] For what is it ‘to open a cistern,’ saving with strong understanding to penetrate the
mysteries
of Holy Writ?
St Gregory - Moralia - Job
For ‘the light’ of God is preventing grace, which if it never arose of free gift in our heart, assuredly our mind would remain dim in the darkness of its sins.
And hence it is added;
Ver. 4. Can a man be justified being compared with God? or can he be found clean that is born of a woman?
[xv]
21. This verse is spoken above by blessed Job, and is now repeated in the upbraiding of him; since every just man is just by illumination from God, not by comparison with God. For man’s righteousness when compared with the Maker is unrighteousness, since, even although man had held fast in his own estate of creation, the creature could never be equalled to the Creator. To
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which creature howsoever, unto heavier burthens of deficiency, there accrued sin also, which the serpent by plotting brought in, and woman proving frail recommended. Hence now, forasmuch as man is born by the agency of woman who is made subject to sin, the frailty of the first guilt is inherited in the offspring; and because the branch of the human race was made rotten in the root, it does not hold up in the greenness of its creation. Hence it is rightly said now, Can a man be justified being compared with God? or can he be found clean that is born of a woman? As if it were expressed in plain terms, ‘Let not man entertain pride against his Creator, let him reflect whence he came hither, and understand what he is. ’ But observe, there are those that when by the gift of the Spirit they are holpen against the frailty of their flesh, are made to erect themselves, gleam forth in virtues, yea, flash out in the marvels of miraculous signs as well, yet is there no man who may pass through life free from sin, so long as he bears upon him flesh of corruption. Whence it is yet further added;
Ver. 5. Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in His sight. [xvi]
22. What is denoted by ‘the moon’ but the whole Church together? what by ‘the stars’ but the souls of the several persons that live rightly? who amidst the practices of wicked men, whilst they are conspicuous by rare virtues, as it were shine in the darkness of night. Whence likewise it is said by Paul to the disciples; Among whom ye shine like lights in the world. [Phil. 2, 15] For that Holy Church is represented by the designation of ‘the moon,’ the Prophet bears witness, saying, The sun was lifted up, and the moon stood in her order. [Hab. 3, 11] For on ‘the sun being lifted up, the moon is established in her order,’ in that on our Lord ascending into the heavens, Holy Church is thereupon made strong in the authoritative function of preaching. And that by the title of ‘stars’ the Elect are represented, Paul again informs us, by saying, For one star differeth from another star in glory. [1 Cor. 15, 41] So ‘the moon doth not shine, and the stars are not clean in His sight,’ because neither doth Holy Church by her own power shine forth in so many miracles, except the gifts of preventing grace fall in showers upon her, nor are the minds of the several persons that live rightly clean of the stains of sinful practices, if they be judged apart from pity; because in the eyes of the strict Judge every single individual his own proneness to corruption doth pollute, unless the grace of One sparing day by day wipe this away. For the mind of the Elect strives to go forth to the liberty of righteousness, but is still bound and tied with the fetters of frailty, and it longs indeed perfectly to get the better of offences, but so long as it is fettered by the corruption of the flesh, it is tied with the chains thereof, even when it would not be. Hence therefore let him collect with what a load of sins they are borne down, who neglect to war against the same, if not even they entirely get the better of evil doing, who strenuously fight against it. And hence it is said, Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not, and the stars are not pure in His sight; it is directly added;
Ver. 6. How much more is man rottenness, and the son of man a worm?
[xvii]
23. As if it were in plain words; ‘If those very persons also cannot be void of contagion, who amidst the darkness of the present life shine bright by virtuous attainments, with what guilt of wickedness are they bound, who still live after the flesh? If those persons cannot be free from sin, who are already walking in the way of heavenly desires, what they who still lie under the loads of sinful habits? who whilst they are abandoned to the gratifications of their fleshly part, still bear the
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yoke of rottenness? Hence Peter saith; And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? [1 Pet. 4, 18] Hence it is said by Isaiah, Upon the land of My people shalt come up thorns and briars; how much more upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city. [Is. 32, 13] For by ‘the land of His People,’ the Lord meaneth the mind of all of the Elect. Upon which He tells of ‘thorns and briars coming up;’ because He sees that not even that very mind is free from the prickles of bad habits. But ‘the house of joy in the joyous city’ is the mind of the wicked, which whilst it neglects to regard the punishments that are destined to come, in the gratification of the flesh going away from itself, revels in empty mirth. Thus he saith; Upon the land of My people shalt come up thorns and briars, how much more upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city. As if He said in plain words; If evil habits sink low even the minds of those, who for desire of the heavenly country put themselves to pain, what guilty courses are they brought under, who without any apprehension abandon themselves in the gratification of the flesh?
24. But it is a point to be noticed in his discourse how Bildad observed the order of our creation and of our birth, in that he calls ‘man’ not ‘a worm,’ but ‘rottenness,’ but ‘the son of man’ ‘a worm. ’ For the first parent of the human race was ‘man,’ not ‘the son of man;’ from whom whosoever came forth, was not only ‘man,’ but ‘the son of man’ as well. As then from man springs the son of man, so from rottenness springs the worm. Whence man is lightly called ‘rottenness,’ but the son of man ‘a worm. ’ For the first man was ‘rottenness’ not ‘a worm,’ in that though by death he turned to ‘rottenness,’ yet he did not come by a birth out of rottenness. But he that is the son of man is called ‘a worm,’ because he is henceforth propagated from the corruption of mortal bodies.
25. Therefore because the words of his friends are concluded, blessed Job sets on with a more penetrating acuteness of the suing, and his words are proportionably strong as they are the last; seeing that even in the same way it is the usage of lawyers, that the argument, by which they beforehand see that they are above their adversaries, they reserve for the conclusion of the suit. It follows;
C. xxvi. 1, 2. But Job answered and said, Of whom art thou the helper? whether of one that is powerless? or dost thou sustain the arm of him that is not strong?
[xviii]
26. To help one that is weak is an act of charity, to wish to help one that is powerful, of Pride; and so because his friends, whilst bearing the likeness of heretics, on the plea of helping God, endeavoured to make a display of their own wisdom, Bildad is justly found fault with, that it should be said, Of whom art thou the helper? whether of one that is powerless? or dost thou sustain the arm of him that is not strong? As if he said in plain words; ‘While thou settest thyself to help Him, under Whose greatness thou dost sink to the earth, all the encouragement which thou affordest comes of ostentation, not of piety. ’
27. But herein it is requisite to be known, that even God, Who surely is not ‘powerless,’ we help whilst acting with humility. And hence it is said by Paul, For we are helper’s of God. [1 Cor. 3, 9] For when to him, whom He doth Himself by interior grace pervade, we by the voice of exhortation contribute, this which He through the Spirit brings to pass within, we outwardly by the office of the voice do assist, and then only is our exhortation brought to completion, when God was in the heart,
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to be aided. Hence He saith elsewhere; So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. [ib. 7] For to ‘plant’ and ‘water’ is to ‘help,’ both which will be but a void ministration, if in the heart God ‘giveth not the increase. ’ But they who have high thoughts of their own power of mind, will not be helpers of God with humility; because whilst they reckon themselves to be of use to God, they are making themselves strangers to the fruit of usefulness. And hence it is said to the disciples by the voice of Truth, When ye shall have done all those things that are commanded you say, We are unprofitable servants, we have done that which was our duty to do. [Luke 17, 10] It proceeds;
Ver. 3. To whom hast thou given counsel? perchance to him that hath not wisdom?
[xix]
28. To ‘give counsel to one that is foolish’ is an office of charity, to give it to one that is wise, of ostentation; but to give it to Wisdom Itself, of wrongmindedness; and because those who we have said bear the likeness of heretics, by their mode of speech, were administering to ostentation rather than to usefulness, it is yet further added rightly against Bildad,
And shewn thine own prudence overmuch.
To one to whom there is right prudence it is not overmuch, because according to Paul’s declaration, he seeketh not to be wise above the degree that he ought to be wise. But to whomsoever there is overmuch prudence, there is not right prudence. For whilst it is carried beyond due measure, it is made to turn off on one side or another of offence. Now they shew their prudence to be ‘overmuch,’ who aim to appear fuller of prudence in comparison of others; whence it very frequently happens that whilst they have not the art to be wise in moderation, they even speak things that are foolish. On account of which circumstance, the actual excess of prudence is yet further subjoined, that it should be said,
Ver. 4. Whom wouldest thou have taught? Was it not Him Who made the breathway?
[xx]
29. By the ‘breathway’ we live, by prudence we are wise. But it is ours first to live, and afterwards to be imbued with wisdom; because in order that we have the power to be wise, it is first brought to pass that we should have being. He, then, Who bestowed life, the same doubtless gave prudence as well. But because Bildad thought blessed Job was scourged for sin, that secret judgment of God which he should have adored in humility, he set himself with overweening temerity to penetrate to the bottom. And so that very One he preferred himself before in respect of prudence, Whose judgment without understanding it he judged. That very One he preferred himself before in prudence, from Whom he received the breathway of life, as though he were wise more than He, the very Being from Whom he had it given it him that he should be. But because blessed Job whilst bearing a type of Holy Church delivered a few things in the rebuking of proud men, who, he was not ignorant, bore a likeness of heretics, according as he said above; I desire to reason with God; first shewing that ye are forgers of lies, and followers of wrong tenets [Job 13, 3. 4. ]; he suddenly lifts himself up to instruction, and in opposition to the ignorance of the highminded, he opens wide the breadth of his knowledge in sentences, saying,
Ver. 5. Lo, the giants groan under the waters.
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[xxi]
30. For it was fitting that by rebuking he should first beat down the swelling of earthly wisdom, and by instruction afterwards pass on to words replete with mysteries. Thus by ‘giants,’ either apostate Angels, or all proud men may without objection be understood. For hence it is said by the Prophet, The dead shall not live, the giants shall not rise up again. [Is. 26, 14] For whom does he call ‘the dead’ saving sinners, and whom does he designate ‘giants’ save those, who over and above take pride in sin. Now the former do ‘not live,’ because by sinning they have forfeited the life of righteousness; these latter too ‘cannot rise up again’ after death, because, after their transgression being swoln with pride, they do not have recourse to the remedies of penitence. Hence it is written again, The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead. [Prov. 21, 16] For whosoever forsakes the way of righteousness, to whose number does he join himself, saving to the number of the proud spirits? Now it is well said in opposition to the high-minded, Lo, the giants groan under the waters. As if it were expressed in plain speech; ‘Wherefore on the score of knowledge should man be proud, when the abyss of ignorance keeps at the bottom the very proudest of the spirits of the Angels? ’
31. But if by the name of ‘the giants’ the powerful ones of this world are denoted, in ‘the waters’ we may have the multitudes represented, as John beareth witness, who saith, The waters, which thou seest, are peoples. [Rev. 17, 15] Now against him that is filled with pride it is well spoken; Lo, the giants groan under the waters; because all that are high and lifted up, while in this life they long to attain the highest pitch of honours, groan under the burthens of peoples. For in proportion as a man is the higher lifted up here, he is burthened with so much the heavier cares. And to those very same people in mind and thoughts he is put under, whom in dignity he is put over. And by these words it is well shewn in brief that all pride lies prostrate on the ground by the mere act by which it lifts itself up on high, so as to be the more effectually bowed down beneath all things from the same cause, that it would fain be set above all. For man when he is lifted up in high stations, bears so many in number over him, as he rules persons put beneath him. But those, that are associated with such persons, are by fellowship in their labour themselves also weighed to the ground. For together with them they likewise bear the toilsomeness of the burthen, whilst along with them they go after the gloriousness of the honour. Hence whereas he said, Lo, the giants groan under the waters; he directly added;
And they that dwell along with them.
[xxii]
32. As though he said; ‘Equally with them do they groan,’ who by taking delight are associated to their glory. Now the very employment of worldly dignities is borne down with readier vices in proportion as it is charged with heavier cares. For would that the mind of man even at rest might be able to see and eschew sins! And so because he saw that the longed for heights of affairs cannot be administered without sins, and because it is not hidden from the wrath of God, whatsoever is committed of an unlawful kind, he fitly subjoined in pursuance;
Ver. 6. Hell is naked before Him, and destruction hath no covering. [xxiii]
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33. Which same Paul likewise saith, But all things are naked and opened unto His eyes. [Heb. 4, 13] But by the title of ‘hell’ and ‘perdition’ he denoted the devil and all the associates of his condemnation; but Who that One is before whom ‘hell is naked,’ he goes on with telling;
Ver. 7. He stretcheth out the north over the empty place.
[xxiv] [MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION]
34. By the title of the ‘north,’ in Holy Writ the devil is used to be designated, who with the thought to bind up the hearts of the nations with the iciness of insensibility, said, I will sit also upon the mount of the Covenant, in the sides of the north. [Is. 14, 13] And he is ‘stretched over the empty place,’ because he has possession of those hearts, that are not filled with the grace of the love of God. Yet is it competent to Almighty God, that even those vessels of the devil, empty of every virtue, He may fill with the gift of His grace, and deposit the solid substance of Divine fear in those persons, whom He does not see stablished by any conduct of righteousness. Hence it is fitly added; And hangeth the earth upon nothing.
[xxv]
35. For what is denoted by the title of ‘earth,’ saving Holy Church; who, whilst she receives the words of preaching, renders back the fruit of good works? Whereof it is said by Moses, Let the earth hear the words out of my lips, let my speech be looked for like the rain. [Deut. 32, 1. 2. ] And what but the several gentile peoples are denoted by ‘nothing,’ of whom it is spoken by the Prophet, All nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted to Him less than nothing. [Is. 40, 17] In that ‘nothing,’ then, is ‘the earth hung suspended,’ which before, being a void place, was occupied by the ‘north;’ because those hearts of the Gentiles became filled with the love of God, which had been aforetime weighed down by a deadness of the devil. But it may be that both by this ‘empty place,’ the infidelity of Judaea is denoted, and by ‘the earth,’ as we said, the propagation of Holy Church. Thus let the holy man look at the fall of Judaea in her perishing, and espy the privileges of the gentile world brought back to pardon, and let him say, He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. For because the hearts of the Gentiles, being void of faith, were made subject to the devil, ‘He stretched the north over the empty place;’ and because, there being no merits forthcoming, (as it is said, For nothing shalt Thou save them, [Ps. 56, 7. Vulg. ]) upon the Gentiles the Lord founded His Church, which same Gentiles are by the Prophet called ‘nothing,’ in pursuing the subject he rightly adds, And hangeth the earth upon nothing. Now in what order this thing was done, he continues in subjoining with wonderful method. For he saith,
Ver. 8. He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds, that they should not burst forth alike beneath. [xxvi]
36. For what does he call ‘the waters’ in this place but knowledge; what ‘clouds’ but the Preachers? For that in Holy Writ ‘water’ may sometimes be a term used for knowledge, we have been taught by Solomon bearing witness to it, who says, The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters, and the well-spring of wisdom as a flowing brook. [Prov. 18, 4] That, by water knowledge is denoted, the Prophet David bears witness, saying, Dark water in clouds of the sky, [Ps. 18, 11] i. e. secret knowledge in the Prophets, who before the Advent of the Lord, whilst, pregnant with
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secret sacraments, they were bearing in them boundless mysteries, to the eyes of beholders had their meaning obscured. But by the name of ‘clouds,’ what else is denoted in this passage but the holy Preachers, i. e. the Apostles, who being dispatched in every direction through the regions of the world, both knew how to shower in words, and to flash forth [coruscare] in miracles? Whom the Prophet Isaiah beholding long before, said, Who are these that fly as clouds? [Is. 60, 8] Thus because this man, filled with the spirit of prophecy, in this utterance of his voice longs that for the praise of God the rise of Holy Church may commence, he betakes himself to tell the order of her rise from the preaching of the Apostles, who took the greatest pains to preach to uninstructed people what was plain and comprehensible, not what was high and arduous. For holy knowledge, which is here set forth by the title of water, if in the same way that they drew it from the heart, so they poured it forth from the lips, by the immensity thereof they would overwhelm rather than water their hearers. Hence his knowledge being unbound within, that it should not burst forth alike beneath, in nourishing his hearers with the dropping of words, that ‘cloud’ spake, saying, And I brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk and not with meat. [1 Cor. 3, 1. 2. ] For who could have borne it if he that was caught up to the third heaven, that was caught into paradise, even hearing unutterable words, which it was not permitted to man to speak, had opened such unbounded depths of celestial knowledge? or what hearer’s power would he not overwhelm, if all that he might have been able to draw within, as far as tongue of flesh may suffice, overflowing without the mighty flood of this water had poured forth?
37. But that uninstructed hearers might be comforted not by an inundation of knowledge, but by the tempered dropping of preaching, God tieth up the waters in the clouds, that they may not burst forth alike beneath. Because He tempers the preaching of the teachers, that so the infirmity of the hearers, being nourished by the dew of the things spoken, may be made strong. Which is well described in the Gospel by a mystical mode of representation, where it is said, Jesus entered into the boat of Peter, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land; and he sat down thus, and taught the people. [Luke 5, 3] By Peter’s ship what else is denoted but the Church committed to Peter? and that the Lord may preach to the crowds flocking together out of this ship, He orders it to be ‘thrust out a little from the land. ’ Which same he neither bids to be carried into the deep, and yet does bid that it be thrust out from the land, signifying, surely, that to uninstructed people His preachers ought not to preach either what is too deep relating to the heavenly world, nor yet what is earthly. And so ‘water is bound up in the clouds,’ because the knowledge of the Preachers, speaking to the minds of the frail, is forbidden to teach as much as it is able to see.
38. Since, for the most part, if the heart of the hearers is spoilt by the vastness of the utterance, the tongue of the persons teaching is mulcted in the damage of indiscretion. Whence it is written; And if a man shall open a cistern, or if a man shall dig a pit and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein, the owner of the pit shall make it good. [Ex. 21, 33. 34.
] For what is it ‘to open a cistern,’ saving with strong understanding to penetrate the mysteries of Holy Writ? And what is understood by an ‘ox’ and an ‘ass,’ viz. a clean and an unclean animal, save every believer and unbeliever? Accordingly, let him that ‘diggeth a cistern cover it, lest an ox or an ass tumble headlong therein,’ i. e. let him, who already makes out deep things in Holy Writ, by silence cover over his lofty perceptions before those that do not reach that compass, lest by a stumbling-block to the soul he kill either the believing little one, or the unbelieving, who might have been led to believe. For upon the death of the beasts of burthen there are damages due, plainly because he is convicted of having
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done that, whereby he is held a debtor for the exercising of penance [a]. Accordingly, ‘the cistern must be covered,’ in that before little minds, deep knowledge requires to be veiled, lest by the same cause that the heart of the teachers is lifted up to the highest things, the infirmity of the hearer fall away to the lowest. Accordingly let it be said with justice, He bindeth up the waters in His clouds, that they should not burst forth alike beneath. For ‘the waters would burst forth alike,’ if, in the presence of weak hearers, the knowledge came forth from the lips of the speaker as great as it is, if all the whole fulness of preaching poured itself out at once, and reserved nought to itself together with those making progress. For it is fitting that he that preaches should have an eye to the measure of him that hears him, so that the preaching itself may grow with his hearers’ stages of growth. For so does it behove every single preacher to do, as it is dealt with himself from heaven; never to tell to the weak all that he has the perception of, because he himself too, so long as by flesh of mortality he is weak, does not perceive all those things that belong to heaven. And therefore he ought not to preach to the ignorant as much as he is acquainted with, because even he himself, touching heavenly mysteries, cannot have his eyes open to see how great they are. For hence it is that Paul the Apostle, after he was admitted to the mysteries of heaven, saith, For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face. [1 Cor. 13, 12] And hence it here follows in continuation;
Ver. 9. He holdeth back the face of His Throne, and spreadeth His cloud upon it.
[xxvii] [LITERAL INTERPRETATION]
39. In the face there is wont to be shewn forth acquaintanceship. Thus ‘the face of His Throne is held back,’ in that by us in this life the gloriousness of His kingdom is not perceived, so great as it is had within; ‘upon which the cloud’ is rightly said ‘to be stretched;’ because that glory of the heavenly kingdom is not seen such as it is. For the corruptible body presseth down the soul; and the earthy tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things. [Wisd. 9, 15] And so against seeing it we are besprinkled with a mist, for we are darkened by the mere cloudiness of our ignorance. Whence it is rightly said by the Psalmist, And darkness was under His feet; and He rode above the Cherubim, and did fly; He did fly above the wings of the wind: He made darkness His secret place. [Ps. 18, 9–11] For there is ‘darkness to Him under His feet,’ in that by those beneath He is not seen in that brightness, wherewith He exercises dominion among those above. For He ‘rode above the Cherubim, and did fly;’ since the ‘Cherubim’ is a term used for the fulness of knowledge. By consequence he is said above the fulness of knowledge to have ‘ridden, and to have flown,’ because the loftiness of His Majesty there is no knowledge doth compass. ‘He did fly,’ because He transported Himself on high, far from the reach of our understanding. ‘He did fly above the wings of the wind,’ because He transcended the knowledge of souls. He made darkness too His secret place, because whereas we are dimmed with the mists of our infirmity, by virtue of our ignorance He is hidden from us, that He should not be seen by us now in eternal and interior Brightness. Hence in the Song of Songs also it is said to Him by the Spouse, Escape, my Beloved, escape. [Cant. 8, 14] ‘It escapes us,’ we say, as often as that does not occur to our minds which we wish to remember. ‘It escapes us,’ we say, when that which we wish we do not retain in our recollection. So Holy Church, after that she sets forth the Death and Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord, cries out to Him, full of the Spirit of Prophecy, Escape, my Beloved, escape. As though she said; ‘Thou That art made by the flesh comprehensible, do Thou by Thy Divine Nature transcend the comprehension of our perception, and in Thine own Self remain to us Incomprehensible. ’ And so He ‘holdeth back the face of His throne,’ because He hideth the power of His Majesty from mortal beings.
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40. But if we render His ‘throne’ the Angelical Powers, for on these same Powers He sitteth enthroned as on a royal seat, ‘He keeps back the face of His Throne’ from us, because so long as we have our subsistence in this mortal flesh, what and how wonderful those ministrations of the Angels are, we do not perceive. ‘And He spreadeth His cloud upon it’ assuredly because He both lifts up our heart for making search, and yet it is brought to pass by a secret mode of control, that by the very endlessness of its searching it is kept back. Whence it is written, The deep uttered its voice at the loftiness of its imagining. [Hab. 3, 10] For the mind of man is forced to cry out in admiration, when, in loftiness of survey, it is straitened in its searchings by the very act by which it is enlarged. Or, surely, because we are ourselves the ‘throne’ of God, He is said not unjustly to ‘keep back the face of His throne,’ when our knowledge is prevented advancing to things of a higher range. Upon which same throne God is said ‘to spread His cloud,’ because remaining Himself invisible, He puts forth secret judgments upon us, that at once a thing should be done in prominency, that we should be able to see, and yet the origin of the deed be hidden in concealment, so that the reason wherefore it be done, we should needs not know. Hence too it is fitly added; Ver. 11. He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the light and darkness come to an end.
[xxviii]
41. Because very often in Holy Writ, as we said above, by the name of ‘waters’ peoples are denoted; the Lord compasseth the waters with bounds; because He so tempers the knowledge of mankind: that until the successions of the changing seasons pass away, it cannot perfectly attain to the knowledge of the Interior Brightness. But if by the name of ‘light’ we understand the righteous, and by the designation of ‘darkness’ sinners; (and hence Paul saith, For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light, [Eph. 5, 8]) there is nothing to hinder this same thing that we said being understood, ‘that the perfect knowledge of eternity is vouchsafed to no one, until the course of the righteous and of the unrighteous is brought to an end. ’ But because it is not wonderful that carnal people know nothing of things above, the holy man lifts himself up in astonishment at that same Divine power, and considers that it surpasses the very knowledge of Angels and perfect men as well, saying,
The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at his nod.
[xxix] [MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION]
42. What else does he call ‘the pillars of heaven’ but the holy Angels, or the principal preachers of the Church, over whom in the heavenly world the whole structure of the spiritual edifice increasing arose, as Holy Scripture elsewhere bears witness, saying, Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God. [Rev. 3, 12] For whoever is established firmly by a right purpose of mind in the work of God, is set up as a pillar in the structure of the spiritual edifice; that being placed in this temple, which is the Church, he should be both for usefulness and ornament. But Job calls those ‘pillars of heaven’ whom the Apostle calls ‘pillars’ of the Church, saying, Peter, and James, and John, which seemed to be pillars, gave me the right hand. [Gal. 2, 9]
43. We may also not inappropriately interpret the ‘pillars of heaven’ the Churches themselves, which being many in number, constitute one Catholic Church spread over the whole face of the
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earth. Hence too the Apostle John writes to the seven Churches, meaning to denote the one Catholic Church replenished with the Spirit of sevenfold grace, and we know that Solomon said of the Lord, Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars. [Prov. 9, 1] And the same, to make known that it was of the seven Churches he had spoken that, in going on sedulously introduced the very Sacraments themselves too, saying, She hath killed her sacrifices, she hath mingled her wine, she hath also set forth her table; she hath sent forth her maidens, that they may cry to the citadel and to the walls of the city. If any be a little one, let him come to me. [Prov. 9, 2– 4] For the Lord ‘killed the sacrifices’ by offering Himself on our behalf. He ‘mingled the wine,’ blending together the cup of His precepts from the historical narration and the spiritual signification. Whence it is elsewhere written, For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture. [Ps. 75, 8] And ‘He set forth His table,’ i. e. Holy Writ, which with the bread of the word refreshes us when we are wearied, and come to Him away from the burthens of the world, and by its effect of refreshing strengthens us against our adversaries. Whence too it is elsewhere said by the Church; Thou preparest a table before me, against them that trouble me. [Ps. 23, 5] He ‘sent forth His maidens,’ i. e. the souls of the Apostles, being in their actual beginning infirm [i. e. thence called maidens, see on Job 1, 2 Bk I. §. 20. T. 1. ], ‘that they might cry to the citadel and the walls of the city;’ in that whilst they tell of the interior life, they lift us up to the high walls of the City Above, which same walls, surely, except any be humble they do not ascend. Whence it is there added by that same Wisdom; If any be a little one, let him come unto Me. As if she said in plain words; ‘Whosoever accounts himself great in his own eyes, contracts the avenue of his approach unto Me; for there is a loftier reaching unto Me in proportion as the mind of each one is in himself the more truly abased. ’
44. But with whatever degree of goodness a man may be advanced, with whatever knowledge he may be made to grow, he cannot fathom to the bottom, what a governance of judgments the Lord rules us with. Therefore let him say, The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at his nod; because in most things not those even are able to reach the lofty height of His will, who whilst announcing see the rewards of that will. Which, as we said above, there is nothing hinders being interpreted of the Holy Angels as well; because the very Powers of the heavenly world themselves, which behold Him without ceasing, in that very contemplation of theirs are made to tremble. But that that should not be a trembling of woe to them, it is one not of fear, but of admiration. Now because he had brought in how great the consternation of his wonderment was, he now relates the order of our salvation. It follows;
Ver. 12. In His might the seas are suddenly gathered together, and His wisdom hath struck the proud one.
[xxx]
45. What else is denoted by the title of the sea save the present world, wherein the hearts of men seeking after earthly things swell with the diverse billows of the thoughts? which same being stirred up by the exaltation of pride, whilst with cross sway they thwart one another, do as with confronting waters dash themselves together. But henceforth ‘the seas are gathered together in His might,’ because on the Lord being made Incarnate, the discordant hearts of worldly men believe in agreement. Henceforth Peter ‘walks on the sea,’ because to the preachers of Christ, these once swelling hearts are by lowly hearing bowed down to the earth, so that in the Gospel too it justly represented the gentleness of this world, that the stormy water of the sea, its swelling being forced
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down, was trodden by the feet of the Lord. Now in what manner that was done is disclosed, when
it is said, His wisdom hath struck the proud one.
[ii] [PROPHETICAL INTERPRETATION]
46. Who else is here called ‘proud,’ saving he who said, I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the Most High [Is. 14, 14]; and concerning whom it is spoken by the voice of God, Who is made that he should fear none, and himself is king over all the sons of pride. [Job 41, 24. 25. ] With reference to whom moreover the prophet David agrees with this sentence, saying, Thou hast abased the proud man, like one wounded. [Ps. 89, 10] But though to the simple nature of Deity it is not one thing to be, and another thing to be wise, nor one thing to be wise, and another to be strong, forasmuch as the strength is identically the same that the wisdom, and the wisdom that the essence of the Deity is, yet I consider it a thing to be regarded with lively attention, that this man being filled with the prophetic spirit, chose to describe the proud devil as stricken by ‘the wisdom’ rather than the power of God. For he saith not, ‘His might,’ but, ‘His wisdom hath struck the proud one. ’ For, as we have said, although by right of simple Nature, the Might of God is the Wisdom of God, yet as to the appearance, the Lord overcame the devil, not by power, but by reason; for the devil himself, by overthrowing us in that root of our first parent, as it were rightfully held man under his thraldom, who whilst he was created with free will, yielded consent to him, when he prompted what was unjust. For when created to life in the freedom of his own will, he was of his own accord made the debtor to death. Therefore such a transgression was to be done away; but saving by sacrifice it could not be done away. A sacrifice was to be sought after, but what sacrifice could be found "for the setting men free? For neither was it just that for reasoning man there should be slain sacrifices of brute beasts. Whence the Apostle says, It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. [Heb. 9, 23] And so if brute creatures on behalf of a rational animal, i. e. in the stead of man, were not proportionate victims, a man was to be sought out, who should be offered for men, that for a reasoning being committing sin there might be offered a reasoning victim. But what of the fact, that a man without sin could not be found? And the victim offered in our stead, when could it cleanse us from sin, if the actual victim itself
was not without sin’s contagion? Since it being defiled could never have cleansed the defiled. Therefore that it might be a rational victim, Man was to be offered, but that it might cleanse man from his sins, Man and that Man without sin. But who might there be man without sin, if he was descended from a combination in sin? Thereupon in our behalf the Son of God came into the womb of the Virgin; there for our sakes He was made Man. Nature, not sin, was assumed by Him. He offered a sacrifice in our behalf, He set forth His own Body in behalf of sinners, a victim void of sin, that both by human nature He might be capable of dying, and by righteousness be capable of purifying. This One, then, when the ancient enemy saw after the Baptism, then directly fell upon Him with temptations, and by diverse avenues strove to insinuate himself into His interior; he was overcome and laid prostrate by the mere sinlessness of His unconquerable mind.
47. But because to the interior his strength did not reach, he betook himself to His outward man, that because he was subdued by the prowess of the soul, Him, Whom he had not the power to deceive by temptation, he might at all events by the death of the flesh seem to vanquish. And, as it has been said before us, he had leave granted to him against that, which the Mediator had taken from us mortals. But where he had power to do something, there he was vanquished utterly on
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every side; and from the same cause that he obtained the power outwardly to kill the flesh of the Lord, his interior power, whereby he held us fast, was killed. For he was himself vanquished within, whilst in seeming he vanquished without; and he, who of right held us the debtors of death, of right lost in us the right of death; because by means of his ministers, he sought for the flesh of Him to be done to death, in Whom he found no whit of the debt of sin. Thus our Lord did in our behalf pay death not due, that death due might not injure us; and so it is well said, And His wisdom hath struck the proud one; because our old enemy by the excess of his presumption lost even him, whom by the law of wicked persuasion he got possession of; and whilst he audaciously went after Him, in Whom there was nought at his command, by right he lost him, whom he as it were justly held bound. Therefore he was ‘stricken by wisdom,’ and not by power, in that while he is let loose for the tempting God, he is unfastened from possessing man; so that him that was under him, he should lose by the same act, whereby he had ventured to come to an encounter with Him, Who is over him. But upon the Lord being killed in the flesh, what gloriousness of powers came upon his Preachers is related, when it is added,
Ver. 13. His Spirit garnished the heavens.
[xxxi] [MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION]
48. What ‘heavens,’ saving those concerning whom it is written, The heavens are telling the glory of God? [Ps. 19, 1] Which ‘heavens His Spirit garnished’ then, when It ‘filled’ them. Which we have learnt by Luke’s relating, who saith, Suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting; and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. [Acts 2, 2–4 ] From Him, then, they received the adornments of prowess, whom an exceeding disfigurement of fear before had possession of. For we know that first one of the Apostles, i. e. of the ‘heavens,’ how often, before the grace of the Holy Spirit was vouchsafed, whilst he feared to die, he denied ‘the Life;’ who not by punishments, not by inflictions, not by the dreadful power of anyone, but by the simple interrogation of a single slave, was brought to the ground. And truly that that slave the sterner sex might not exhibit as an object to cause alarm, it was by a maidservant putting the question that he was tried. Again, that the weakness of such a sex, by the lowness of her office as well might be made contemptible, he was questioned not by a maidservant only, but by a maidservant keeper of the door. See how contemptible the person is that is sought out for the purpose of trying him, that it might be plainly brought to light, what excessive weakness of fear possessed him, who even before the voice of a maidservant of the door could not stand fast.
49. But this one a little before so full of affright, what after the Coming of the Holy Spirit he became, let us now see. Surely we have learnt by Luke’s attesting it, with what an authoritativeness he preached the word, in opposition to the priests and rulers. For when upon a miracle being wrought inquiry had arisen, and the rulers from among the priests, the elders, and the scribes laid their hands together in the persecution of the Apostles, setting those persons in the midst, they busied themselves to ask in what power they had wrought the miracle. Unto whom Peter being filled with the Holy Spirit spake, Ye rulers of the people and elders; if we be this day examined of the deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Whom ye
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crucified, Whom God raised from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand here before you whole. [Acts 4, 8. &c. ] And when the rage of the persecutors against this grew to a head, and the priests and rulers forbade those men to preach Jesus, with what independent power Peter rose in height against the wrath of the rulers, is made plain, when it is there added directly, But Peter and the Apostles answered and said unto them, It is right to obey God rather than man. [v. 19] But when the commands of those withstanding did not repress the influence of the persons preaching, it comes to scourges. For it is added, And when the chief priests had beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the Name of Jesus, and let them go. [Acts 5, 40] But that the prowess of the Apostles not even scourges had power to restrain, is openly shewn, when it is immediately introduced next, And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the Name of Jesus. And immediately even after the rejoicing of their scourges what they did we have pointed out; And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ. Mark, that man, a little while before full of fears, now speaks with tongues, flashes forth with miracles, with free voice rebukes the unbelief of the priests and rulers, gives to the rest for the preaching of Jesus an example of independence. That he should not speak in His Name, he is restrained by scourgings, and yet is not withheld. He sets at nought the strokes of those that scourged him, who a little while back had dreaded the words of those that questioned him. And he that when asked a question shrunk in consternation from the powers of a maidservant, when beaten with the rod forces back the powers of the rulers. For being henceforth established by the efficacy of the Holy Spirit, the heights of this world he trod down with the heel of liberty, that he should see that that was low down on the earth, whatever it was that swelled high against the grace of the Creator.
50. These are the ornaments of the heavens, these are the gifts of the Spirit, that are used to be manifested by divers powers, which as divided by the bestowal of secret distribution Paul reckons up, saying, For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same’ Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues. [1 Cor. 12, 8–10] All which directly afterwards including in one by a general statement he says, But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will. Of these ‘heavens’ too it is said in the Psalm, By the word of the Lord were the heavens set fast. [Ps. 33, 6] Of these ornaments of the Spirit also it is added, And all the power of them by the Spirit of His mouth. Therefore it is well said, His Spirit hath garnished the heavens; because the holy Preachers, except they received the gifts of the Paraclete, that were promised to them, would not have shone with any comeliness of might. But because when the Holy Apostles were beautified with the grace of the gifts of virtue, the preaching of life gained ground against the hearts of unbelievers, and our old enemy being expelled by the voices of the preachers, abandoned the minds of the unbelievers, which he had close beset; after the ornaments of the heavens it is fitly subjoined;
And by the midwifery of His hand the crooked serpent is brought forth.
[xxxii] [PROPHETICAL INTERPRETATION]
51. For who is described by the designation of the ‘serpent,’ but our old enemy, at once slippery and crooked, who for the deceiving of man spake with the mouth of a serpent? Of whom it is said by the Prophet, Leviathan the bar-serpent, the crooked one [Is. 27, 1]; who was for this reason
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allowed to speak with the mouth of a serpent, that by that very vessel of his man might learn what he was that dwelt within. For a serpent is not only crooked but slippery as well; and so because he stood not in the uprightness of truth, he entered into a crooked animal, and because if to his first suggestion resistance be not made, in a moment whilst it is not perceived he slips in entire into the interior of the heart, he made speech to man by a slippery animal. Now ‘the dens’ of this serpent were the hearts of wicked men. Which same because he drew on to his own depravity, he as it were rested in the dwelling place of them. But ‘by the midwifery of the Lord’s hand, the crooked serpent is driven out of his own dens,’ in that whilst the Divine grace heals us, he that had held possession of us, our old enemy, is cast out of us, as Truth Incarnate says, Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. [John 12, 31] Hence all the Saints now already he does not possess by holding, but persecutes by trying. For because he does not reign in them within, he fights against them without, and because he has lost his dominion in the interior, he sets on foot wars in the exterior. For him That One drove forth from the carnal hearts of men, Who for the sake of men came to the state of Incarnation; and whereas He took seisin of the hearts of unbelievers, He as it were put His hand to the dens of the serpent. Whence it is rightly said by the Prophet; And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My Holy Mountain. [Is. 11, 8. 9. ] For whom does he call ‘the sucking child,’ or ‘the weaned child,’ saving the Lord? And what did he denote by ‘the hole of the asp,’ and ‘the cockatrice den,’ saving the hearts of wicked men? Because our old enemy, whereas he gat himself wholly into their consenting, as a crooked serpent in his own hole, he gathered and wound up the coils of his craftiness; whom he both designates with the title of ‘asp’ as covertly ravening, and of a ‘cockatrice’ as openly wounding. And so the Lord ‘put His hand upon the hole of the asp and the cockatrice,’ when He took seisin of the hearts of the wicked by Divine power.
Ver. 4. Can a man be justified being compared with God? or can he be found clean that is born of a woman?
[xv]
21. This verse is spoken above by blessed Job, and is now repeated in the upbraiding of him; since every just man is just by illumination from God, not by comparison with God. For man’s righteousness when compared with the Maker is unrighteousness, since, even although man had held fast in his own estate of creation, the creature could never be equalled to the Creator. To
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which creature howsoever, unto heavier burthens of deficiency, there accrued sin also, which the serpent by plotting brought in, and woman proving frail recommended. Hence now, forasmuch as man is born by the agency of woman who is made subject to sin, the frailty of the first guilt is inherited in the offspring; and because the branch of the human race was made rotten in the root, it does not hold up in the greenness of its creation. Hence it is rightly said now, Can a man be justified being compared with God? or can he be found clean that is born of a woman? As if it were expressed in plain terms, ‘Let not man entertain pride against his Creator, let him reflect whence he came hither, and understand what he is. ’ But observe, there are those that when by the gift of the Spirit they are holpen against the frailty of their flesh, are made to erect themselves, gleam forth in virtues, yea, flash out in the marvels of miraculous signs as well, yet is there no man who may pass through life free from sin, so long as he bears upon him flesh of corruption. Whence it is yet further added;
Ver. 5. Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in His sight. [xvi]
22. What is denoted by ‘the moon’ but the whole Church together? what by ‘the stars’ but the souls of the several persons that live rightly? who amidst the practices of wicked men, whilst they are conspicuous by rare virtues, as it were shine in the darkness of night. Whence likewise it is said by Paul to the disciples; Among whom ye shine like lights in the world. [Phil. 2, 15] For that Holy Church is represented by the designation of ‘the moon,’ the Prophet bears witness, saying, The sun was lifted up, and the moon stood in her order. [Hab. 3, 11] For on ‘the sun being lifted up, the moon is established in her order,’ in that on our Lord ascending into the heavens, Holy Church is thereupon made strong in the authoritative function of preaching. And that by the title of ‘stars’ the Elect are represented, Paul again informs us, by saying, For one star differeth from another star in glory. [1 Cor. 15, 41] So ‘the moon doth not shine, and the stars are not clean in His sight,’ because neither doth Holy Church by her own power shine forth in so many miracles, except the gifts of preventing grace fall in showers upon her, nor are the minds of the several persons that live rightly clean of the stains of sinful practices, if they be judged apart from pity; because in the eyes of the strict Judge every single individual his own proneness to corruption doth pollute, unless the grace of One sparing day by day wipe this away. For the mind of the Elect strives to go forth to the liberty of righteousness, but is still bound and tied with the fetters of frailty, and it longs indeed perfectly to get the better of offences, but so long as it is fettered by the corruption of the flesh, it is tied with the chains thereof, even when it would not be. Hence therefore let him collect with what a load of sins they are borne down, who neglect to war against the same, if not even they entirely get the better of evil doing, who strenuously fight against it. And hence it is said, Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not, and the stars are not pure in His sight; it is directly added;
Ver. 6. How much more is man rottenness, and the son of man a worm?
[xvii]
23. As if it were in plain words; ‘If those very persons also cannot be void of contagion, who amidst the darkness of the present life shine bright by virtuous attainments, with what guilt of wickedness are they bound, who still live after the flesh? If those persons cannot be free from sin, who are already walking in the way of heavenly desires, what they who still lie under the loads of sinful habits? who whilst they are abandoned to the gratifications of their fleshly part, still bear the
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yoke of rottenness? Hence Peter saith; And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? [1 Pet. 4, 18] Hence it is said by Isaiah, Upon the land of My people shalt come up thorns and briars; how much more upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city. [Is. 32, 13] For by ‘the land of His People,’ the Lord meaneth the mind of all of the Elect. Upon which He tells of ‘thorns and briars coming up;’ because He sees that not even that very mind is free from the prickles of bad habits. But ‘the house of joy in the joyous city’ is the mind of the wicked, which whilst it neglects to regard the punishments that are destined to come, in the gratification of the flesh going away from itself, revels in empty mirth. Thus he saith; Upon the land of My people shalt come up thorns and briars, how much more upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city. As if He said in plain words; If evil habits sink low even the minds of those, who for desire of the heavenly country put themselves to pain, what guilty courses are they brought under, who without any apprehension abandon themselves in the gratification of the flesh?
24. But it is a point to be noticed in his discourse how Bildad observed the order of our creation and of our birth, in that he calls ‘man’ not ‘a worm,’ but ‘rottenness,’ but ‘the son of man’ ‘a worm. ’ For the first parent of the human race was ‘man,’ not ‘the son of man;’ from whom whosoever came forth, was not only ‘man,’ but ‘the son of man’ as well. As then from man springs the son of man, so from rottenness springs the worm. Whence man is lightly called ‘rottenness,’ but the son of man ‘a worm. ’ For the first man was ‘rottenness’ not ‘a worm,’ in that though by death he turned to ‘rottenness,’ yet he did not come by a birth out of rottenness. But he that is the son of man is called ‘a worm,’ because he is henceforth propagated from the corruption of mortal bodies.
25. Therefore because the words of his friends are concluded, blessed Job sets on with a more penetrating acuteness of the suing, and his words are proportionably strong as they are the last; seeing that even in the same way it is the usage of lawyers, that the argument, by which they beforehand see that they are above their adversaries, they reserve for the conclusion of the suit. It follows;
C. xxvi. 1, 2. But Job answered and said, Of whom art thou the helper? whether of one that is powerless? or dost thou sustain the arm of him that is not strong?
[xviii]
26. To help one that is weak is an act of charity, to wish to help one that is powerful, of Pride; and so because his friends, whilst bearing the likeness of heretics, on the plea of helping God, endeavoured to make a display of their own wisdom, Bildad is justly found fault with, that it should be said, Of whom art thou the helper? whether of one that is powerless? or dost thou sustain the arm of him that is not strong? As if he said in plain words; ‘While thou settest thyself to help Him, under Whose greatness thou dost sink to the earth, all the encouragement which thou affordest comes of ostentation, not of piety. ’
27. But herein it is requisite to be known, that even God, Who surely is not ‘powerless,’ we help whilst acting with humility. And hence it is said by Paul, For we are helper’s of God. [1 Cor. 3, 9] For when to him, whom He doth Himself by interior grace pervade, we by the voice of exhortation contribute, this which He through the Spirit brings to pass within, we outwardly by the office of the voice do assist, and then only is our exhortation brought to completion, when God was in the heart,
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to be aided. Hence He saith elsewhere; So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. [ib. 7] For to ‘plant’ and ‘water’ is to ‘help,’ both which will be but a void ministration, if in the heart God ‘giveth not the increase. ’ But they who have high thoughts of their own power of mind, will not be helpers of God with humility; because whilst they reckon themselves to be of use to God, they are making themselves strangers to the fruit of usefulness. And hence it is said to the disciples by the voice of Truth, When ye shall have done all those things that are commanded you say, We are unprofitable servants, we have done that which was our duty to do. [Luke 17, 10] It proceeds;
Ver. 3. To whom hast thou given counsel? perchance to him that hath not wisdom?
[xix]
28. To ‘give counsel to one that is foolish’ is an office of charity, to give it to one that is wise, of ostentation; but to give it to Wisdom Itself, of wrongmindedness; and because those who we have said bear the likeness of heretics, by their mode of speech, were administering to ostentation rather than to usefulness, it is yet further added rightly against Bildad,
And shewn thine own prudence overmuch.
To one to whom there is right prudence it is not overmuch, because according to Paul’s declaration, he seeketh not to be wise above the degree that he ought to be wise. But to whomsoever there is overmuch prudence, there is not right prudence. For whilst it is carried beyond due measure, it is made to turn off on one side or another of offence. Now they shew their prudence to be ‘overmuch,’ who aim to appear fuller of prudence in comparison of others; whence it very frequently happens that whilst they have not the art to be wise in moderation, they even speak things that are foolish. On account of which circumstance, the actual excess of prudence is yet further subjoined, that it should be said,
Ver. 4. Whom wouldest thou have taught? Was it not Him Who made the breathway?
[xx]
29. By the ‘breathway’ we live, by prudence we are wise. But it is ours first to live, and afterwards to be imbued with wisdom; because in order that we have the power to be wise, it is first brought to pass that we should have being. He, then, Who bestowed life, the same doubtless gave prudence as well. But because Bildad thought blessed Job was scourged for sin, that secret judgment of God which he should have adored in humility, he set himself with overweening temerity to penetrate to the bottom. And so that very One he preferred himself before in respect of prudence, Whose judgment without understanding it he judged. That very One he preferred himself before in prudence, from Whom he received the breathway of life, as though he were wise more than He, the very Being from Whom he had it given it him that he should be. But because blessed Job whilst bearing a type of Holy Church delivered a few things in the rebuking of proud men, who, he was not ignorant, bore a likeness of heretics, according as he said above; I desire to reason with God; first shewing that ye are forgers of lies, and followers of wrong tenets [Job 13, 3. 4. ]; he suddenly lifts himself up to instruction, and in opposition to the ignorance of the highminded, he opens wide the breadth of his knowledge in sentences, saying,
Ver. 5. Lo, the giants groan under the waters.
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[xxi]
30. For it was fitting that by rebuking he should first beat down the swelling of earthly wisdom, and by instruction afterwards pass on to words replete with mysteries. Thus by ‘giants,’ either apostate Angels, or all proud men may without objection be understood. For hence it is said by the Prophet, The dead shall not live, the giants shall not rise up again. [Is. 26, 14] For whom does he call ‘the dead’ saving sinners, and whom does he designate ‘giants’ save those, who over and above take pride in sin. Now the former do ‘not live,’ because by sinning they have forfeited the life of righteousness; these latter too ‘cannot rise up again’ after death, because, after their transgression being swoln with pride, they do not have recourse to the remedies of penitence. Hence it is written again, The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead. [Prov. 21, 16] For whosoever forsakes the way of righteousness, to whose number does he join himself, saving to the number of the proud spirits? Now it is well said in opposition to the high-minded, Lo, the giants groan under the waters. As if it were expressed in plain speech; ‘Wherefore on the score of knowledge should man be proud, when the abyss of ignorance keeps at the bottom the very proudest of the spirits of the Angels? ’
31. But if by the name of ‘the giants’ the powerful ones of this world are denoted, in ‘the waters’ we may have the multitudes represented, as John beareth witness, who saith, The waters, which thou seest, are peoples. [Rev. 17, 15] Now against him that is filled with pride it is well spoken; Lo, the giants groan under the waters; because all that are high and lifted up, while in this life they long to attain the highest pitch of honours, groan under the burthens of peoples. For in proportion as a man is the higher lifted up here, he is burthened with so much the heavier cares. And to those very same people in mind and thoughts he is put under, whom in dignity he is put over. And by these words it is well shewn in brief that all pride lies prostrate on the ground by the mere act by which it lifts itself up on high, so as to be the more effectually bowed down beneath all things from the same cause, that it would fain be set above all. For man when he is lifted up in high stations, bears so many in number over him, as he rules persons put beneath him. But those, that are associated with such persons, are by fellowship in their labour themselves also weighed to the ground. For together with them they likewise bear the toilsomeness of the burthen, whilst along with them they go after the gloriousness of the honour. Hence whereas he said, Lo, the giants groan under the waters; he directly added;
And they that dwell along with them.
[xxii]
32. As though he said; ‘Equally with them do they groan,’ who by taking delight are associated to their glory. Now the very employment of worldly dignities is borne down with readier vices in proportion as it is charged with heavier cares. For would that the mind of man even at rest might be able to see and eschew sins! And so because he saw that the longed for heights of affairs cannot be administered without sins, and because it is not hidden from the wrath of God, whatsoever is committed of an unlawful kind, he fitly subjoined in pursuance;
Ver. 6. Hell is naked before Him, and destruction hath no covering. [xxiii]
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33. Which same Paul likewise saith, But all things are naked and opened unto His eyes. [Heb. 4, 13] But by the title of ‘hell’ and ‘perdition’ he denoted the devil and all the associates of his condemnation; but Who that One is before whom ‘hell is naked,’ he goes on with telling;
Ver. 7. He stretcheth out the north over the empty place.
[xxiv] [MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION]
34. By the title of the ‘north,’ in Holy Writ the devil is used to be designated, who with the thought to bind up the hearts of the nations with the iciness of insensibility, said, I will sit also upon the mount of the Covenant, in the sides of the north. [Is. 14, 13] And he is ‘stretched over the empty place,’ because he has possession of those hearts, that are not filled with the grace of the love of God. Yet is it competent to Almighty God, that even those vessels of the devil, empty of every virtue, He may fill with the gift of His grace, and deposit the solid substance of Divine fear in those persons, whom He does not see stablished by any conduct of righteousness. Hence it is fitly added; And hangeth the earth upon nothing.
[xxv]
35. For what is denoted by the title of ‘earth,’ saving Holy Church; who, whilst she receives the words of preaching, renders back the fruit of good works? Whereof it is said by Moses, Let the earth hear the words out of my lips, let my speech be looked for like the rain. [Deut. 32, 1. 2. ] And what but the several gentile peoples are denoted by ‘nothing,’ of whom it is spoken by the Prophet, All nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted to Him less than nothing. [Is. 40, 17] In that ‘nothing,’ then, is ‘the earth hung suspended,’ which before, being a void place, was occupied by the ‘north;’ because those hearts of the Gentiles became filled with the love of God, which had been aforetime weighed down by a deadness of the devil. But it may be that both by this ‘empty place,’ the infidelity of Judaea is denoted, and by ‘the earth,’ as we said, the propagation of Holy Church. Thus let the holy man look at the fall of Judaea in her perishing, and espy the privileges of the gentile world brought back to pardon, and let him say, He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. For because the hearts of the Gentiles, being void of faith, were made subject to the devil, ‘He stretched the north over the empty place;’ and because, there being no merits forthcoming, (as it is said, For nothing shalt Thou save them, [Ps. 56, 7. Vulg. ]) upon the Gentiles the Lord founded His Church, which same Gentiles are by the Prophet called ‘nothing,’ in pursuing the subject he rightly adds, And hangeth the earth upon nothing. Now in what order this thing was done, he continues in subjoining with wonderful method. For he saith,
Ver. 8. He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds, that they should not burst forth alike beneath. [xxvi]
36. For what does he call ‘the waters’ in this place but knowledge; what ‘clouds’ but the Preachers? For that in Holy Writ ‘water’ may sometimes be a term used for knowledge, we have been taught by Solomon bearing witness to it, who says, The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters, and the well-spring of wisdom as a flowing brook. [Prov. 18, 4] That, by water knowledge is denoted, the Prophet David bears witness, saying, Dark water in clouds of the sky, [Ps. 18, 11] i. e. secret knowledge in the Prophets, who before the Advent of the Lord, whilst, pregnant with
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secret sacraments, they were bearing in them boundless mysteries, to the eyes of beholders had their meaning obscured. But by the name of ‘clouds,’ what else is denoted in this passage but the holy Preachers, i. e. the Apostles, who being dispatched in every direction through the regions of the world, both knew how to shower in words, and to flash forth [coruscare] in miracles? Whom the Prophet Isaiah beholding long before, said, Who are these that fly as clouds? [Is. 60, 8] Thus because this man, filled with the spirit of prophecy, in this utterance of his voice longs that for the praise of God the rise of Holy Church may commence, he betakes himself to tell the order of her rise from the preaching of the Apostles, who took the greatest pains to preach to uninstructed people what was plain and comprehensible, not what was high and arduous. For holy knowledge, which is here set forth by the title of water, if in the same way that they drew it from the heart, so they poured it forth from the lips, by the immensity thereof they would overwhelm rather than water their hearers. Hence his knowledge being unbound within, that it should not burst forth alike beneath, in nourishing his hearers with the dropping of words, that ‘cloud’ spake, saying, And I brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk and not with meat. [1 Cor. 3, 1. 2. ] For who could have borne it if he that was caught up to the third heaven, that was caught into paradise, even hearing unutterable words, which it was not permitted to man to speak, had opened such unbounded depths of celestial knowledge? or what hearer’s power would he not overwhelm, if all that he might have been able to draw within, as far as tongue of flesh may suffice, overflowing without the mighty flood of this water had poured forth?
37. But that uninstructed hearers might be comforted not by an inundation of knowledge, but by the tempered dropping of preaching, God tieth up the waters in the clouds, that they may not burst forth alike beneath. Because He tempers the preaching of the teachers, that so the infirmity of the hearers, being nourished by the dew of the things spoken, may be made strong. Which is well described in the Gospel by a mystical mode of representation, where it is said, Jesus entered into the boat of Peter, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land; and he sat down thus, and taught the people. [Luke 5, 3] By Peter’s ship what else is denoted but the Church committed to Peter? and that the Lord may preach to the crowds flocking together out of this ship, He orders it to be ‘thrust out a little from the land. ’ Which same he neither bids to be carried into the deep, and yet does bid that it be thrust out from the land, signifying, surely, that to uninstructed people His preachers ought not to preach either what is too deep relating to the heavenly world, nor yet what is earthly. And so ‘water is bound up in the clouds,’ because the knowledge of the Preachers, speaking to the minds of the frail, is forbidden to teach as much as it is able to see.
38. Since, for the most part, if the heart of the hearers is spoilt by the vastness of the utterance, the tongue of the persons teaching is mulcted in the damage of indiscretion. Whence it is written; And if a man shall open a cistern, or if a man shall dig a pit and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein, the owner of the pit shall make it good. [Ex. 21, 33. 34.
] For what is it ‘to open a cistern,’ saving with strong understanding to penetrate the mysteries of Holy Writ? And what is understood by an ‘ox’ and an ‘ass,’ viz. a clean and an unclean animal, save every believer and unbeliever? Accordingly, let him that ‘diggeth a cistern cover it, lest an ox or an ass tumble headlong therein,’ i. e. let him, who already makes out deep things in Holy Writ, by silence cover over his lofty perceptions before those that do not reach that compass, lest by a stumbling-block to the soul he kill either the believing little one, or the unbelieving, who might have been led to believe. For upon the death of the beasts of burthen there are damages due, plainly because he is convicted of having
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done that, whereby he is held a debtor for the exercising of penance [a]. Accordingly, ‘the cistern must be covered,’ in that before little minds, deep knowledge requires to be veiled, lest by the same cause that the heart of the teachers is lifted up to the highest things, the infirmity of the hearer fall away to the lowest. Accordingly let it be said with justice, He bindeth up the waters in His clouds, that they should not burst forth alike beneath. For ‘the waters would burst forth alike,’ if, in the presence of weak hearers, the knowledge came forth from the lips of the speaker as great as it is, if all the whole fulness of preaching poured itself out at once, and reserved nought to itself together with those making progress. For it is fitting that he that preaches should have an eye to the measure of him that hears him, so that the preaching itself may grow with his hearers’ stages of growth. For so does it behove every single preacher to do, as it is dealt with himself from heaven; never to tell to the weak all that he has the perception of, because he himself too, so long as by flesh of mortality he is weak, does not perceive all those things that belong to heaven. And therefore he ought not to preach to the ignorant as much as he is acquainted with, because even he himself, touching heavenly mysteries, cannot have his eyes open to see how great they are. For hence it is that Paul the Apostle, after he was admitted to the mysteries of heaven, saith, For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face. [1 Cor. 13, 12] And hence it here follows in continuation;
Ver. 9. He holdeth back the face of His Throne, and spreadeth His cloud upon it.
[xxvii] [LITERAL INTERPRETATION]
39. In the face there is wont to be shewn forth acquaintanceship. Thus ‘the face of His Throne is held back,’ in that by us in this life the gloriousness of His kingdom is not perceived, so great as it is had within; ‘upon which the cloud’ is rightly said ‘to be stretched;’ because that glory of the heavenly kingdom is not seen such as it is. For the corruptible body presseth down the soul; and the earthy tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things. [Wisd. 9, 15] And so against seeing it we are besprinkled with a mist, for we are darkened by the mere cloudiness of our ignorance. Whence it is rightly said by the Psalmist, And darkness was under His feet; and He rode above the Cherubim, and did fly; He did fly above the wings of the wind: He made darkness His secret place. [Ps. 18, 9–11] For there is ‘darkness to Him under His feet,’ in that by those beneath He is not seen in that brightness, wherewith He exercises dominion among those above. For He ‘rode above the Cherubim, and did fly;’ since the ‘Cherubim’ is a term used for the fulness of knowledge. By consequence he is said above the fulness of knowledge to have ‘ridden, and to have flown,’ because the loftiness of His Majesty there is no knowledge doth compass. ‘He did fly,’ because He transported Himself on high, far from the reach of our understanding. ‘He did fly above the wings of the wind,’ because He transcended the knowledge of souls. He made darkness too His secret place, because whereas we are dimmed with the mists of our infirmity, by virtue of our ignorance He is hidden from us, that He should not be seen by us now in eternal and interior Brightness. Hence in the Song of Songs also it is said to Him by the Spouse, Escape, my Beloved, escape. [Cant. 8, 14] ‘It escapes us,’ we say, as often as that does not occur to our minds which we wish to remember. ‘It escapes us,’ we say, when that which we wish we do not retain in our recollection. So Holy Church, after that she sets forth the Death and Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord, cries out to Him, full of the Spirit of Prophecy, Escape, my Beloved, escape. As though she said; ‘Thou That art made by the flesh comprehensible, do Thou by Thy Divine Nature transcend the comprehension of our perception, and in Thine own Self remain to us Incomprehensible. ’ And so He ‘holdeth back the face of His throne,’ because He hideth the power of His Majesty from mortal beings.
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40. But if we render His ‘throne’ the Angelical Powers, for on these same Powers He sitteth enthroned as on a royal seat, ‘He keeps back the face of His Throne’ from us, because so long as we have our subsistence in this mortal flesh, what and how wonderful those ministrations of the Angels are, we do not perceive. ‘And He spreadeth His cloud upon it’ assuredly because He both lifts up our heart for making search, and yet it is brought to pass by a secret mode of control, that by the very endlessness of its searching it is kept back. Whence it is written, The deep uttered its voice at the loftiness of its imagining. [Hab. 3, 10] For the mind of man is forced to cry out in admiration, when, in loftiness of survey, it is straitened in its searchings by the very act by which it is enlarged. Or, surely, because we are ourselves the ‘throne’ of God, He is said not unjustly to ‘keep back the face of His throne,’ when our knowledge is prevented advancing to things of a higher range. Upon which same throne God is said ‘to spread His cloud,’ because remaining Himself invisible, He puts forth secret judgments upon us, that at once a thing should be done in prominency, that we should be able to see, and yet the origin of the deed be hidden in concealment, so that the reason wherefore it be done, we should needs not know. Hence too it is fitly added; Ver. 11. He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the light and darkness come to an end.
[xxviii]
41. Because very often in Holy Writ, as we said above, by the name of ‘waters’ peoples are denoted; the Lord compasseth the waters with bounds; because He so tempers the knowledge of mankind: that until the successions of the changing seasons pass away, it cannot perfectly attain to the knowledge of the Interior Brightness. But if by the name of ‘light’ we understand the righteous, and by the designation of ‘darkness’ sinners; (and hence Paul saith, For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light, [Eph. 5, 8]) there is nothing to hinder this same thing that we said being understood, ‘that the perfect knowledge of eternity is vouchsafed to no one, until the course of the righteous and of the unrighteous is brought to an end. ’ But because it is not wonderful that carnal people know nothing of things above, the holy man lifts himself up in astonishment at that same Divine power, and considers that it surpasses the very knowledge of Angels and perfect men as well, saying,
The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at his nod.
[xxix] [MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION]
42. What else does he call ‘the pillars of heaven’ but the holy Angels, or the principal preachers of the Church, over whom in the heavenly world the whole structure of the spiritual edifice increasing arose, as Holy Scripture elsewhere bears witness, saying, Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God. [Rev. 3, 12] For whoever is established firmly by a right purpose of mind in the work of God, is set up as a pillar in the structure of the spiritual edifice; that being placed in this temple, which is the Church, he should be both for usefulness and ornament. But Job calls those ‘pillars of heaven’ whom the Apostle calls ‘pillars’ of the Church, saying, Peter, and James, and John, which seemed to be pillars, gave me the right hand. [Gal. 2, 9]
43. We may also not inappropriately interpret the ‘pillars of heaven’ the Churches themselves, which being many in number, constitute one Catholic Church spread over the whole face of the
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earth. Hence too the Apostle John writes to the seven Churches, meaning to denote the one Catholic Church replenished with the Spirit of sevenfold grace, and we know that Solomon said of the Lord, Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars. [Prov. 9, 1] And the same, to make known that it was of the seven Churches he had spoken that, in going on sedulously introduced the very Sacraments themselves too, saying, She hath killed her sacrifices, she hath mingled her wine, she hath also set forth her table; she hath sent forth her maidens, that they may cry to the citadel and to the walls of the city. If any be a little one, let him come to me. [Prov. 9, 2– 4] For the Lord ‘killed the sacrifices’ by offering Himself on our behalf. He ‘mingled the wine,’ blending together the cup of His precepts from the historical narration and the spiritual signification. Whence it is elsewhere written, For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture. [Ps. 75, 8] And ‘He set forth His table,’ i. e. Holy Writ, which with the bread of the word refreshes us when we are wearied, and come to Him away from the burthens of the world, and by its effect of refreshing strengthens us against our adversaries. Whence too it is elsewhere said by the Church; Thou preparest a table before me, against them that trouble me. [Ps. 23, 5] He ‘sent forth His maidens,’ i. e. the souls of the Apostles, being in their actual beginning infirm [i. e. thence called maidens, see on Job 1, 2 Bk I. §. 20. T. 1. ], ‘that they might cry to the citadel and the walls of the city;’ in that whilst they tell of the interior life, they lift us up to the high walls of the City Above, which same walls, surely, except any be humble they do not ascend. Whence it is there added by that same Wisdom; If any be a little one, let him come unto Me. As if she said in plain words; ‘Whosoever accounts himself great in his own eyes, contracts the avenue of his approach unto Me; for there is a loftier reaching unto Me in proportion as the mind of each one is in himself the more truly abased. ’
44. But with whatever degree of goodness a man may be advanced, with whatever knowledge he may be made to grow, he cannot fathom to the bottom, what a governance of judgments the Lord rules us with. Therefore let him say, The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at his nod; because in most things not those even are able to reach the lofty height of His will, who whilst announcing see the rewards of that will. Which, as we said above, there is nothing hinders being interpreted of the Holy Angels as well; because the very Powers of the heavenly world themselves, which behold Him without ceasing, in that very contemplation of theirs are made to tremble. But that that should not be a trembling of woe to them, it is one not of fear, but of admiration. Now because he had brought in how great the consternation of his wonderment was, he now relates the order of our salvation. It follows;
Ver. 12. In His might the seas are suddenly gathered together, and His wisdom hath struck the proud one.
[xxx]
45. What else is denoted by the title of the sea save the present world, wherein the hearts of men seeking after earthly things swell with the diverse billows of the thoughts? which same being stirred up by the exaltation of pride, whilst with cross sway they thwart one another, do as with confronting waters dash themselves together. But henceforth ‘the seas are gathered together in His might,’ because on the Lord being made Incarnate, the discordant hearts of worldly men believe in agreement. Henceforth Peter ‘walks on the sea,’ because to the preachers of Christ, these once swelling hearts are by lowly hearing bowed down to the earth, so that in the Gospel too it justly represented the gentleness of this world, that the stormy water of the sea, its swelling being forced
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down, was trodden by the feet of the Lord. Now in what manner that was done is disclosed, when
it is said, His wisdom hath struck the proud one.
[ii] [PROPHETICAL INTERPRETATION]
46. Who else is here called ‘proud,’ saving he who said, I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the Most High [Is. 14, 14]; and concerning whom it is spoken by the voice of God, Who is made that he should fear none, and himself is king over all the sons of pride. [Job 41, 24. 25. ] With reference to whom moreover the prophet David agrees with this sentence, saying, Thou hast abased the proud man, like one wounded. [Ps. 89, 10] But though to the simple nature of Deity it is not one thing to be, and another thing to be wise, nor one thing to be wise, and another to be strong, forasmuch as the strength is identically the same that the wisdom, and the wisdom that the essence of the Deity is, yet I consider it a thing to be regarded with lively attention, that this man being filled with the prophetic spirit, chose to describe the proud devil as stricken by ‘the wisdom’ rather than the power of God. For he saith not, ‘His might,’ but, ‘His wisdom hath struck the proud one. ’ For, as we have said, although by right of simple Nature, the Might of God is the Wisdom of God, yet as to the appearance, the Lord overcame the devil, not by power, but by reason; for the devil himself, by overthrowing us in that root of our first parent, as it were rightfully held man under his thraldom, who whilst he was created with free will, yielded consent to him, when he prompted what was unjust. For when created to life in the freedom of his own will, he was of his own accord made the debtor to death. Therefore such a transgression was to be done away; but saving by sacrifice it could not be done away. A sacrifice was to be sought after, but what sacrifice could be found "for the setting men free? For neither was it just that for reasoning man there should be slain sacrifices of brute beasts. Whence the Apostle says, It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. [Heb. 9, 23] And so if brute creatures on behalf of a rational animal, i. e. in the stead of man, were not proportionate victims, a man was to be sought out, who should be offered for men, that for a reasoning being committing sin there might be offered a reasoning victim. But what of the fact, that a man without sin could not be found? And the victim offered in our stead, when could it cleanse us from sin, if the actual victim itself
was not without sin’s contagion? Since it being defiled could never have cleansed the defiled. Therefore that it might be a rational victim, Man was to be offered, but that it might cleanse man from his sins, Man and that Man without sin. But who might there be man without sin, if he was descended from a combination in sin? Thereupon in our behalf the Son of God came into the womb of the Virgin; there for our sakes He was made Man. Nature, not sin, was assumed by Him. He offered a sacrifice in our behalf, He set forth His own Body in behalf of sinners, a victim void of sin, that both by human nature He might be capable of dying, and by righteousness be capable of purifying. This One, then, when the ancient enemy saw after the Baptism, then directly fell upon Him with temptations, and by diverse avenues strove to insinuate himself into His interior; he was overcome and laid prostrate by the mere sinlessness of His unconquerable mind.
47. But because to the interior his strength did not reach, he betook himself to His outward man, that because he was subdued by the prowess of the soul, Him, Whom he had not the power to deceive by temptation, he might at all events by the death of the flesh seem to vanquish. And, as it has been said before us, he had leave granted to him against that, which the Mediator had taken from us mortals. But where he had power to do something, there he was vanquished utterly on
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every side; and from the same cause that he obtained the power outwardly to kill the flesh of the Lord, his interior power, whereby he held us fast, was killed. For he was himself vanquished within, whilst in seeming he vanquished without; and he, who of right held us the debtors of death, of right lost in us the right of death; because by means of his ministers, he sought for the flesh of Him to be done to death, in Whom he found no whit of the debt of sin. Thus our Lord did in our behalf pay death not due, that death due might not injure us; and so it is well said, And His wisdom hath struck the proud one; because our old enemy by the excess of his presumption lost even him, whom by the law of wicked persuasion he got possession of; and whilst he audaciously went after Him, in Whom there was nought at his command, by right he lost him, whom he as it were justly held bound. Therefore he was ‘stricken by wisdom,’ and not by power, in that while he is let loose for the tempting God, he is unfastened from possessing man; so that him that was under him, he should lose by the same act, whereby he had ventured to come to an encounter with Him, Who is over him. But upon the Lord being killed in the flesh, what gloriousness of powers came upon his Preachers is related, when it is added,
Ver. 13. His Spirit garnished the heavens.
[xxxi] [MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION]
48. What ‘heavens,’ saving those concerning whom it is written, The heavens are telling the glory of God? [Ps. 19, 1] Which ‘heavens His Spirit garnished’ then, when It ‘filled’ them. Which we have learnt by Luke’s relating, who saith, Suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting; and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. [Acts 2, 2–4 ] From Him, then, they received the adornments of prowess, whom an exceeding disfigurement of fear before had possession of. For we know that first one of the Apostles, i. e. of the ‘heavens,’ how often, before the grace of the Holy Spirit was vouchsafed, whilst he feared to die, he denied ‘the Life;’ who not by punishments, not by inflictions, not by the dreadful power of anyone, but by the simple interrogation of a single slave, was brought to the ground. And truly that that slave the sterner sex might not exhibit as an object to cause alarm, it was by a maidservant putting the question that he was tried. Again, that the weakness of such a sex, by the lowness of her office as well might be made contemptible, he was questioned not by a maidservant only, but by a maidservant keeper of the door. See how contemptible the person is that is sought out for the purpose of trying him, that it might be plainly brought to light, what excessive weakness of fear possessed him, who even before the voice of a maidservant of the door could not stand fast.
49. But this one a little before so full of affright, what after the Coming of the Holy Spirit he became, let us now see. Surely we have learnt by Luke’s attesting it, with what an authoritativeness he preached the word, in opposition to the priests and rulers. For when upon a miracle being wrought inquiry had arisen, and the rulers from among the priests, the elders, and the scribes laid their hands together in the persecution of the Apostles, setting those persons in the midst, they busied themselves to ask in what power they had wrought the miracle. Unto whom Peter being filled with the Holy Spirit spake, Ye rulers of the people and elders; if we be this day examined of the deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Whom ye
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crucified, Whom God raised from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand here before you whole. [Acts 4, 8. &c. ] And when the rage of the persecutors against this grew to a head, and the priests and rulers forbade those men to preach Jesus, with what independent power Peter rose in height against the wrath of the rulers, is made plain, when it is there added directly, But Peter and the Apostles answered and said unto them, It is right to obey God rather than man. [v. 19] But when the commands of those withstanding did not repress the influence of the persons preaching, it comes to scourges. For it is added, And when the chief priests had beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the Name of Jesus, and let them go. [Acts 5, 40] But that the prowess of the Apostles not even scourges had power to restrain, is openly shewn, when it is immediately introduced next, And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the Name of Jesus. And immediately even after the rejoicing of their scourges what they did we have pointed out; And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ. Mark, that man, a little while before full of fears, now speaks with tongues, flashes forth with miracles, with free voice rebukes the unbelief of the priests and rulers, gives to the rest for the preaching of Jesus an example of independence. That he should not speak in His Name, he is restrained by scourgings, and yet is not withheld. He sets at nought the strokes of those that scourged him, who a little while back had dreaded the words of those that questioned him. And he that when asked a question shrunk in consternation from the powers of a maidservant, when beaten with the rod forces back the powers of the rulers. For being henceforth established by the efficacy of the Holy Spirit, the heights of this world he trod down with the heel of liberty, that he should see that that was low down on the earth, whatever it was that swelled high against the grace of the Creator.
50. These are the ornaments of the heavens, these are the gifts of the Spirit, that are used to be manifested by divers powers, which as divided by the bestowal of secret distribution Paul reckons up, saying, For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same’ Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues. [1 Cor. 12, 8–10] All which directly afterwards including in one by a general statement he says, But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will. Of these ‘heavens’ too it is said in the Psalm, By the word of the Lord were the heavens set fast. [Ps. 33, 6] Of these ornaments of the Spirit also it is added, And all the power of them by the Spirit of His mouth. Therefore it is well said, His Spirit hath garnished the heavens; because the holy Preachers, except they received the gifts of the Paraclete, that were promised to them, would not have shone with any comeliness of might. But because when the Holy Apostles were beautified with the grace of the gifts of virtue, the preaching of life gained ground against the hearts of unbelievers, and our old enemy being expelled by the voices of the preachers, abandoned the minds of the unbelievers, which he had close beset; after the ornaments of the heavens it is fitly subjoined;
And by the midwifery of His hand the crooked serpent is brought forth.
[xxxii] [PROPHETICAL INTERPRETATION]
51. For who is described by the designation of the ‘serpent,’ but our old enemy, at once slippery and crooked, who for the deceiving of man spake with the mouth of a serpent? Of whom it is said by the Prophet, Leviathan the bar-serpent, the crooked one [Is. 27, 1]; who was for this reason
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allowed to speak with the mouth of a serpent, that by that very vessel of his man might learn what he was that dwelt within. For a serpent is not only crooked but slippery as well; and so because he stood not in the uprightness of truth, he entered into a crooked animal, and because if to his first suggestion resistance be not made, in a moment whilst it is not perceived he slips in entire into the interior of the heart, he made speech to man by a slippery animal. Now ‘the dens’ of this serpent were the hearts of wicked men. Which same because he drew on to his own depravity, he as it were rested in the dwelling place of them. But ‘by the midwifery of the Lord’s hand, the crooked serpent is driven out of his own dens,’ in that whilst the Divine grace heals us, he that had held possession of us, our old enemy, is cast out of us, as Truth Incarnate says, Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. [John 12, 31] Hence all the Saints now already he does not possess by holding, but persecutes by trying. For because he does not reign in them within, he fights against them without, and because he has lost his dominion in the interior, he sets on foot wars in the exterior. For him That One drove forth from the carnal hearts of men, Who for the sake of men came to the state of Incarnation; and whereas He took seisin of the hearts of unbelievers, He as it were put His hand to the dens of the serpent. Whence it is rightly said by the Prophet; And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My Holy Mountain. [Is. 11, 8. 9. ] For whom does he call ‘the sucking child,’ or ‘the weaned child,’ saving the Lord? And what did he denote by ‘the hole of the asp,’ and ‘the cockatrice den,’ saving the hearts of wicked men? Because our old enemy, whereas he gat himself wholly into their consenting, as a crooked serpent in his own hole, he gathered and wound up the coils of his craftiness; whom he both designates with the title of ‘asp’ as covertly ravening, and of a ‘cockatrice’ as openly wounding. And so the Lord ‘put His hand upon the hole of the asp and the cockatrice,’ when He took seisin of the hearts of the wicked by Divine power.
