear the rod, and therefore live innocently, in another way those who have become so hardened in iniquity, as not to be corrected by the rod; in one way those who are over silent, in another those who give themselves to much
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talking; in one way the timid, in another the bold; in one way the sluggish, in another the hasty; in one way the gentle, in another the angry; in one way the humble, in another the haughty; in one way the obstinate, in another the inconstant; in one way the gluttonous, in another the abstinent; in one way those who mercifully give away their own, in another those who strive to seize others’ goods; in one way those who neither seize the goods of others, nor yet give away their own; and in another those who both give away their own goods which they have, and desist not from seizing those of others; in one way those who are at variance, in another those who are reconciled; in one way those who sow strifes, in another the peaceful. Those who do not rightly understand the words of the sacred Law must be admonished in one way, in another those who understand them rightly, but speak not of them humbly; in one way those who though they are able to preach in a worthy manner, are afraid from excessive humility, in another those whom imperfection or age excludes from preaching, and whom yet precipitation urges on; in one way those who prosper in their temporal desires, in another way those who desire indeed the things of the world, but who yet are wearied with the toil of adversity: in one way those who are bound in wedlock, in another way those who are free from the bonds of wedlock; in one way those who have had experience of carnal commixtion, in another way those who are ignorant of it; in one way those who deplore the sins of their deeds, in another those who deplore the sins of their thoughts; in one way those who lament their sins and yet do not abandon them, in another those who abandon but yet do not lament them: in one way those who even praise the unlawful deeds which they commit, in another those who blame their misdeeds, and yet do not avoid them; in one way those who are overcome with sudden concupiscence, in another those who are deliberately fettered with sin; in one way those who commit frequently unlawful deeds though most trifling, and in another those who guard themselves against trifling faults but are sometimes overwhelmed in grievous ones; in one way those who do not even begin good courses, in another those who do not complete what they have begun; in one way those who sin secretly and do right publicly, in another those who conceal the good deeds which they do, and who yet by some things they do publicly allow people to think evil of them. We ought indeed to mention minutely what course of advice should be observed in each particular case, but are hindered by fear of prolixity in our remarks. [S. Greg. Naz. Or. 2. §. 28. ] But we are anxious to carry that out in another work [The ‘Pastorale. ’], by God’s help, if some small portion of this painful life still remains to us.
14. But we have another point which we ought to consider concerning this understanding of the cock, namely, that it is accustomed to utter its louder and longer-drawn strains in the deeper hours of the night, and that when the hour of morn is now approaching, it utters altogether more gentle and feeble notes. And a consideration of the discretion of preachers shews us what the understanding of this cock in these respects suggests to us. For when they are preaching to minds which are still wicked, they declare the terrors of eternal judgment with loud and great voices, because, namely, they cry out, as it were, in the darkness of the profound night. But when they know that the light of truth is already present to the hearts of their hearers, they turn the loudness of their cry into the gentleness of sweetness; and bring forth, not so much the terrors of punishment, as the allurements of rewards. And they sing at that time even with diminished tones, because as the morn approaches, they preach all the subtlest mysteries, that their followers may hear more minutely of heavenly things, the nearer they approach to the light of truth, and that the shorter note of the cock may charm those when awake, whom its long drawn note had aroused from sleep; in order that every one who has been corrected, may delight in knowing minutely the sweets of heaven, who used before to dread adversities from the judgment. Which is well expressed by
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Moses, when the trumpets are ordered to sound a shorter note, for the summoning forth the host. For it is written, Make thee two trumpets of beaten silver. [Numb. 10, 2] And a little after, When a short blast hath sounded, the camp shall be moved. [ib. 5] For the army is led by two trumpets, because the people is called by two precepts of charity to the girding of faith. But they are commanded to be made of silver, in order that the words of preachers may be clear with the brightness of light, and may not confuse the mind of their hearers, by any obscurity of their own. But to be hammered out, for this reason; because it is necessary that they who preach the life to come, should grow up by the blows of present tribulations. But it is well said, When the short blast hath sounded, the camp shall be moved: doubtless, because when the word of preaching is more subtilly and minutely enforced, the hearts of the hearers are more warmly excited to meet the contests of temptations.
15. But there is something else to be carefully observed in the cock, namely, that when it is preparing to utter its note, it first flaps its wings, and striking itself, makes itself more wakeful. And this we behold plainly, if we look carefully at the life of holy preachers. For they, when they utter the words of preaching, first exercise themselves in holy actions, that they may not, while themselves slothful in act, arouse others with their voice. But they first rouse themselves by lofty deeds, and then they render others anxious for well-doing. They first strike themselves with the wings of their thoughts, because whatever is slumbering uselessly within them, they discover by anxious examination, they correct with severe punishment. They first take care to punish their own faults by tears, and then denounce those doings of others which demand punishment. They flap with their wings, therefore, before they utter their song, because, before they put forth the words of exhortation, they proclaim by their deeds all that they intend to say: and when they are perfectly awake in themselves, they then summon others who are slumbering to awake.
16. But whence is this great wisdom of the teacher, that he is both perfectly awake in himself, and that he also summons the slumberers to awake with a certain elevation of voice; that he first carefully dispels the darkness of sins, and afterwards manifests discreetly the light of preaching, that he suits each one singly, in manner and in time, and that he shews to all at the same time the result of their doings? Whence is it directed to such great subjects, and with such subtlety, unless it be taught inwardly by Him, by Whom it was created?
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things occur, but we are not sufficient to investigate why they occur. Whence also, the Lord in this place, because He had said that the morning star is brought forth for some, but that the evening star rises for others, that man might not dare to scan the secret judgments of God, immediately subjoins; Ver. 33. Knowest thou the course of heaven, and wilt thou set down the reason thereof on the earth?
[xxxiii]
77. To know the course of heaven, is to see the secret predestinations of the heavenly disposals. But to set down the reason thereof on the earth is to lay open before the hearts of men the causes of such secrets. To set down, namely, the reason of heaven on the earth, is either to examine the mysteries of the heavenly judgments, by consideration, or to make them manifest in words. Which certainly no one can do who is placed in this life. For, to pass from little to greater things, who can understand what is the secret reason, that a just man frequently returns from a trial, not only unavenged, but even punished besides, and that his wicked adversary escapes, not only without punishment, but even victorious? Who can understand why one man, who plots for the deaths of his neighbours, survives, and another, who would be likely to preserve the lives of many, dies ? One man, who is only eager to do hurt, attains the height of power, another only desires to defend the injured, and yet he himself is lying under oppression. One man wishes for leisure, and is involved in innumerable occupations, another wishes to be engaged in employments, and is compelled to be disengaged. One beginning badly is drawn on from worse to worse, even to the end of his life; another beginning well, proceeds through a long period of time to the increase of his merits. But, on the other hand, one, who is an evil liver, is spared for a long time, in order that he may improve; but another seems to be living properly, but continues in this life till he breaks out into evil ways. One, who has been born in the error of unbelief, perishes in his error; another, who has been born in the soundness of the Catholic faith, is perfected in the soundness of the Catholic faith. But, on the other hand, one, who has come forth from the womb of a Catholic Mother, is swallowed up, at the close of his life, in the gulph of error, but another terminates his life in Catholic piety, who, born in misbelief, had sucked in the poison of error with his mother's milk. One both wishes, and is able, to aim at the loftiness of holy living; another is neither willing nor able. One wishes, and is not able; another is able, and is not willing. Who then can examine into these secrets of the heavenly judgments? Who can understand the secret balance of hidden equity? For no one attains to understand these recesses of secret judgments. Let this be said then to a man, that he may learn his own ignorance; let him know his own ignorance, that he may fear; let him fear, that he may be humbled; let him be humbled, that he may not trust in himself; let him trust not in himself, that he may seek for the assistance of his Creator, and that he who is dead from trusting in himself, may seek the assistance of his Maker, and live. Let the righteous man, then, who knows himself indeed, but who still knows not those things which are above him, hear the words, Knowest thou the course of heaven, and wilt thou set down the reason thereof upon the earth? That is, Dost thou comprehend the secret courses of the heavenly judgments, or art thou able to disclose them to the ears of men? Blessed Job therefore is questioned concerning his investigation of the incomprehensible judgments, as if it were plainly said to him, All things which thou sufferest, thou oughtest to endure the more patiently, the more, in thy ignorance of heavenly secrets, thou knowest not why thou sufferest them.
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______________________________ Note from §. 74 above:
St. Gregory speaks here of our Lord as Man, and therefore naturally mentions only the Procession from The Father. Elsewhere he uses the same language with the later Latin Church very distinctly, though there is nothing to shew that he does it in any sense which the more candid Greeks would not allow. We have had already in Mor. i. §. 30. p. 48. the expression, “He bestowed the Holy Spirit, Which proceeds from Him- self, upon the hearts of His disciples,” and in Mor. xxvii. §. 34. p. 224, an implication to the same effect. In Dial. ii. near the end. Ben. p. 275. Lat. 276, we have, “Whereas it is acknowledged that the Paraclete Spirit ever proceeds from the Father and the Son, why saith the Son, that He will depart, that He may come Who never departs from the Son? ” which stands at present in the Greek, “ever proceeds from the Father, and abides in the Son. ” John Diaconus accuses the Greeks of having falsified Pope Zachary's version. See also p. 375 of this volume. Hom, in Ev. xxvi. p. 1554. B. he has, “Although ‘to be sent’ may also be understood after the nature of the Godhead. For thereby is the Son said to be sent by the Father, in that He is begotten (generatur) of the Father. For the Holy Spirit also, Who being coequal with the Father and the Son, yet was not Incarnate, the same Son declareth Himself to send, saying: When the Comforter is come, Whom I will send unto you from the Father. (John 15, 26. ) For if to be sent must be understood merely to be Incarnate, the Holy Spirit doubtless would by no means be said to be sent, who was not at all Incarnate. But His ‘being sent’ is the very Procession whereby He proceeds from the Father and the Son. As therefore the Spirit is said to be sent because He proceeds; so also is the Son not unfitly said to be sent because He is begotten. ” Which is quoted by Theodulfus, in the 8th century, and could not have been interpolated by simply adding of ‘And the Son,’ as the context requires those words.
St. Augustine uses sometimes rather the Greek, sometimes rather the Latin way of speaking; the two, fairly understood, not being contradictory. See Enchiridion, §. 3 Tr. p. 90. (where the reading is doubtful) and note g.
Tertullian, against Praxeas, c. iv. has, ‘I consider the Spirit not to be other-whence than from the Father, by the Son:’ and c. viii. ‘The Spirit is Third from God and (qu. ‘of,’ ex for, et? ) the Son, as the fruit is of (ex) the tree, third from the root, and the stream, of (ex) the river, third from the Fountain, and the point, of (ex) the ray, third from the sun. ’ Similarly St. Athanasius explains Ps. 36, 9. In Thy Light shall we see Light, because ‘the Son in the Father, is the Fountain of the Spirit. ’ De Inc. et contr. Ar. §. 9. Ben. p. 877. St. Hilary De Trin. viii. 20. allows liberty of language as to whether the Spirit is of the Father or the Son, but says that His very Procession from the Father is ‘receiving that which is the Son’s,’ by which he seems to mean, participation of that essence which is already the Son’s. This doctrine is what the Greeks would allow, but one which seems also to bear out the Latin form of expression, and to be in fact what is commonly meant by those who make use of it. Thus Petavius De Trin. vii. 3. §. 8, on a passage of St. Cyr. Al. Thes. c. 34. t. v. p. 345. “When therefore the Holy Ghost, become within us, makes us conformed to God, and proceeds from the Father and the Son; it is plain that It is of the Divine Essence (or Substance), Essentially (or substantially) in It and from It proceeding. As in fact is the breath that flows forth from the mouth of man, to use a poor illustration. ” “ This Procession of the Holy Spirit,” says Petavius, “can be supposed no other than that Essential, in which He is said to proceed from the Father and the Son, , as he presently explains it, ‘Essentially from It proceeding,’ making it the same to proceed from the Father and the Son, as to proceed from the Essence of the Father and the Son. ” He cites other passages of St. Cyril. St. Leo seems to imply the same doctrine, Ser. 2 de Pentec. where, in explaining John xvi. 13, he says, “What the Spirit receives, the Father giving, the Son gives. ”
The doctrine of St. Basil was a subject of dispute in the Council of Florence, the question turning much on the reading of a passage in book 3, against Eunomius, §. 1, in which according to some copies the Spirit is said to ‘have His Being of the Son. ’ The Benedictines argue that this must have been his meaning, at any rate, from the argument at the end of book 2, against Eunomius ascribing the Spirit to the Son only, as His creature, whereas He is truly the Spirit of the Father and the Son. He also in other places speaks of the Holy Spirit as related to the Son as the Son is to the Father; not, of course, strictly. De Sp. S. §. 43. t. iii. p. 36.
That the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Son, as well as of the Father, is acknowledged by all, and hence it is very natural that many should never have written so distinctly on the point as to say whether He is of the Son in the sense of from the Son. St. Epiphanius, however, Ancorat. 67, has, But if Christ is believed to be of the Father, God of God, and the Spirit of () Christ, or from () Both; as Christ says, Which proceedeth from the Father, and He shall take of Mine. ” And Haer. Ixxiv. 7. “And the Holy Spirit is from () Both, Spirit from () Spirit. ” St. Greg. Nyss. end of
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B. 1, against Eunom. says, that the Son is “viewed as prior to the Spirit in order of causation,” which comes to the same point. See Petavius 1. c. , Leo Allat. Gr. Orthod. , Forbes Inst. Hist. Theol. vi. Pearson on the Creed, Art. viii. , adds further testimony to the Latin doctrine.
BOOK XXX.
Contains an exposition of the last eight verses of the thirty-eighth chapter, and of the same number of the thirty-ninth: where the holy Doctor discusses very many questions in a pious and learned manner, especially concerning the preaching of the Gospel.
[i]
1. Blessed Job is asked by God, Who questions him, whether he has done such things as man is surely unable to do; in order that, when he discovers that he cannot do them, he may fly for refuge to Him, Whom he understands to be the only One Who is able to do them, and that he may appear more powerful before the eyes of his Judge, if he learns more truly his own infirmities. Of that then which is well known to be wonderfully wrought by God, Job is questioned by the Divine Voice; and it is said to him;
Ver. 34. Wilt thou lift up thy voice in the cloud, and shall the force of the waters cover thee?
2. For God in truth lifts up His voice in the cloud, when He frames His exhortation to the darkened hearts of unbelievers, by the tongues of His preachers. And the force of the waters covers Him, when the crowd of opposing people oppresses His members who are acting rightly. For hence is that which is written, The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, Stand in the court of the Lord’s house, speaking to all the cities of Judah, from which men come to worship in the Lords house, all the words that I have commanded thee. [Jer. 26, 1. 2. ] And a little after, And the priests, and the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. And when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking, the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, took him, saying, Let him surely die, why hath he prophesied in the name of the Lord? [ib. 7-9] Behold, the Lord lifted up His voice in a cloud, because He reproved the darkened minds of the haughty by sending the Prophet against them. Behold, the face of the waters covered Him immediately; because He Himself, Who commanded the words of reproof, suffered all things in the person of Jeremiah from the people who rose against him, and were provoked by reason of their reproof. The Lord also raised up His voice in a cloud by Himself, when on exhibiting Himself before us in His assumed body, He preached many things to His persecutors, but veiled in enigmatical figures. He raised up His voice in a cloud, because He uttered His truth, as if in darkness, to unbelievers who would not follow Him. Whence also it is well written in the Books of Kings, The cloud filled the house of the Lord, and the priests were not able to minister because of the cloud. [1 Kings 8, 10. 11. ] For while the proud high priests of the Jews hear the divine mysteries in parables, as their merits demand, the priests were unable, as it were, to minister in the house of the Lord on account of the cloud. For when they scorn to examine, amid the obscure darkness of allegories, the mystical meanings which are covered with the veil of the letter in the Old Testament, they lost on account of the cloud the ministry which they deserved by their faith.
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To whom the Lord even now uttered His voice in a cloud, when He spoke even plainly concerning Himself. For what is plainer than, I and My Father are One? [John 10, 30] What plainer to utter, than, Before Abraham was, 1 am? [John 8, 58] But because the darkness of unbelief had filled the minds of His hearers, an intervening cloud was concealing, as it were, the ray of the sun which had been shot forth.
3. For the face of the waters immediately covered Him, at this elevation of voice, because the raging crowd of the people at once rose up against Him. For it is written, Therefore the Jews sought to kill Him, because He not only brake the Sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.
[John 5, 18] Of this force of waters He exclaims by the Prophet, They came round about Me all the day like water, they compassed Me about together. [Ps. 88, 17] And again, Saw Me, O God, for the waters have come in even unto My soul. [Ps. 69, 1] Which waters He surely endured in Himself before His death, but in His own people, even after His Ascension. For hence is that which He exclaims from above, Said, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? [Acts 9, 4] Behold, He had already ascended into heaven, and yet Saul, still pursuing Him with the force of unbelieving waters, was touching Him, even as a wave swelling above the rest. For it is He in truth Who speaks right things by the good, He Who is wounded in the sufferings of the godly. In order then to shew, by the wondrous unity of charity, that it is He Who preaches by the mouths of His Saints to unworthy hearers, the Lord says, Wilt thou lift up thy voice in the cloud? But to shew that it was He Who was enduring all kinds of adversity in His Saints, He subjoined, And shall the face of the waters cover thee? Thou understandest, As Myself, Whom all the wicked neither understand to be speaking by holy men when preaching, nor see to be suffering by them when dying. The Lord relates therefore what He suffers from men, that the pain of the afflicted man may be mitigated, as if He openly said to him, Weigh carefully My sufferings, and temper thine own with patience. For it is much less for thee to bear wounds, than for Me to bear the sufferings of men. [‘humans’]
4. But we can consider these words still more minutely, if we anxiously examine our hearts, in the midst of heavenly gifts. We are at this time indeed faithful, we now believe the heavenly truths which we hear, we now love the things which we believe. But when we are oppressed by some unnecessary cares, we are darkened by a confusion spread over us; and when God suggests to us, even when such, some wonderful notions respecting Himself, He lifts up, as it were, His voice in a cloud. While He speaks of Himself to our benighted minds, He, Who is not seen, is heard, as it were, in a cloud. For most exalted are the truths which we know of Him, but we do not yet behold Him by that secret inspiration, with which we are instructed. He therefore Who speaks indeed to our hearts, but conceals His shape, forms His voice, as it were, in a cloud. But, lo! we now hear the words of God speaking of Himself within, and we now know with what perseverance and with what zeal we ought to cling to His love; and yet we fall back from the height of inward consideration to our usual ways, from the very changeableness of this mortal condition, and are assaulted by the perverse importunity of impending sins. When, therefore, He insinuates subtle thoughts of Himself in our darkened minds, He raises up His voice in a cloud.
5. But when our very notion of God is overpowered by the temptation of sins, God is covered, as it were, in His voice, by the force of waters. For we cast as many waters over Him, as many forbidden thoughts as we dwell on in our heart, after the inspiration of His grace. But yet He 1 ‘op- forsakes us not even when overwhelmed [‘oppressos,’ al. ‘oppressus. ’]; for He returns immediately to our mind, He disperses the mists of temptations, He pours on us the shower of compunction, and
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brings back the sun of subtle understanding. And He thus shews how much He loves us, Who forsakes us not, even when He is rejected; in order that the human mind may, at least when thus instructed, blush to admit temptation within, since its Redeemer ceases not to love it even when wandering. This He endures in us by Himself, this does He daily hear from unbelievers through His preachers. For His gift is cast out by the rising of temptation within us, and yet He is not kept back by our infirmity from pouring into us His gifts. His words are publicly rejected, and yet He is not restrained, by any wickedness of unbelievers, from bestowing the abundance of His grace. For when wicked men despise preaching, He adds miracles also, for them to reverence. Whence after the voice has been uttered, and the force of the overwhelming waters, it is fitly subjoined;
Ver. 35. Wilt thou send lightnings, and will they go, and will they return and say to thee, Here we are?
[ii]
6. For lightnings come forth from the clouds, just as wonderful works are displayed by holy preachers. Who, as we have often said, are therefore wont to be called ‘clouds,’ because they flash forth with miracles, and rain with words. And that the hearts of men, after being unmoved by preaching, are confounded by these flashes of miracles, we have learned by the witness of the Prophet, who says, Thou with multiply Thy lightnings, and with discomfit them. [Ps. 18, 14] As if he were saying, Whilst they hear not the words of Thy preaching, they are confounded by the miracles of the preachers. Whence it is written elsewhere, Thine arrows will go in the light, in the splendour of the glittering of Thine arms. [Hab. 3, 11] For the arrows of God to go forth in light, is for His words to resound with manifest truth. But because men frequently despise the words of life, even when understood, miracles are likewise added. Whence he there subjoined, For the splendour of the glittering of Thine arms. For the glittering of arms is the brightness of miracles. For we protect ourselves with arms, we destroy our opponents with arrows. Arms then, with arrows, are miracles together with preaching. For holy preachers strike their adversaries with their words, as if with darts, but they protect themselves with arms, that is, with miracles; in order that as far as they are to be heard, they may sound forth by the force of their darts, and as far as they are to be reverenced, glitter with the arms of miracles. It is said therefore to blessed Job, Wilt thou send lightnings, and will they go, and will they return and say to thee, Here we are? Thou understandest, ‘As to Me. ’ For the lightnings go forth when preachers glitter with miracles, and transfix the hearts of their hearers with heavenly awe. But they return and say, Here we are, when they attribute not to themselves, but to the strength of God, whatever they know they have done powerfully. What is then their saying to God, ‘Here we are? ’ For a kind of obedience is declared in this word. For holy preachers then to return and say, ‘Here we are,’ is for them to ascribe the glory of grace to Him, from Whom they feel that they have received victory in the contest; lest they attribute to themselves that which they do. And lightnings can go forth in doing their work, but they cannot return in pride.
7. Let us see then the lightning going forth. Peter says to a certain lame man; Silver and gold have I none, but what I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and raised him up: and immediately his feet and soles received strength, and he leaping up stood, and walked. [Acts 3, 6-8] But when the multitude of the Jews had been disturbed by this which had been done, let us now see the returning lightning, which says; Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this, or why look ye on us, as though by our own strength or power we have made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob,
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the God of our fathers hath glorified His Son Jesus. [ibid. 12] And a little after; Whereof we are witnesses; and His name, through faith in His name, hath made this man strong, Whom ye have seen and known; and the faith which is by Him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. [Acts 3, 15. 16. ] The lightning therefore went forth, when Peter worked a miracle, it returned when he attributed what he had done, not to himself but to its Author. The lightnings go forth when holy preachers display wonderful deeds, but they say on their return, ‘Here we are,’ when, in that which they do, they refer to the power of its Author.
8. But this can he understood in another sense also. For holy men, as was said before, are sent and go forth as lightnings, when they come forth from the retirement of contemplation, to the public life of employment. They are sent and they go, when, from the secresy of inward meditation, they spread forth into the wide space of active life. But they return and say to God; ‘Here we are,’ because after the outward works which they perform, they always return to the bosom of contemplation, there to revive the flame of their zeal, and to glow as it were from the touch of heavenly brightness. For they would freeze too speedily amid their outward works, good though they be, did they not constantly return with anxious earnestness to the fire of contemplation. Whence it is well said by Solomon, Unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return, to flow again. [Eccles. 1, 7] For they are there called rivers, who are here called lightnings. For because they water the hearts of the hearers, they are called rivers, but because they kindle them, they are called lightnings. Of whom it is written elsewhere, The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice. [Ps. 93, 3] And again, His lightnings enlightened the world. [Ps. 97, 4] The rivers therefore return to the place from which they go forth; because holy men, (though they come forth, for our sakes, from the sight of their Creator, Whose brightness they endeavour to behold with their mind, to the ministry of active life,) yet unceasingly recur to the holy study of contemplation, and if in their preaching they pour themselves into our ears by bodily words from without, yet do they ever return in their silent thoughts to consider the Fount of life Itself. Of whom it is also well said, to flow again. For did they not constantly return with anxious mind to the contemplation of God, their inward drought would doubtless dry up even their outward words of preaching. But while they thirst unceasingly to behold God, rivers are ever springing up, as it were, within, to flow forth without, in order that they may there derive by love the means of flowing down to us in preaching. Let it be said therefore rightly; Wilt thou send forth the lightnings, and will they go, and will they return and say to thee, Here we are? Thou understandest, as Myself, Who adapt My preachers, when I will, after the grace of contemplation, to the ministry of active life. And yet I ever call them back from outward good deeds, to the inward height of contemplation, in order that they may one while go forth, when commanded, to perform their tasks, and that at another they may dwell with Me more familiarly when recalled to the pursuit of meditation. They return therefore and say, ‘Here we are,’ because, though they may seem through their outward acts to be deficient for a little in contemplation, yet by the ardent desires which they ever kindle in their minds, they make known their presence to God, by obeying Him. For to say, ‘Here we are,’ is to shew that they are present by their love. It follows;
Ver. 36. Who hath placed wisdom in the inward parts of a man? or who hath given the cock understanding?
[iii]
9. Who else are designated in this place by the name of the cock, but these same holy preachers,
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mentioned again in another way, who strive amid the darkness of this present life to announce by their preaching, as if by their notes, the approaching light? For they say; the night is far spent, but the day is at hand. [Rom. 13, 12] Who by their voices arouse the sleep of our sluggishness, exclaiming; It is now the hour for us to arise from sleep. [ib. 11] And again; Awake, ye righteous, and sin not. [1 Cor. 15, 34] Of this cock it is written again; There be three things that go well, and a fourth which goeth prosperously: a lion, the strongest of beasts, will not be afraid at the onset of any; a cock girt in the loins; and a ram, whom there is no king who can resist. [Prov. 30, 29-31] For He is in this place mentioned as a lion, of Whom it is written; The lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed, [Rev, 5, 5] Who is called the strongest of beasts, because in Him the weakness of God is stronger than men. Who is not afraid at the onset of any one; for He says; The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me. [John 14, 30] The cock girt in the loins, that is, holy preachers announcing the true morn amid the darkness of this night. Who are girt in the loins, because they keep away from their members the looseness of lust. For it is in the loins in truth that there is lust. Whence it is said to the same persons by the Lord: Let your loins he girt about. [Luke 12, 35] And a ram, whom there is no king who can resist. Whom else in this place do we understand by a ram, but the first rank of priests in the Church? Of whom it is written: Bring to the Lord the offspring of rams; [Ps. 29, 1] who lead the people which is walking after their examples like a flock of sheep following them. And whom, if they live spiritually and rightly, no king is at all able to resist; because whatever persecutor may stand in their way, he is not able to hinder their intention. For they know both how to run anxiously to Him, Whom they long for, and to come to Him by dying. The lion is therefore placed first, the cock second, the ram last. For Christ appeared, next the holy preachers, the Apostles, and then at length the spiritual fathers, the rulers of the Churches, the leaders, namely, of the flocks, because they are the teachers of the peoples who follow them.
10. But we enforce these points still better, if we subjoin an exposition of the remainder of the same passage. For since after these things Antichrist will also appear, he added there a fourth point, saying; And he who appeared a fool, after he had been lifted up on high. For if he had understood, he would have laid his hand on his mouth. [Prov. 30, 32] For he in truth will he lifted up on high when he will feign that he is God. But he will appear a fool when lifted up on high, because he will fail in his very loftiness through the coming of the true Judge. But if he had understood this, he would have laid his hand on his mouth: that is, if he had foreseen his punishment, when he began to be proud, having been once fashioned aright, he would not have been raised up to the boastfulness of such great pride. And let not that move us which has been said of him above; A fourth, which goeth prosperously. For he said that three went well, and a fourth prosperously. For not every thing which goeth ‘prosperously’ goeth ‘well,’ nor in this life does every thing which goeth ‘well,’ go ‘prosperously. ’ For a lion, a cock, and a ram, go indeed well: but not prosperously here, for they suffer the assaults of persecutions. But the fourth goeth prosperously, and not well: because Antichrist will go on in his craft, but his craft will be prosperous for a short space of this present life, as was said of him under the person of Antiochus by Daniel; Strength was given him against the continual sacrifice by reason of transgression, and truth shall be cast down in the earth, and he shall do and shall prosper. [Dan. 8, 12] That which Solomon says, goeth prosperously: this Daniel says, shall prosper. According to this testimony therefore which is stated by Solomon, A cock girt in its loins, we fitly understood in this place also holy preachers by the cock. The Lord therefore referring all things to Himself, says; Who hath placed wisdom in the inward parts of a man? or who hath given the cock understanding? As if He were saying, Who hath infused into the heart of a
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man, who savours of human things, the grace of heavenly wisdom? Or who, but Myself, hath given understanding even to holy preachers themselves, to know when, or to whom, they ought to announce the coming morn? For they understand both what to do, and when, for the very reason that they know it, through My revealing it, within. But it must he observed, that divinely inspired wisdom is placed in the inward parts of a man; because, doubtless, as far as concerns the number of the Elect, it is given not in voices only, but also in the thoughts, in order that the conscience may live according to what the tongue speaks, and that its light may shine forth the more brightly on the surface, the more truly it glows in the heart.
11. But it is a matter of great labour to examine with still more minute exposition, that which is added; Or who hath given the cock understanding? For the understanding of teachers ought to be the more subtle, the more it exercises itself in penetrating things invisible, the more it discusses nothing material, the more, even when speaking by the voice of the body, it transcends every thing which is of the body. For it would not, in truth, be at all suited to the loftiest subjects, did not the Creator Himself of things above, bestow it on the cock which crows, that is, on the teacher who preaches. The cock also received understanding, first to distinguish the hours of the night season, and then at last to utter the awakening voice. Because, in truth, every holy preacher first considers in his hearers the quality of their life, and afterwards frames the voice of preaching, fitted to instruct them. For to decide on the qualities of sins is, as it were, to distinguish the hours of night, to reprove the darknesses of actions with fit voices of reproof is, as it were, to distinguish the hours of night. Understanding is therefore given to the cock from above, because to the teacher of truth there is given from above the virtue of discretion, for him to know to whom, what, when, or how to introduce his instruction.
12. For one and the same exhortation is not suited to all; because the same kind of habits does not bind all. For those things that benefit some, often hurt others. For frequently even herbs, which refresh some animals, kill others, and a gentle hiss pacifies horses, urges on dogs; and medicine which lessens one disease, gives strength to another: and bread which strengthens the life of the strong, destroys that of the young. The speech therefore of teachers ought to he fashioned according to the quality of the hearers, in order to suit each class according to their own case, and yet never to fail in the art of general edification. For what are the attentive minds of hearers, but certain strings which are strained tight in a harp? which the skilful performer touches in different ways, that they may not produce a discordant sound. And the strings give back an harmonious sound, because they are struck with one plectrum, but with different force. Whence also every teacher, in order to build up all in one virtue of charity, ought not to touch the hearts of his hearers with one and the same exhortation.
13. For men must he admonished in one way, and women in another; the young in one way, the old in another; in one way the poor, and in another the rich; in one way the cheerful, and in another the gloomy; in one way subjects, in another rulers; in one way servants, in another masters; in one way the wise of this world, in another the dull; in one way the shameless, in another the modest; in one way the insolent, in another the retiring; in one way the impatient, in another the patient; in one way the well-wishing, in another the envious; in one way the pure, in another the unclean; in one way the healthy, in another the sick; in one way those who fear the rod, and therefore live innocently, in another way those who have become so hardened in iniquity, as not to be corrected by the rod; in one way those who are over silent, in another those who give themselves to much
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talking; in one way the timid, in another the bold; in one way the sluggish, in another the hasty; in one way the gentle, in another the angry; in one way the humble, in another the haughty; in one way the obstinate, in another the inconstant; in one way the gluttonous, in another the abstinent; in one way those who mercifully give away their own, in another those who strive to seize others’ goods; in one way those who neither seize the goods of others, nor yet give away their own; and in another those who both give away their own goods which they have, and desist not from seizing those of others; in one way those who are at variance, in another those who are reconciled; in one way those who sow strifes, in another the peaceful. Those who do not rightly understand the words of the sacred Law must be admonished in one way, in another those who understand them rightly, but speak not of them humbly; in one way those who though they are able to preach in a worthy manner, are afraid from excessive humility, in another those whom imperfection or age excludes from preaching, and whom yet precipitation urges on; in one way those who prosper in their temporal desires, in another way those who desire indeed the things of the world, but who yet are wearied with the toil of adversity: in one way those who are bound in wedlock, in another way those who are free from the bonds of wedlock; in one way those who have had experience of carnal commixtion, in another way those who are ignorant of it; in one way those who deplore the sins of their deeds, in another those who deplore the sins of their thoughts; in one way those who lament their sins and yet do not abandon them, in another those who abandon but yet do not lament them: in one way those who even praise the unlawful deeds which they commit, in another those who blame their misdeeds, and yet do not avoid them; in one way those who are overcome with sudden concupiscence, in another those who are deliberately fettered with sin; in one way those who commit frequently unlawful deeds though most trifling, and in another those who guard themselves against trifling faults but are sometimes overwhelmed in grievous ones; in one way those who do not even begin good courses, in another those who do not complete what they have begun; in one way those who sin secretly and do right publicly, in another those who conceal the good deeds which they do, and who yet by some things they do publicly allow people to think evil of them. We ought indeed to mention minutely what course of advice should be observed in each particular case, but are hindered by fear of prolixity in our remarks. [S. Greg. Naz. Or. 2. §. 28. ] But we are anxious to carry that out in another work [The ‘Pastorale. ’], by God’s help, if some small portion of this painful life still remains to us.
14. But we have another point which we ought to consider concerning this understanding of the cock, namely, that it is accustomed to utter its louder and longer-drawn strains in the deeper hours of the night, and that when the hour of morn is now approaching, it utters altogether more gentle and feeble notes. And a consideration of the discretion of preachers shews us what the understanding of this cock in these respects suggests to us. For when they are preaching to minds which are still wicked, they declare the terrors of eternal judgment with loud and great voices, because, namely, they cry out, as it were, in the darkness of the profound night. But when they know that the light of truth is already present to the hearts of their hearers, they turn the loudness of their cry into the gentleness of sweetness; and bring forth, not so much the terrors of punishment, as the allurements of rewards. And they sing at that time even with diminished tones, because as the morn approaches, they preach all the subtlest mysteries, that their followers may hear more minutely of heavenly things, the nearer they approach to the light of truth, and that the shorter note of the cock may charm those when awake, whom its long drawn note had aroused from sleep; in order that every one who has been corrected, may delight in knowing minutely the sweets of heaven, who used before to dread adversities from the judgment. Which is well expressed by
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Moses, when the trumpets are ordered to sound a shorter note, for the summoning forth the host. For it is written, Make thee two trumpets of beaten silver. [Numb. 10, 2] And a little after, When a short blast hath sounded, the camp shall be moved. [ib. 5] For the army is led by two trumpets, because the people is called by two precepts of charity to the girding of faith. But they are commanded to be made of silver, in order that the words of preachers may be clear with the brightness of light, and may not confuse the mind of their hearers, by any obscurity of their own. But to be hammered out, for this reason; because it is necessary that they who preach the life to come, should grow up by the blows of present tribulations. But it is well said, When the short blast hath sounded, the camp shall be moved: doubtless, because when the word of preaching is more subtilly and minutely enforced, the hearts of the hearers are more warmly excited to meet the contests of temptations.
15. But there is something else to be carefully observed in the cock, namely, that when it is preparing to utter its note, it first flaps its wings, and striking itself, makes itself more wakeful. And this we behold plainly, if we look carefully at the life of holy preachers. For they, when they utter the words of preaching, first exercise themselves in holy actions, that they may not, while themselves slothful in act, arouse others with their voice. But they first rouse themselves by lofty deeds, and then they render others anxious for well-doing. They first strike themselves with the wings of their thoughts, because whatever is slumbering uselessly within them, they discover by anxious examination, they correct with severe punishment. They first take care to punish their own faults by tears, and then denounce those doings of others which demand punishment. They flap with their wings, therefore, before they utter their song, because, before they put forth the words of exhortation, they proclaim by their deeds all that they intend to say: and when they are perfectly awake in themselves, they then summon others who are slumbering to awake.
16. But whence is this great wisdom of the teacher, that he is both perfectly awake in himself, and that he also summons the slumberers to awake with a certain elevation of voice; that he first carefully dispels the darkness of sins, and afterwards manifests discreetly the light of preaching, that he suits each one singly, in manner and in time, and that he shews to all at the same time the result of their doings? Whence is it directed to such great subjects, and with such subtlety, unless it be taught inwardly by Him, by Whom it was created?
