Which sendeth
ambassadors
by the sea even in vessels of papyrus upon the waters.
St Gregory - Moralia - Job
suggests that this may be taken from Ecclus.
20, 9] Yet oftentimes the wicked man, though in the secret foreknowledge of God no protracted periods of life may be predestined him, himself, forasmuch as he desires to live after the flesh, sets length of days before his imagination.
And because he cannot attain to that time that he looks forward to, he, as it were, ‘perishes before his days are fulfilled.
’ Which same we may likewise understand in another sense also.
For very commonly we see persons that both lead wicked lives, and attain to the very extreme of old age.
How then is it said, Before his days are fulfilled, he shall perish; when in the case of particular persons we often see, that their limbs already fail from age, and yet their passions do not cease to carry out their wickedness?
59. For there are some, who after a lost way of life turn back to themselves, and their conscience accusing them, forsake their froward ways, alter their doings, withstand their old wickedness, flee earthly courses, and pursue heavenly aims, but before they be firmly rooted in those holy aims, from deadness of mind they return to the things which they began to pass sentence on, and fall back to the evil habits which they had determined to eschew. For whereas it often happens that for the profit of many, even holy men bow their necks to external actions, and are busied with the governance of a people, the weak seeing this, and, from their former pride still by them, seeking to follow their example, set themselves in outward ways of action; but in proportion as they do not come thereto well imbued with the things of the Spirit, they execute them in a carnal manner. For except the heart be first confirmed in heavenly desires by long application and a continued conversation, when it is poured back again for the executing of things exterior, it is rooted out from all its standing in good practice. Whence too it is rightly said of this wicked man, Before his days are fulfilled, he shall perish. In that even if he begin perchance to do any thing good, before he is strengthened therein by length of time, he falls back to outward things, and wickedly abandons what he appeared to have entered upon rightly. And hence it is fitly added; And his hands shall wither; in that whilst he is prematurely involved in exterior actions, he is dried up of all good practice. Hence it is yet further added aright;
Ver. 33, 34. His cluster shall be spoilt like a vine in the first flower, and like an olive casting its flower. For the congregation of the hypocrite shall be barren.
[liii]
60. It is to be observed that the Divine Word so speaks of this wicked man in general terms, that yet it comes down to his particular wickedness. For he that on saying, His cluster shall be spoilt like a vine in the first flower, and like an olive casting its flower; directly adds, For the congregation of the hypocrite shall be barren, plainly makes it appear that in this wicked man it is against his hypocrisy that he passes sentence of condemnation. Now we have to consider how it is that the hypocrite is ‘spoilt like a vine in the first flower, or like an olive casting its flower. ’ If the vine in flowering be touched by excessive cold in an inequality of the weather, it forthwith makes it dry of all moistness of verdure. And there are some, who after bad courses long to follow ways of holiness, but before that good desires are confirmed in them, as we have said, some piece of good fortune of the present life comes upon them, which entangles them with outward concerns, and
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whilst it withdraws their mind from the heat of interior love, as it were puts it out by cold, and whatever seemed to be shewing itself of the blossom of virtue in them, it kills. For in earthly courses of action the mind grows very cold, if it be not yet by the interior gifts firmly settled. Whence it follows that higher stations or exterior works, which are intended to be of use to the necessities of man, those persons should take upon them to put them in execution, who have skill to judge of them, and to force them to bow beneath themselves in the power of interior virtue. For when any frail person is drawn away either to the post of government or to execute exterior employments, in proportion as he is as it were carried out of himself, he is rooted up, in that the tree, which does not first send roots deep below, is the sooner laid low by the impulse of the winds, if it lifts itself on high in its top; and is the more speedily brought down to the very lowest, in proportion as it grew higher in the air without roots. But sometimes the vine in flower is dried, not by the cold but by the heat, and when it is touched by excessive heat, its flower being shed, the cluster is made to wither. And it very often happens that they who do not come to good works with a right intention, when they see that they please their fellow-creatures, are the more vehemently inflamed to execute the same good works, anxiously set themselves to do what is calculated to please the eyes of men, and are as it were heated in a holy devotedness. What then but heat in the time of the blossom has come upon these, whom the appetite of human applause has made bare of fruit? Hence it is well added, And like the olive casting his flower. For when the olive is in flower, If it be touched by an immoderate fog, it is bared of the fulness of fruit. And as often as people that are entering on good works, begin to be extolled by, those that behold them, and to take delight in the commendations of themselves, there is caused a mist of the understanding in the thoughts, that they can now no longer discern with what intention they do a thing, and lose the fruit of practice as it were by the fog of applause. Hence it is well said by Solomon, Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vines flower, if the blossoms bear fruit. ‘The vines flower,’ when the minds of the faithful put forth good works; but they do not ‘bear fruit,’ if in what they may have purposed, they are disabled, from being overcome by certain erring practices.
61. We have not then to look whether the vines flourish, but if the blossoms are strong for the bearing of fruit, in that it is not any thing to admire if a man begins good works, but it is much to be admired, if with a right intention he holds on in good works. Whence it very often happens that if in good practice a right intention is not kept, even the very work itself which is supposed good is lost. For we have often seen persons abandon the earthly things which they possessed, and henceforth seek nought transitory, and be mixed up with no jarrings for the sake of this life. When then the believing mind exhibits this in itself, it is as if the olive put forth blossom, but when any of this sort begin to seek the glory of the world which they, had contemned, and to pant with insatiable desire after the earthly things which they appeared to have disdained, to give themselves to brawls, to seek out mischiefs upon their neighbours; then indeed the olive has cast her flower, which she put forth, in that she never brought to perfect works the beginnings of a good purpose. But we are to bear in mind that such things are often happening to those who do not follow God with a pure and single aim. Hence it is rightly added, For the gathering of the hypocrite is barren. For the good things he has begun he would not lose, if he had not been a hypocrite. Now hypocrites gather together good works, but their gathering itself is barren, in that in the things they do they never make it their object to receive fruit in the eternal recompensing. They look fruitful and green to the eyes of their fellow-creatures, but in the sight of the hidden Judge they appear unfruitful and blasted. But oftentimes, being inflamed with the fever of avarice, they display greater works of
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their own before the eyes of men, in proportion as they desire to have larger rewards offered them by their fellow-creatures. Hence it is yet further added;
And fire shall consume the tabernacles of those who are ready to take rewards.
[liv]
62. For as the body dwells in a tabernacle, so the mind dwells in thought. But the ‘fire consumes the tabernacles,’ when the heat of avarice wastes the thoughts. And it very commonly happens that the hypocrite scorns to receive gold, or the several good things of the body, at the hands of his fellow-creatures, but because he does not take these, he aims to win greater commendations from them; and perhaps he does not reckon that he has ‘received a reward,’ because he refuses to take the good things of the body. Hence it is proper to be known that a gift is sometimes proffered by the hand, and sometimes by the mouth. Thus one who presents money, has given a reward with the hand; but he that bestows the word of applause, has put forward a reward from the mouth. Though, then, the hypocrite refuse to take external gifts, which may perhaps answer earthly necessity, yet that is a greater thing which he aims to have paid him in return, when desiring to be extolled beyond his desert, he seeks a reward from the mouth. And because in the mere appetite of praise his heart is kindled with overmuch heat, let it be rightly said, And fire shall consume the tabernacles of those that are ready to take rewards.
63. But if we are to understand by their ‘tabernacles’ the bodies which their souls inhabit, then the fire consumes the ‘tabernacles,’ because those who here are on fire in the soul with the flames of avarice, are there consumed in the flesh too by the fires of hell, and because the mind of the hypocrite is never at rest from the thinking of wickedness, in that whether he goes after the things of earth, or applause, he grudges those things to others, which he pants to have awarded to himself, and strives to make others appear wicked in proportion as he desires to appear more holy to all the world, so that by means of this, that others are rendered contemptible, he may himself at all times appear more worthy of respect. Whence it comes to pass, that as touching his credit with his neighbour, he spreads out the nets of his tongue before the judgments of his fellow-creatures, that he by himself may catch the good opinion of those whom he seeks to please. Whence too it follows;
Ver. 35. They conceive woe, and bring forth iniquity, and their womb prepareth deceit.
[lv]
64. For he conceives ‘woe,’ when he devises wicked things; he ‘brings forth iniquity,’ when he has begun to fulfil what he has devised; by entertaining envy, he ‘conceives woe;’ by uttering slanders, he ‘brings forth iniquity. ’ For it is grievous wickedness when he who is wicked strives to make others appear wicked, that he may himself thereby appear as holy, because he has shewn that others are not holy. But we ought to bear in mind, that in Holy Writ by the title of the ‘belly’ or the ‘womb’ the mind is used to be understood. Hence it is that it is said by Solomon, For the candle of the Lord is the breathway of man, searching all the inward parts of the belly. [Prov. 20, 27] For the light of grace, which comes from above, affords a ‘breathway’ to man unto life, which same light is said to ‘search all the inward parts of the belly,’ in that it penetrates all the secrets of the heart, that the things which were hidden from the soul touching itself it may bring back before the eyes
thereof with weeping. Hence Jeremiah saith, My bowels! my bowels! I am pained. [Jer. 4, 19]
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Who, that he might shew what he had called his belly, added, the senses of my heart are troubled. So by the title of the womb the mind is rightly understood, in that like as the offspring is conceived in the womb, so is thought engendered in the mind. And as meats are contained in the belly, so are thoughts in the mind; and so the ‘womb’ of the hypocrite ‘prepares deceits,’ in that he is ever conceiving in his mind the greater wickedness against his neighbours, in proportion as he aims to appear by himself above all men innocent. Eliphaz therefore put forward these things, in that he looked upon blessed Job as stricken with that great scourge on account of his hypocrisy. But his words, though they apply to many, are at odds with him alone, for whom alone they were said, in that the holy man had nought of double-dealing in his conduct, whom Truth being witness to him praised for the singleness of his heart.
BOOK XIII.
Wherein is contained a short exposition, moral and typical, of the sixteenth and seventeenth chapters of the book of Job.
[i] [HISTORICAL AND ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
1. This is found to be a peculiar way with the wicked, viz. to urge their own bad points slanderously against the good, before they are themselves truly accused of them; and while they dread to be reproached for the things which they do, they testify that the righteous who withstand their wickednesses commit the same. Now holy men hear with forbearance, even what they never remember to have done, although those wrong things which they see to be urged against themselves, they know to be committed by their very accusers; and when they cannot correct them by preaching, they suffer them by submitting to the evil, that if they cannot attain the fruit of their conversion, they may at least-win by those very persons the reward of long endurance. Hence Holy Church says in the words of the Prophet David, sinners have plowed upon my back, in that whilst she puts up with heretics, or lost persons of any kind, whom she is not able to correct, she bears upon her back the deeds of those that commit iniquity. Thus blessed Job, seeing Eliphaz his friend making much complaint against him out of hypocrisy, in that from words of comfort he had broken out into bitterness of upbraiding, and shewed himself a feigned comforter, does by his own patience maintain a type of the Church, which is wont to endure such things in hearing them, and when her discourse is received, by reasoning to bring them to nought; and he says,
Ver. 2. I have heard many such things.
[ii]
2. For the Elect often hear the wrong things of others, as if they belonged to themselves, and guilt is charged upon them by those, by whom the charges so fastened on them are done. Now by this reply, blessed Job denotes that season of the Church, when, under oppression from her adversaries, she is looked upon as cast to the ground by their temporal power. Whence it follows; burthensome comforters are ye all. Whether they be heretics, or whether any of the wicked, when they see the good travailing in adversity, herein that they aim to console them, they endeavour to prompt wrong things to their minds. Whence not without reason their consoling is rendered burthensome to the mind of good men, in that amongst words of sweetness, they are bent to proffer the poison of error,
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and whilst in seeming they lighten their griefs by soothing words, they are in haste to put upon them a load of sin. But Elect persons, even when they are bereft of temporal glory, do not lose the forcibleness of interior judgment. For they are taught both to endure crosses without, and yet unimpaired within to uphold what is right without being daunted. Whence it is added,
Ver. 3. Shall windy words have an end?
[iii]
3. For those are ‘windy words,’ which serve the end of temporal inflating, rather than the end of righteousness. Now oftentimes the wicked speak even good things, but because they do not say them well, they are putting forth ‘windy words:’ for their words, even if they be at any time sound in the sentence, are yet blown out in self-elation. But in this that is said, viz. burthensome comforters are ye all; what else are we taught by the tutorage of blessed Job, but that everyone should learn to look to it heedfully, that in the season of sorrow he never urge words of upbraiding? For if there be some points which might be justly found fault with in time of distress, they ought to be put aside, lest the comforter by rebuking heighten the sorrow, which he had it in view to alleviate. It goes on;
Or is there any thing troublesome to thee, if Thou speakest?
[iv]
4. When bad men utter abusive words to those that are like to themselves, they are the more quickly silenced, in proportion as they in a moment hear concerning themselves the like to what they say to their hearers. But when they assail good men by words of contumely, nought of annoyance is occasioned them by their abuse, in, that they speak against those that hold their peace, nor are made to hear what they are, seeing that the righteous never return abuse, even when they are made to bear what they are not. And so it is well said, Or is there any thing troublesome to thee if thou speakest? As if it were said in plain words to him; ‘Thou speakest the more, that thou hearest not from me any thing unpleasant concerning the conduct. ’ Hence it is added, I also could speak as ye do. The just man tells what he had the power to do, but lest he should depart from
righteousness, he forbears what he might have done. It goes on;
Ver. 4-6. And O that your soul were for my soul! I too would comfort you with speeches, and move my head over you: I would strengthen you with my mouth, and move my lips as if sparing you.
[v]
5. It is sometimes necessary that wicked minds, which are incapable of being corrected by man’s preaching, should have the strokes of God wished for them, in a spirit of kindness; and while this is done with great earnestness of love, then plainly not the punishment but the correction of the guilty person is the thing aimed at, and it is shewn to be a prayer rather than a curse. And in these words blessed Job is shewn to aim at this, that the friends, who knew not how to sympathize in his grief through charity, might learn by experience how they ought to have pitied the affliction of another, and, being subdued by griefs might draw from their own suffering, how to minister consolation to others, and then live the more healthfully within, when they are made sensible of something of frailty without. Observe that he does not say, O that my soul were for your soul; but, O that your soul were for my soul; in that he would have been cursing himself, if he had wished himself to be
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made like to them; but it was for them he wished better things in that he sought they should be made like to himself. Now we ‘comfort’ bad men, placed under the rod, when we point out that by the exterior infliction the interior health is established within them. Moreover, we ‘move our head,’ when the mind, which is our leading part, we bend to sympathy; and we ‘strengthen’ these in the midst of strokes of affliction, when we soothe the force of their grief with gentle words; for there are some persons, who, forasmuch as they know nothing of the things of the interior, are overwhelmed with despair by external afflictions; of whom it is said, by the Psalmist, They shall not hold up in afflictions; [Ps. 140, 10] for he is well instructed to holdup in outward afflictions, who knows how to exult always in the hope that belongs to the interior.
6. But whereas he says, not, ‘sparing,’ but, as if sparing you; I think that this point ought not to be passed by carelessly, in that Holy Church, while keeping vigorousness of discipline together with an union of gentleness, sometimes even while ‘as if sparing,’ is far from sparing the wicked, but sometimes, when ‘as if not sparing’ does spare them; which we shall exhibit the more effectually, if we bring forward the very things themselves which are not unfrequently happening. So then let us place before the eyes of the imagination, two bad men set within the pale of Holy Church, of whom let the one be powerful and insolent, and the other mild and under government. If a fault has stolen upon the one that is gentle and under government, the preacher directly, by rebuking the thing follows hard upon him, and corrects him; and by correcting frees him from guilt, and resets him again in the way of righteousness. What did he then to this man, but spare in sparing not? in that, forasmuch as he did not hold back the word of correction, he the more speedily set him free from sin. For in freely charging him home, he did not spare him; but in this respect, that he rebuked him, he did spare him. But on the other hand, the powerful and insolent man, when he is discovered to have been guilty of any thing, there is an opportunity sought, in order that he may be rebuked for the evil he has committed. For except the preacher wait till such time as he may be able to bear correction in a proper way, he increases in him the evil that he is prosecuting. For it is very often the case that he is of such a character as to receive no words of rebuke. What then is the preacher to do in the case of the sin of this person, but that in the charge of admonition, which he makes for the general wellbeing of all his hearers, he should bring forward such fault, as he sees that he has been guilty of, who is by, and cannot as yet be charged on his own account individually, lest he be rendered worse? and while invective in general is aimed against the fault, the word of rebuke is readily brought home to the mind, in that the powerful bad man does not know that it is delivered against himself in particular. What then did his preacher to this person, but in sparing not spare? against whom he at once brought not words of rebuke with any special reference, and yet hit his wound under a general admonition; and hence it is very often brought to pass that he bewails the sin committed so much the more bitterly, in proportion as even when he feels himself struck, he supposes his guilt not to be known.
7. Therefore it must be managed with wonderful art in preaching that those who are made worse by open rebuke, may by a certain abatement of rebuke be brought to a state of saving health. Whence too Paul saith, And those members of the body which we think to be less honourable, upon those we bestow more abundant honour, and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness; for our comely parts have no need. [1 Cor. 12, 23. 24. ] For as there are uncomely members in the body, so there are persons within the bosom of Holy Church, powerful and insolent, who, whereas they do not admit of being stricken with open upbraiding, are as it were cloked with the respectfulness of a covering. But this we speak of the secret transgressions of the powerful; for
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when they sin and others know of it, they are also to be rebuked, and others should know of it; lest, if the preacher hold his peace, he seem to have sanctioned the sin, and this which the tongue of the pastor does not cut off, going on increasing, should come to be an example. Thus while Holy Church by her preachers rebukes particular deeds of wicked men under the covert conveyance of a general reproof, she ‘moves her lips, as if sparing;’ but yet while sparing spareth not, in that she does not in general hold her peace to the reproving of a fault, which in the special case she does. It goes on;
Ver. 7. But what am I to do? Though I speak, my grief is not assuaged; and though I forbear, it will not depart from me.
[vi] [ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
8. How this accords with the person of blessed Job, there is no one that is ignorant; but if it be drawn into a type of Holy Church, she both when she speaks ‘has not her grief assuaged,’ since she does not see the wicked amended by her speaking; and ‘when she holds her peace, her grief does not depart from her;’ in that though she turns away and holds her peace, this very circumstance of her being silent she laments the more, in that while she is silent, she sees the sin of the wicked grow to a height: It proceeds;
Ver. 8. But now my grief has oppressed me, and my limbs are brought to nought.
[vii]
9. Holy Church is oppressed by her grief, when she beholds the wicked grow to a height in their wickedness; and whereas while the wicked increase, the weak too that are in her are set on to follow the bents of wickedness, it is rightly added, And all my limbs are brought to nought. For as the strong by ‘bones,’ so by ‘limbs’ the weak sort are wont to be denoted, and so ‘the members of the Church are brought to nought,’ when by the imitating of the wicked that are increased in this world, all the weak are worse weakened. For on seeing the prosperity of the wicked, they often slide away from their very stand in faith itself, they seek after temporal good things, and are in a manner ‘brought to nought;’ in that while they abandon the Being of God that is lasting, loving things that are transitory, they are, as it were, on their way to be not. And it is well said, But now my grief has oppressed me; in that the season of the grief of the Church is now, and the time of her joy shall follow hereafter. Now it often happens that Holy Church not only meets with unbelievers and those without her borders as her adversaries, but with difficulty bears with the plots and opposition of those too, whom she has within her. Whence it is fitly said directly by the voice of the blessed man;
Ver. 10. My wrinkles speak a testimony against me. [viii]
10. What is denoted by ‘wrinkles,’ but doubledealing? and so all they are wrinkles of Holy Church, who therein live in doubledealing, who avouch the faith with their voices, disown it by their works. These persons doubtless in time of peace, because they see that with the powers of this world that faith is an honour, falsely feign themselves of the number of believers; but when a sudden storm of adversity disquiets Holy Church, they thereupon shew what they are going after in their heart of unbelief. Now these ‘wrinkles’ Holy Church has not in her Elect, in that they have
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not the art to shew one thing in themselves on the outside, and to hold another withinside. Whence the great Preacher says truly, That He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle. [Eph. 5, 27] For she ‘has not spot or wrinkle,’ in that she is without both foulness of practice, and doubleness of tongue; but because now she holds within the bosom of the faith numbers even of the children of perdition, when the time of persecution blazes out, she bears those very persons for her enemies, whom she seemed before to be nourishing with words of preaching. Therefore let her say, My wrinkles speak a testimony against me; i. e. those very persons, while they persecute, inveigh against me, who now, being fixed in my body, do not mind in themselves the wickedness of their doubledealing. Whence it is rightly added yet further;
And the liar is lifted up against my face, gainsaying me.
[ix]
11. Even in her time of peace Holy Church is subject to the ‘liar,’ in that there are numbers in her, who disbelieve in the promise of eternal life, and yet falsely feign themselves to be of the faithful. And as they do not dare openly to gainsay her preaching, she is exposed to the liar, not, as it were, ‘before her face,’ but behind her back; but when the time of wickedness breaks out, he who now disparages being full of apprehension, comes ‘before the face to gainsay,’ in that he withstands by open sentences of the voice the words of true faith. But it is to be known that when we meet with such things at the hands of carnal men, it is not so much they individually that rage cruelly in our death, as the evil spirit who rules their minds, as it is said by Paul, For we wrestle not against flesh and blood; but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world. [Eph. 6, 12] Whence, whereas here also he is speaking of lying [A. B. D. ‘the liar’], with propriety he turns his words directly to tell of the prince of that lying, and says;
Ver. 9. He gathered his fury against me; and threatening me he gnashed against me with his teeth; mine enemy looked on me with terrible eyes.
[x]
12. What else are all wicked men but members of the devil? Therefore he himself does by them, whatever he puts it into their hearts that they ought to do. For the devil even now entertains fury against Holy Church, but his fury is scattered, in that he sets afoot his secret temptations through the agency of individuals; but when he bursts out against her in open persecution, ‘he gathers his fury against her,’ in that in the afflicting of her he knits up himself with the entire bent of his efforts. But his members in this time of peace have not ‘fury gathered’ against the Elect in this way, because they feel that they have less power to fulfil their wickedness than they have will; but when they see full range of wickedness at their command, they smite at her the more boldly, in proportion as they are drawn to a head against her in unanimity. And so it is rightly said now; He gathered up his fury against me. And that his fury might be still more fully set forth, it is said, And threatening me, he gnashed upon me with his teeth. Of whom too it is added, mine enemy looked on me with terrible eyes. For that ancient enemy of the Church ‘gnashes against her with the teeth,’ and ‘looks on her with terrible eyes,’ in that he executes cruelties by one set, and by another provides cruelties to execute.
13. For ‘the teeth’ of this enemy are the persecutors and executioners of the good who mangle her members, while they distress her elect ones by their persecutions. But the ‘eyes’ of this enemy are
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those, that provide measures to her hurt, which they may put in practice, and by their counsels light up the cruelties of her persecutors. Thus her old enemy ‘gnashes upon her with his teeth,’ so long as by the cruel children of perdition in her he hunts down the life of good men within her. He ‘looks on her with terrible eyes;’ in that, by the counsels of bad men, he never ceases to make out schemes of mischief, by which he may torment her even worse and worse; for as Incarnate ‘Truth’ in His preaching chose poor common persons and simple men, so on the other hand that accursed man, whom the Apostate Angel will take on him at the end of the world, shall choose for the preaching of his falsity, the cunning and doubleminded, and such as have this world’s knowledge. Hence it is said by Isaiah, Woe to the land, the cymbal of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.
Which sendeth ambassadors by the sea even in vessels of papyrus upon the waters. For the land, that has woe pronounced against it, is principally that accursed man, who is called a ‘cymbal of wings,’ in that they who in pride soar up into the height of imagination, by preaching sound forth that man of iniquity. Which same land is rightly described as being ‘beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,’ for Ethiopia sends forth a black people, and whereas this world brings forth every man a sinner, Ethiopia as it were bears a black people. And the land that has woe pronounced against it, is described as being ‘beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,’ in that that accursed man is so exceedingly and beyond all measure bad, that he goes beyond the sins of all that commit iniquity; and he ‘sends ambassadors by the sea,’ in that he spreads his preachers over the world; and it is rightly told of them how they are sent, when it said, in vessels of papyrus upon the waters, for from the ‘papyrus’ paper is made. What then is denoted by the ‘papyrus’ but secular knowledge? and so the vessels of papyrus are the hearts of the learned of the world. Therefore ‘to send ambassadors upon the waters in vessels of papyrus,’ is to put the preaching of him in the brains of the carnally wise, and to call the people running out into sin. Those very persons then who are there denoted by ‘vessels of papyrus,’ here, in that they see with a carnal sight, are denoted by ‘eyes. ’ Of whom it is yet further added;
Ver. 10. They have gaped upon me with their mouth, reproaching me. [xi]
14. Lost sinners open their mouths ‘in reproaching,’ when they at once do not fear to proclaim the mischiefs of their errors, and laugh to scorn the announcements of the right faith: with regard to whom be it known that they chiefly prosecute those in Holy Church, whom they see likely to be of service to many, who bruise the life of the carnal by the word of correction, and change them spiritually into the body of the Church. Hence it is added;
They have smitten me upon the cheek; they have taken their fill of my punishments.
[xii]
15. For ‘the cheek’ of the Church, are the holy preachers, as where it is said under the figure of Judaea, by Jeremiah, She weepeth sore in the night, and the tears are on her cheeks. [Lam. 1, 2] For in the adversities of the Church those mourn the most, who are used to crush the life of the carnal by preaching; for by these very persons Holy Church breaks and bruises the wicked to bad habits, and as it were swallowing them converts them into members of herself. Hence it is said to the first preacher himself too, as to a ‘cheek’ of the Church, Kill and eat [Acts 10, 13]. It is hence too that Samson laid hold of the jawbone of an ass, and destroyed his enemies [Judges 15, 16]; in that our Redeemer, with the Hand of His power laying hold of the simplicity and submissiveness of
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these that preach, killed the carnal to their bad habits. And the jawbone thrown down upon the earth, afterwards poured out water, in that the bodies of the preachers given over to death, shewed great miracles to the people. So the wicked ‘smite the cheek’ of Holy Church, when they persecute good preachers; and whereas lost sinners thus reckon themselves to have done something great, when they do put an end to the life of the preachers; after the striking of ‘the cheek,’ it is properly added, They have taken their fill of my punishments, for that punishment does fill them to satisfaction, which chastises the mind of the Church in an especial manner. It goes on;
Ver. 12. God hath shut me up with the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked.
[xiii]
16. The people of the Elect is ‘shut up with the ungodly man,’ when its flesh is given up in this present time to the persecutions of our old adversary; and it is ‘turned over,’ not to the spirit, but ‘the hands of the wicked;’ in that in proportion as they cannot take it captive in mind, they are the more pitilessly inflamed against the flesh thereof. But the People of Holy Church, when it begins to suffer adversities to an extreme degree, and sees the weak ones in her going off to worse and worse, recalls to mind the times of her peace, when she fed her faithful children with the richness of her preaching. Hence it is fitly added;
Ver. 13. I, the same that was once rich, am crushed on a sudden.
[xiv]
17. Herein, viz. that he declared himself to be ‘crushed on a sudden,’ he denoted the unguarded mind of weak persons: who, whilst they are not skilled to foresee the evils which are destined to come, find them more severe in proportion as they also undergo them contrary to expectation. But to stedfast minds adversities do not come on a sudden, in that they are foreseen before they come. And this Holy Church too does now undergo in certain backsliding people, who, after the richness of instruction, are sometimes so crushed by sudden assaults of evil, that they fall as deeply in certain wicked practices, as if they had never been vouchsafed the food of the word. It proceeds; He hath held my neck, and broken me in two, and set me up for His mark.
[xv]
18. As in evil the ‘neck’ denotes pride, so in good it denotes the lifting up in freedom; whence it is sometimes the case that ‘pride’ itself is also put for the authority belonging to that lifting up; as when the Lord says by way of promise to Holy Church by the Prophet, I will set thee for the pride of ages. [Is. 60, 15] And because in time of persecution some that are weak do not dare to preach with freedom the truths they have a sense of, it is rightly said of this enemy, He hath held my neck, and broken me in two. But perchance those are denoted by the appellation of ‘neck,’ who, in the season of her peace, are lifted up more than befits, and by occasion of defending the cause of right minister to the evil of self-exalting; which same in time of persecution feel adversity the more sensibly on this account, that they are elevated by prosperity. Concerning whom it is rightly said, He hath held my neck, and broken me in two; i. e. the pride which she had in her weak members, He bowed down by the severity of His smiting. And set me up for His mark. It is known that ‘a mark’ is for this reason ‘set up,’ that it may be hit by the sending of the arrow. And so the faithful people is ‘set as a mark’ to its enemy, in that he is ever assaulting it with his blows and afflicting it with
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his persecutions: for he that undergoes perpetual ills in this life, as if set for a mark, receives blows from one striking him; and hence the great Preacher, when he was suffering the ills of persecution, and groaning beneath the persecuting efforts of his enemies, to comfort the tender soul of the disciples touching his troubles, says, For yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. [1 Thess. 3, 3] As if be said to them in plain words; ‘Wherefore at this season do ye wonder at my wounds, when, if we seek the joys of the eternal world, we have come hither for this, even to be stricken? ’ It proceeds;
Ver. 13. He hath compassed me about with His lances, He hath wounded my loins together, He hath not spared, and He hath poured out my bowels upon the ground.
[xvi] [MORAL INTERPRETATION]
19. These particulars would seem to accord with blessed Job after the letter, in that it is said, He hath compassed me with His lances, He hath wounded my loins together, He hath not spared; if that were not added, which is not read as written about him, he hath poured out my bowels upon the ground. From which circumstance it follows, that whereas we cannot find this after the letter, we should investigate after the spirit those points, which in his words sound as of the fact of history. Holy Church is ‘beset with lances’ by her enemy, whensoever she is in her members assaulted by the cunning assailant with the darts of temptation; and it is well said that we are ‘encompassed with lances,’ in that our old enemy assails us on every side with the wounding of temptation. Thus oftentimes whilst the appetite is restrained, that lust may be brought under, the dart of vainglory strikes the mind; but if the body is not worn down by the infliction of abstinence, the flame of lust kindles itself against the soul: often whilst we strive to observe economy, we fall into stinginess; and often whilst we give profusely the things we possess, we are led into avarice, in that we seek to make up again what we may have to give. Whereas then the darts of the old enemy assail us in every direction, it is rightly said now, he hath compassed me about with his lances. And because, in the case of every sin, the crafty enemy indeed recommends it, but we by consenting to his recommendations execute it, it is fitly subjoined, he hath wounded my loins together, for in the loins lust is seated. Hence he who desired to eradicate the delight of lust from the heart, preached the words, Gird up the loins of your mind. [1 Pet. 1, 13] And so when our old enemy draws the faithful people into lust, surely he smites that people ‘in the loins;’ in which place it is deserving of observation, that he does not say ‘he has wounded [‘vulneravit’ ‘convulneravit’],’ but, he hath wounded my loins together. For as to talk is sometimes an act of one person, but to ‘talk together’ of two or perhaps of many, so our old enemy, in that he does not hurry us into sin without our own will, is never said ‘to wound our loins,’ but, ‘to wound our loins together:’ in that what he prompts us amiss we fulfil by following of our own will; and, as it were, ‘wound ourselves together’ in unity with him, because we are at the same time led to commit the evil deed of free will. It goes on; he hath not spared; as if he said, ‘he hath not ceased;’ and he hath poured out my bowels upon the ground. What else are we to understand by ‘the bowels’ of Holy Church, save the minds of those who contain in themselves certain of her mysteries, who are devoted to the interior Sacraments? But our old adversary, when he draws over to secular concerns any of the faithful, who appeared to be devoted to the interior sacraments, does, surely, ‘pour out her bowels upon the ground;’ in that he treads those down in things below, who were before buried from sight in secret and spiritual practices. It goes on;
Ver. 14. He hath broken me with breach upon breach.
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[xvii] [ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
20. In her weak members Holy Church is ‘broken with breach upon breach,’ when sin is added to sin, that transgression should be brought to a more dreadful pitch. Thus for him, whom avarice forces to robbery and robbery leads into deceit, so that the sin committed is further defended by falsehood, how else is it with this man, but that he is broken with breach upon breach? When too it is well said by the Prophet; Cursing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, adultery, have overflowed, and blood toucheth blood. [Hos. 4, 2] For by the title of ‘blood’ sin is used to be denoted; whence one who longs to be set free from sin exclaims in penitence, Deliver me from blood [sanguinibus]. [Ps. 51, 14] So ‘blood toucheth blood,’ when sin has heaped on sin; and whereas when breach is added to breach, the powers of our old enemy are the more terribly increased against us, it is rightly added;
He runneth upon me like a giant.
[xviii]
21. The enemy is easy to be resisted, if he is not consented to, whether in many backslidings, or in one for a continuance. But if the soul has been accustomed to submit to his persuasions, the oftener it subjects itself to him, it makes him the harder to itself to bear, so that it has not the power to struggle against him; in that our wicked adversary, ‘like a giant,’ fights against it, when it is vanquished by bad habit: yet very often Holy Church, even after sins have been committed, brings back the minds of the faithful to penitence, and cleanses away the sins of practice by the efficacy of a voluntary self-chastening. Whence it is well added;
Ver. 15. I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and covered my flesh with ashes.
[xix]
22. What ought to be understood by ‘sackcloth and ashes,’ but penance; what by ‘the skin’ and ‘the flesh,’ but sin of the flesh? And so whereas there are persons who after the backsliding of the flesh are brought back to penance, it is as if ‘sackcloth were sewn upon the skin,’ and ‘the flesh covered with ashes;’ because the guilt of the flesh is ‘covered with ashes’ by penance, that it should not be seen for its avenging in the inquest of the strict Judge. But Holy Church, when she withdraws her weak members from sins, and conducts them to the remedy of penance, these she surely aids with her tears, that they may recover strength to receive the grace of their Maker, and in the strong she bewails what she has not done, which yet in her weak members she has as it were done herself. Hence it is well added yet further;
Ver. 16. My face is swelled with weeping. [xx]
23. For ‘the face’ of Holy Church are those, who being set in posts or governorships appear the foremost, that in their goodly appearance should be the honour of the faithful people, even if there were aught deformed in the body hidden from sight. Which same persons that are set over the people bewail the sins of those that go weakly, and so chasten themselves for the downfall of others as if for their own. And often when they see some returning to pardon after sin, and others
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persisting in wickedness, they marvel at the secret counsels of Almighty God, but cannot fathom them. For they are dumb at the things which they do not understand. And hence it is fitly added; And mine eyelids have become darkened.
[xxi]
24. For they are rightly entitled ‘eyelids,’ who are on their watch for the fore-ensuring the paths of the feet; but when not even the rulers on the watch can understand the secret judgments of God, ‘the eyelids’ of Holy Church are ‘darkened;’ but, as I remember that I have already often said, blessed Job, while bearing a type of Holy Church, uses at one time the voice of the body, and at another time the voice of the Head; and while he is speaking of her members, he is raised on a sudden to speak the words of her Head. Whence here too it is added;
Ver. 17. I have suffered this without the wickedness of mine hand, whilst I made pure prayers to God.
[xxii]
25. He suffered without the wickedness of His hand; Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth, [1 Pet. 2, 22] and yet endured the pain of the Cross for our redemption. Who only above all others ‘made pure prayers to God,’ in that even in the very anguish of His Passion He prayed in behalf of His persecutors, saying, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. [Luke 23, 24] For what can be described, what can be conceived more pure in prayer, than when the mercifulness of intercession is vouchsafed even those, from whose hands pain is undergone? Whence it was brought to pass, that that Blood of our Redeemer, which His persecutors in raging had spilt, afterwards in believing they drank, and proclaimed Him to be the Son of God. Concerning which same Blood it is fitly subjoined;
Ver. 18. O earth, cover thou not my blood; and let my cry find no place to lie hid in thee. [xxiii]
26. It was said to man on his committing sin, Earth thou art, and unto earth shalt thou return; [Gen. 3, 19] and this ‘earth’ does not ‘cover the blood’ of our Redeemer: in that each several sinner taking to himself the price of his redemption makes confession and sings praise, and publishes it to all of his neighbours that he is able. Moreover, ‘earth did not cover His blood,’ in that Holy Church has now preached the mystery of His redemption in all parts of the world. And observe what is added: And let my cry find no place to lie hid in thee. For the very blood of redemption that is taken is itself ‘the cry’ of our Redeemer. Hence Paul too says, And to the Blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better than that of Abel. [Heb. 12, 24] It had been said of the blood of Abel; The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto Me from the ground. [Gen. 4, 10] But ‘the Blood of Jesus speaketh better things than the blood of Abel,’ because the blood of Abel brought the death of his fratricidal brother, but the blood of the Lord won life for His persecutors. So then that the Sacraments of our Lord’s Passion may not be ineffectual in us, we are bound to imitate that which we take, and to preach to others what we adore. For ‘His cry does find a place to lie hid in us,’ if what the mind
has been brought to believe the tongue is silent about. But that His cry may not lie hid in us, it remains that each one of us according to his small measure should make known to his neighbours the mystery of his own quickening. It is good to recall the eyes of the interior to the hour of the
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Lord’s Passion, when the Jews raged against Him in persecution, and the Disciples fled from Him in alarm. For He that appeared to die in the flesh was not in any wise believed to be God. Hence it is properly added in this place,
Ver. 19. Also, now, behold my witness is in heaven, and my heart’s associate [‘conscius meus’ lit. ‘my accomplice,’ ‘he who knows my mind’] is on high.
[xxiv]
27. For when the Son was brought to His downfall on earth, there was a witness to Him in heaven. Since the Father is the witness of the Son; concerning Whom He Himself saith in the Gospel, And the Father Himself, Which hath sent Me, hath borne witness of Me. [John 5, 37] Who is also rightly called ‘mine heart’s associate,’ in that with one will, and with one counsel, the Father acts always in union with the Son. Whose witness too He is, in that no man knoweth the Son but the Father. [Matt. 11, 27] Thus He had then ‘a witness in heaven,’ and His ‘heart’s associate’ on high, when they, who saw Him dying in the flesh, had their eyes closed to see the power of His Divine nature; and whereas men did not know, yet in the hour of death the Mediator between God and man did know, that the Father was working together with Himself. Which perhaps may be likewise applied to the voice of His Body. For Holy Church for this reason undergoes the miseries of this life, that the grace above may lead her on her way to the rewards of eternity. She slights the death of her flesh, because she is intent on the glory of the resurrection; and what she suffers is transitory, what she expects everlasting, concerning which same everlasting blessings she has no misgiving, in that she has already a faithful testimony in the glory of her Redeemer. For she sees with the mind the resurrection of His flesh, and is strongly fortified to have hope, in that what she sees already brought to pass in her Head, she hopes without doubting will also follow in His Body, which is herself. Which same Church the Psalmist seeing destined to continue in everlasting perfection, describes her under the title of the moon. A perfect moon for everlasting. [Ps. 89, 37] And whereas the Resurrection of the Lord heartens her to entertain the hope of a Resurrection, he properly added, And a faithful witness in heaven. Forasmuch as that she may not tremble for her own resurrection, she has Him in heaven for a witness, Who rose again from the dead; and so let the faithful People when it suffers adversity, when it is harassed with sore tribulations, lift up the mind to the hope of the glory to follow, and trusting in the resurrection of the Redeemer, let it say, Also now behold my witness is in heaven, and mine associate on high. Who is also rightly called ‘an associate,’ in that He was acquainted with our nature, not only by creating, but by taking it upon Himself. For His knowing is His having undertaken what belongs to us. Whence too it is said by the Psalmist, For He knoweth our frame. [Ps. 103, 14] For what wonder is it if He is said emphatically ‘to know our frame,’ when it is plain that there is nothing that He does not know? But His ‘knowing our frame,’ is His having taken it upon Himself out of pitifulness.
[MORAL/HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION]
28. Yet this voice may together with blessed Job suitably apply to each one of ourselves as well; for every man who in what he does aims at human praises, seeks a ‘witness’ on earth: but he that is eager to please Almighty God by his deeds, takes thought that he has a ‘witness in heaven. ’ And it often happens that the very good things themselves in us are found fault with by inconsiderate men; but he that ‘has a witness in heaven,’ has no need to fear men’s reproofs. Hence it is yet further added;
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Ver. 20. My friends are full of words; but mine eye poureth out tears unto God. [xxv]
29. For what is denoted by the eye, but the intent of the heart? as it is written, if thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. [Matt. 6, 22] For when any thing is done with a good intention, the enacting of that intention contracts no soil in the sight of God; and so when friends are full of words, i. e. when the very same persons detract that are joined with us in faith, ‘the eye’ must needs ‘pour out tears to God,’ that so the whole bent of our heart may run out in the piercing of interior love, and lift itself up to the things of the interior, the more exactly that being forced back by external reproaches, it is driven to turn back within, lest it should vanish away without. It proceeds;
Ver. 21. Oh! that a man were so judged with God, as a son of man is judged with his fellow! [xxvi]
30. We acknowledge indeed always that we are sinners, yet often, when laid under the rod, we do not know for what sin in particular we are stricken, and we sift ourselves with minute examining, that if we might in any way be able we might trace out the cause of our being struck; and whereas this is for the most part hidden from us, our blindness becomes a load upon us, and we are the more pained at what we are suffering. But anyone that ‘comes to judgment with his neighbour,’ both says what he thinks, and knows what answer is made in return, and strikes a blow where he will, and knows from what quarter he is struck. But he that is smitten with the visitation of God, while he knows indeed that he is beaten, but knows not why he is beaten, as it were himself says what he thinks, but does not know what may be said against him; seeing that he himself indeed groans under the rod, but God does not declare openly for what cause of vengeance He strikes him. Therefore it is said now, Oh! that a man were so judged with God, as a son of man is judged with his neighbour! As if it were expressed in plain words; ‘As in all, that I say, I am heard, so would that I heard all that is said concerning me. ’ Which, nevertheless, can never be brought about in this life, in that there is a great obstruction before the eyes of our heart, against our beholding the subtle nature of God, even our mere frailty by itself; but we shall then see Him with clearness by Whom we are now searchingly beheld, when this frailty laid aside, we attain to the grace of the interior contemplation, of which Paul saith, For then shall I know, as also I am known. [1 Cor. 13, 12] Hence blessed Job, seeing that that knowledge can never be in the fullest way perfected here, groans indeed over the blindness of the present life; yet consoles himself by the shortness thereof, saying,
Ver. 22. When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.
[xxvii]
31. Every thing that passes is short, even though it should seem slow in being finished, but in the way of death we ‘go, and do not return by it,’ not because we are not brought back by rising again to the life of the flesh, but because we do not come again to the labours of this mortal life, or to earn rewards by our labours.
Chap. xvii. Ver. 1. My spirit shall be wasted to thinness.
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[xxviii]
32. ‘My spirit is wasted to thinness,’ by the fear of judgment; in that the minds of the Elect, the more they feel themselves to be approaching the final Judgment, tremble so much the more fearfully in the searching of their own selves; and if they ever find in themselves any carnal thoughts, they consume them by the fervour of their penance; nor do they suffer their thoughts to expand with carnal delight, in that they pass sentence and inflict punishment on themselves more rigorously in proportion as they are awaiting the strict Judge close at hand; whence it comes to pass, that they look upon their departure as always near. For the minds of the lost do many things wickedly on this account, because they suppose themselves living here for long; and so ‘the spirit of the righteous is wasted to thinness,’ but the spirit of the wicked is thickened. For in proportion as they swell out in self-elation, they have not the wearing down of the spirit: but the righteous, whilst they consider the shortness of their life, eschew the sins of pride and impurity. And hence it is added;
My days shall be shortened, and the grave only is left me.
[xxix]
33. For he that bethinks himself what he will be in death, is always rendered fearful in practice, and from the very cause that henceforth he does not as it were live in his own eyes, he does genuinely live in the eyes of his Creator; he goes after nothing of a nature to pass away, he withstands all the desire of the present life, and views himself as almost dead, in that he is not unaware that he is destined to die. For a perfect life is an imitation of death, which while the righteous diligently enact, they escape the snares of sins. Whence it is written, Whatsoever thou takest in hand, remember thy latter end, and thou shalt never do amiss. [Ecclus. 7, 36] And hence blessed Job, because he sees that his ‘days are shortened,’ and reflects that ‘the grave only is left him,’ fitly subjoins,
I have not sinned, and mine eye abideth in bitternesses.
[xxx]
34.
59. For there are some, who after a lost way of life turn back to themselves, and their conscience accusing them, forsake their froward ways, alter their doings, withstand their old wickedness, flee earthly courses, and pursue heavenly aims, but before they be firmly rooted in those holy aims, from deadness of mind they return to the things which they began to pass sentence on, and fall back to the evil habits which they had determined to eschew. For whereas it often happens that for the profit of many, even holy men bow their necks to external actions, and are busied with the governance of a people, the weak seeing this, and, from their former pride still by them, seeking to follow their example, set themselves in outward ways of action; but in proportion as they do not come thereto well imbued with the things of the Spirit, they execute them in a carnal manner. For except the heart be first confirmed in heavenly desires by long application and a continued conversation, when it is poured back again for the executing of things exterior, it is rooted out from all its standing in good practice. Whence too it is rightly said of this wicked man, Before his days are fulfilled, he shall perish. In that even if he begin perchance to do any thing good, before he is strengthened therein by length of time, he falls back to outward things, and wickedly abandons what he appeared to have entered upon rightly. And hence it is fitly added; And his hands shall wither; in that whilst he is prematurely involved in exterior actions, he is dried up of all good practice. Hence it is yet further added aright;
Ver. 33, 34. His cluster shall be spoilt like a vine in the first flower, and like an olive casting its flower. For the congregation of the hypocrite shall be barren.
[liii]
60. It is to be observed that the Divine Word so speaks of this wicked man in general terms, that yet it comes down to his particular wickedness. For he that on saying, His cluster shall be spoilt like a vine in the first flower, and like an olive casting its flower; directly adds, For the congregation of the hypocrite shall be barren, plainly makes it appear that in this wicked man it is against his hypocrisy that he passes sentence of condemnation. Now we have to consider how it is that the hypocrite is ‘spoilt like a vine in the first flower, or like an olive casting its flower. ’ If the vine in flowering be touched by excessive cold in an inequality of the weather, it forthwith makes it dry of all moistness of verdure. And there are some, who after bad courses long to follow ways of holiness, but before that good desires are confirmed in them, as we have said, some piece of good fortune of the present life comes upon them, which entangles them with outward concerns, and
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whilst it withdraws their mind from the heat of interior love, as it were puts it out by cold, and whatever seemed to be shewing itself of the blossom of virtue in them, it kills. For in earthly courses of action the mind grows very cold, if it be not yet by the interior gifts firmly settled. Whence it follows that higher stations or exterior works, which are intended to be of use to the necessities of man, those persons should take upon them to put them in execution, who have skill to judge of them, and to force them to bow beneath themselves in the power of interior virtue. For when any frail person is drawn away either to the post of government or to execute exterior employments, in proportion as he is as it were carried out of himself, he is rooted up, in that the tree, which does not first send roots deep below, is the sooner laid low by the impulse of the winds, if it lifts itself on high in its top; and is the more speedily brought down to the very lowest, in proportion as it grew higher in the air without roots. But sometimes the vine in flower is dried, not by the cold but by the heat, and when it is touched by excessive heat, its flower being shed, the cluster is made to wither. And it very often happens that they who do not come to good works with a right intention, when they see that they please their fellow-creatures, are the more vehemently inflamed to execute the same good works, anxiously set themselves to do what is calculated to please the eyes of men, and are as it were heated in a holy devotedness. What then but heat in the time of the blossom has come upon these, whom the appetite of human applause has made bare of fruit? Hence it is well added, And like the olive casting his flower. For when the olive is in flower, If it be touched by an immoderate fog, it is bared of the fulness of fruit. And as often as people that are entering on good works, begin to be extolled by, those that behold them, and to take delight in the commendations of themselves, there is caused a mist of the understanding in the thoughts, that they can now no longer discern with what intention they do a thing, and lose the fruit of practice as it were by the fog of applause. Hence it is well said by Solomon, Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vines flower, if the blossoms bear fruit. ‘The vines flower,’ when the minds of the faithful put forth good works; but they do not ‘bear fruit,’ if in what they may have purposed, they are disabled, from being overcome by certain erring practices.
61. We have not then to look whether the vines flourish, but if the blossoms are strong for the bearing of fruit, in that it is not any thing to admire if a man begins good works, but it is much to be admired, if with a right intention he holds on in good works. Whence it very often happens that if in good practice a right intention is not kept, even the very work itself which is supposed good is lost. For we have often seen persons abandon the earthly things which they possessed, and henceforth seek nought transitory, and be mixed up with no jarrings for the sake of this life. When then the believing mind exhibits this in itself, it is as if the olive put forth blossom, but when any of this sort begin to seek the glory of the world which they, had contemned, and to pant with insatiable desire after the earthly things which they appeared to have disdained, to give themselves to brawls, to seek out mischiefs upon their neighbours; then indeed the olive has cast her flower, which she put forth, in that she never brought to perfect works the beginnings of a good purpose. But we are to bear in mind that such things are often happening to those who do not follow God with a pure and single aim. Hence it is rightly added, For the gathering of the hypocrite is barren. For the good things he has begun he would not lose, if he had not been a hypocrite. Now hypocrites gather together good works, but their gathering itself is barren, in that in the things they do they never make it their object to receive fruit in the eternal recompensing. They look fruitful and green to the eyes of their fellow-creatures, but in the sight of the hidden Judge they appear unfruitful and blasted. But oftentimes, being inflamed with the fever of avarice, they display greater works of
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their own before the eyes of men, in proportion as they desire to have larger rewards offered them by their fellow-creatures. Hence it is yet further added;
And fire shall consume the tabernacles of those who are ready to take rewards.
[liv]
62. For as the body dwells in a tabernacle, so the mind dwells in thought. But the ‘fire consumes the tabernacles,’ when the heat of avarice wastes the thoughts. And it very commonly happens that the hypocrite scorns to receive gold, or the several good things of the body, at the hands of his fellow-creatures, but because he does not take these, he aims to win greater commendations from them; and perhaps he does not reckon that he has ‘received a reward,’ because he refuses to take the good things of the body. Hence it is proper to be known that a gift is sometimes proffered by the hand, and sometimes by the mouth. Thus one who presents money, has given a reward with the hand; but he that bestows the word of applause, has put forward a reward from the mouth. Though, then, the hypocrite refuse to take external gifts, which may perhaps answer earthly necessity, yet that is a greater thing which he aims to have paid him in return, when desiring to be extolled beyond his desert, he seeks a reward from the mouth. And because in the mere appetite of praise his heart is kindled with overmuch heat, let it be rightly said, And fire shall consume the tabernacles of those that are ready to take rewards.
63. But if we are to understand by their ‘tabernacles’ the bodies which their souls inhabit, then the fire consumes the ‘tabernacles,’ because those who here are on fire in the soul with the flames of avarice, are there consumed in the flesh too by the fires of hell, and because the mind of the hypocrite is never at rest from the thinking of wickedness, in that whether he goes after the things of earth, or applause, he grudges those things to others, which he pants to have awarded to himself, and strives to make others appear wicked in proportion as he desires to appear more holy to all the world, so that by means of this, that others are rendered contemptible, he may himself at all times appear more worthy of respect. Whence it comes to pass, that as touching his credit with his neighbour, he spreads out the nets of his tongue before the judgments of his fellow-creatures, that he by himself may catch the good opinion of those whom he seeks to please. Whence too it follows;
Ver. 35. They conceive woe, and bring forth iniquity, and their womb prepareth deceit.
[lv]
64. For he conceives ‘woe,’ when he devises wicked things; he ‘brings forth iniquity,’ when he has begun to fulfil what he has devised; by entertaining envy, he ‘conceives woe;’ by uttering slanders, he ‘brings forth iniquity. ’ For it is grievous wickedness when he who is wicked strives to make others appear wicked, that he may himself thereby appear as holy, because he has shewn that others are not holy. But we ought to bear in mind, that in Holy Writ by the title of the ‘belly’ or the ‘womb’ the mind is used to be understood. Hence it is that it is said by Solomon, For the candle of the Lord is the breathway of man, searching all the inward parts of the belly. [Prov. 20, 27] For the light of grace, which comes from above, affords a ‘breathway’ to man unto life, which same light is said to ‘search all the inward parts of the belly,’ in that it penetrates all the secrets of the heart, that the things which were hidden from the soul touching itself it may bring back before the eyes
thereof with weeping. Hence Jeremiah saith, My bowels! my bowels! I am pained. [Jer. 4, 19]
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Who, that he might shew what he had called his belly, added, the senses of my heart are troubled. So by the title of the womb the mind is rightly understood, in that like as the offspring is conceived in the womb, so is thought engendered in the mind. And as meats are contained in the belly, so are thoughts in the mind; and so the ‘womb’ of the hypocrite ‘prepares deceits,’ in that he is ever conceiving in his mind the greater wickedness against his neighbours, in proportion as he aims to appear by himself above all men innocent. Eliphaz therefore put forward these things, in that he looked upon blessed Job as stricken with that great scourge on account of his hypocrisy. But his words, though they apply to many, are at odds with him alone, for whom alone they were said, in that the holy man had nought of double-dealing in his conduct, whom Truth being witness to him praised for the singleness of his heart.
BOOK XIII.
Wherein is contained a short exposition, moral and typical, of the sixteenth and seventeenth chapters of the book of Job.
[i] [HISTORICAL AND ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
1. This is found to be a peculiar way with the wicked, viz. to urge their own bad points slanderously against the good, before they are themselves truly accused of them; and while they dread to be reproached for the things which they do, they testify that the righteous who withstand their wickednesses commit the same. Now holy men hear with forbearance, even what they never remember to have done, although those wrong things which they see to be urged against themselves, they know to be committed by their very accusers; and when they cannot correct them by preaching, they suffer them by submitting to the evil, that if they cannot attain the fruit of their conversion, they may at least-win by those very persons the reward of long endurance. Hence Holy Church says in the words of the Prophet David, sinners have plowed upon my back, in that whilst she puts up with heretics, or lost persons of any kind, whom she is not able to correct, she bears upon her back the deeds of those that commit iniquity. Thus blessed Job, seeing Eliphaz his friend making much complaint against him out of hypocrisy, in that from words of comfort he had broken out into bitterness of upbraiding, and shewed himself a feigned comforter, does by his own patience maintain a type of the Church, which is wont to endure such things in hearing them, and when her discourse is received, by reasoning to bring them to nought; and he says,
Ver. 2. I have heard many such things.
[ii]
2. For the Elect often hear the wrong things of others, as if they belonged to themselves, and guilt is charged upon them by those, by whom the charges so fastened on them are done. Now by this reply, blessed Job denotes that season of the Church, when, under oppression from her adversaries, she is looked upon as cast to the ground by their temporal power. Whence it follows; burthensome comforters are ye all. Whether they be heretics, or whether any of the wicked, when they see the good travailing in adversity, herein that they aim to console them, they endeavour to prompt wrong things to their minds. Whence not without reason their consoling is rendered burthensome to the mind of good men, in that amongst words of sweetness, they are bent to proffer the poison of error,
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and whilst in seeming they lighten their griefs by soothing words, they are in haste to put upon them a load of sin. But Elect persons, even when they are bereft of temporal glory, do not lose the forcibleness of interior judgment. For they are taught both to endure crosses without, and yet unimpaired within to uphold what is right without being daunted. Whence it is added,
Ver. 3. Shall windy words have an end?
[iii]
3. For those are ‘windy words,’ which serve the end of temporal inflating, rather than the end of righteousness. Now oftentimes the wicked speak even good things, but because they do not say them well, they are putting forth ‘windy words:’ for their words, even if they be at any time sound in the sentence, are yet blown out in self-elation. But in this that is said, viz. burthensome comforters are ye all; what else are we taught by the tutorage of blessed Job, but that everyone should learn to look to it heedfully, that in the season of sorrow he never urge words of upbraiding? For if there be some points which might be justly found fault with in time of distress, they ought to be put aside, lest the comforter by rebuking heighten the sorrow, which he had it in view to alleviate. It goes on;
Or is there any thing troublesome to thee, if Thou speakest?
[iv]
4. When bad men utter abusive words to those that are like to themselves, they are the more quickly silenced, in proportion as they in a moment hear concerning themselves the like to what they say to their hearers. But when they assail good men by words of contumely, nought of annoyance is occasioned them by their abuse, in, that they speak against those that hold their peace, nor are made to hear what they are, seeing that the righteous never return abuse, even when they are made to bear what they are not. And so it is well said, Or is there any thing troublesome to thee if thou speakest? As if it were said in plain words to him; ‘Thou speakest the more, that thou hearest not from me any thing unpleasant concerning the conduct. ’ Hence it is added, I also could speak as ye do. The just man tells what he had the power to do, but lest he should depart from
righteousness, he forbears what he might have done. It goes on;
Ver. 4-6. And O that your soul were for my soul! I too would comfort you with speeches, and move my head over you: I would strengthen you with my mouth, and move my lips as if sparing you.
[v]
5. It is sometimes necessary that wicked minds, which are incapable of being corrected by man’s preaching, should have the strokes of God wished for them, in a spirit of kindness; and while this is done with great earnestness of love, then plainly not the punishment but the correction of the guilty person is the thing aimed at, and it is shewn to be a prayer rather than a curse. And in these words blessed Job is shewn to aim at this, that the friends, who knew not how to sympathize in his grief through charity, might learn by experience how they ought to have pitied the affliction of another, and, being subdued by griefs might draw from their own suffering, how to minister consolation to others, and then live the more healthfully within, when they are made sensible of something of frailty without. Observe that he does not say, O that my soul were for your soul; but, O that your soul were for my soul; in that he would have been cursing himself, if he had wished himself to be
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made like to them; but it was for them he wished better things in that he sought they should be made like to himself. Now we ‘comfort’ bad men, placed under the rod, when we point out that by the exterior infliction the interior health is established within them. Moreover, we ‘move our head,’ when the mind, which is our leading part, we bend to sympathy; and we ‘strengthen’ these in the midst of strokes of affliction, when we soothe the force of their grief with gentle words; for there are some persons, who, forasmuch as they know nothing of the things of the interior, are overwhelmed with despair by external afflictions; of whom it is said, by the Psalmist, They shall not hold up in afflictions; [Ps. 140, 10] for he is well instructed to holdup in outward afflictions, who knows how to exult always in the hope that belongs to the interior.
6. But whereas he says, not, ‘sparing,’ but, as if sparing you; I think that this point ought not to be passed by carelessly, in that Holy Church, while keeping vigorousness of discipline together with an union of gentleness, sometimes even while ‘as if sparing,’ is far from sparing the wicked, but sometimes, when ‘as if not sparing’ does spare them; which we shall exhibit the more effectually, if we bring forward the very things themselves which are not unfrequently happening. So then let us place before the eyes of the imagination, two bad men set within the pale of Holy Church, of whom let the one be powerful and insolent, and the other mild and under government. If a fault has stolen upon the one that is gentle and under government, the preacher directly, by rebuking the thing follows hard upon him, and corrects him; and by correcting frees him from guilt, and resets him again in the way of righteousness. What did he then to this man, but spare in sparing not? in that, forasmuch as he did not hold back the word of correction, he the more speedily set him free from sin. For in freely charging him home, he did not spare him; but in this respect, that he rebuked him, he did spare him. But on the other hand, the powerful and insolent man, when he is discovered to have been guilty of any thing, there is an opportunity sought, in order that he may be rebuked for the evil he has committed. For except the preacher wait till such time as he may be able to bear correction in a proper way, he increases in him the evil that he is prosecuting. For it is very often the case that he is of such a character as to receive no words of rebuke. What then is the preacher to do in the case of the sin of this person, but that in the charge of admonition, which he makes for the general wellbeing of all his hearers, he should bring forward such fault, as he sees that he has been guilty of, who is by, and cannot as yet be charged on his own account individually, lest he be rendered worse? and while invective in general is aimed against the fault, the word of rebuke is readily brought home to the mind, in that the powerful bad man does not know that it is delivered against himself in particular. What then did his preacher to this person, but in sparing not spare? against whom he at once brought not words of rebuke with any special reference, and yet hit his wound under a general admonition; and hence it is very often brought to pass that he bewails the sin committed so much the more bitterly, in proportion as even when he feels himself struck, he supposes his guilt not to be known.
7. Therefore it must be managed with wonderful art in preaching that those who are made worse by open rebuke, may by a certain abatement of rebuke be brought to a state of saving health. Whence too Paul saith, And those members of the body which we think to be less honourable, upon those we bestow more abundant honour, and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness; for our comely parts have no need. [1 Cor. 12, 23. 24. ] For as there are uncomely members in the body, so there are persons within the bosom of Holy Church, powerful and insolent, who, whereas they do not admit of being stricken with open upbraiding, are as it were cloked with the respectfulness of a covering. But this we speak of the secret transgressions of the powerful; for
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when they sin and others know of it, they are also to be rebuked, and others should know of it; lest, if the preacher hold his peace, he seem to have sanctioned the sin, and this which the tongue of the pastor does not cut off, going on increasing, should come to be an example. Thus while Holy Church by her preachers rebukes particular deeds of wicked men under the covert conveyance of a general reproof, she ‘moves her lips, as if sparing;’ but yet while sparing spareth not, in that she does not in general hold her peace to the reproving of a fault, which in the special case she does. It goes on;
Ver. 7. But what am I to do? Though I speak, my grief is not assuaged; and though I forbear, it will not depart from me.
[vi] [ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
8. How this accords with the person of blessed Job, there is no one that is ignorant; but if it be drawn into a type of Holy Church, she both when she speaks ‘has not her grief assuaged,’ since she does not see the wicked amended by her speaking; and ‘when she holds her peace, her grief does not depart from her;’ in that though she turns away and holds her peace, this very circumstance of her being silent she laments the more, in that while she is silent, she sees the sin of the wicked grow to a height: It proceeds;
Ver. 8. But now my grief has oppressed me, and my limbs are brought to nought.
[vii]
9. Holy Church is oppressed by her grief, when she beholds the wicked grow to a height in their wickedness; and whereas while the wicked increase, the weak too that are in her are set on to follow the bents of wickedness, it is rightly added, And all my limbs are brought to nought. For as the strong by ‘bones,’ so by ‘limbs’ the weak sort are wont to be denoted, and so ‘the members of the Church are brought to nought,’ when by the imitating of the wicked that are increased in this world, all the weak are worse weakened. For on seeing the prosperity of the wicked, they often slide away from their very stand in faith itself, they seek after temporal good things, and are in a manner ‘brought to nought;’ in that while they abandon the Being of God that is lasting, loving things that are transitory, they are, as it were, on their way to be not. And it is well said, But now my grief has oppressed me; in that the season of the grief of the Church is now, and the time of her joy shall follow hereafter. Now it often happens that Holy Church not only meets with unbelievers and those without her borders as her adversaries, but with difficulty bears with the plots and opposition of those too, whom she has within her. Whence it is fitly said directly by the voice of the blessed man;
Ver. 10. My wrinkles speak a testimony against me. [viii]
10. What is denoted by ‘wrinkles,’ but doubledealing? and so all they are wrinkles of Holy Church, who therein live in doubledealing, who avouch the faith with their voices, disown it by their works. These persons doubtless in time of peace, because they see that with the powers of this world that faith is an honour, falsely feign themselves of the number of believers; but when a sudden storm of adversity disquiets Holy Church, they thereupon shew what they are going after in their heart of unbelief. Now these ‘wrinkles’ Holy Church has not in her Elect, in that they have
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not the art to shew one thing in themselves on the outside, and to hold another withinside. Whence the great Preacher says truly, That He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle. [Eph. 5, 27] For she ‘has not spot or wrinkle,’ in that she is without both foulness of practice, and doubleness of tongue; but because now she holds within the bosom of the faith numbers even of the children of perdition, when the time of persecution blazes out, she bears those very persons for her enemies, whom she seemed before to be nourishing with words of preaching. Therefore let her say, My wrinkles speak a testimony against me; i. e. those very persons, while they persecute, inveigh against me, who now, being fixed in my body, do not mind in themselves the wickedness of their doubledealing. Whence it is rightly added yet further;
And the liar is lifted up against my face, gainsaying me.
[ix]
11. Even in her time of peace Holy Church is subject to the ‘liar,’ in that there are numbers in her, who disbelieve in the promise of eternal life, and yet falsely feign themselves to be of the faithful. And as they do not dare openly to gainsay her preaching, she is exposed to the liar, not, as it were, ‘before her face,’ but behind her back; but when the time of wickedness breaks out, he who now disparages being full of apprehension, comes ‘before the face to gainsay,’ in that he withstands by open sentences of the voice the words of true faith. But it is to be known that when we meet with such things at the hands of carnal men, it is not so much they individually that rage cruelly in our death, as the evil spirit who rules their minds, as it is said by Paul, For we wrestle not against flesh and blood; but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world. [Eph. 6, 12] Whence, whereas here also he is speaking of lying [A. B. D. ‘the liar’], with propriety he turns his words directly to tell of the prince of that lying, and says;
Ver. 9. He gathered his fury against me; and threatening me he gnashed against me with his teeth; mine enemy looked on me with terrible eyes.
[x]
12. What else are all wicked men but members of the devil? Therefore he himself does by them, whatever he puts it into their hearts that they ought to do. For the devil even now entertains fury against Holy Church, but his fury is scattered, in that he sets afoot his secret temptations through the agency of individuals; but when he bursts out against her in open persecution, ‘he gathers his fury against her,’ in that in the afflicting of her he knits up himself with the entire bent of his efforts. But his members in this time of peace have not ‘fury gathered’ against the Elect in this way, because they feel that they have less power to fulfil their wickedness than they have will; but when they see full range of wickedness at their command, they smite at her the more boldly, in proportion as they are drawn to a head against her in unanimity. And so it is rightly said now; He gathered up his fury against me. And that his fury might be still more fully set forth, it is said, And threatening me, he gnashed upon me with his teeth. Of whom too it is added, mine enemy looked on me with terrible eyes. For that ancient enemy of the Church ‘gnashes against her with the teeth,’ and ‘looks on her with terrible eyes,’ in that he executes cruelties by one set, and by another provides cruelties to execute.
13. For ‘the teeth’ of this enemy are the persecutors and executioners of the good who mangle her members, while they distress her elect ones by their persecutions. But the ‘eyes’ of this enemy are
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those, that provide measures to her hurt, which they may put in practice, and by their counsels light up the cruelties of her persecutors. Thus her old enemy ‘gnashes upon her with his teeth,’ so long as by the cruel children of perdition in her he hunts down the life of good men within her. He ‘looks on her with terrible eyes;’ in that, by the counsels of bad men, he never ceases to make out schemes of mischief, by which he may torment her even worse and worse; for as Incarnate ‘Truth’ in His preaching chose poor common persons and simple men, so on the other hand that accursed man, whom the Apostate Angel will take on him at the end of the world, shall choose for the preaching of his falsity, the cunning and doubleminded, and such as have this world’s knowledge. Hence it is said by Isaiah, Woe to the land, the cymbal of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.
Which sendeth ambassadors by the sea even in vessels of papyrus upon the waters. For the land, that has woe pronounced against it, is principally that accursed man, who is called a ‘cymbal of wings,’ in that they who in pride soar up into the height of imagination, by preaching sound forth that man of iniquity. Which same land is rightly described as being ‘beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,’ for Ethiopia sends forth a black people, and whereas this world brings forth every man a sinner, Ethiopia as it were bears a black people. And the land that has woe pronounced against it, is described as being ‘beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,’ in that that accursed man is so exceedingly and beyond all measure bad, that he goes beyond the sins of all that commit iniquity; and he ‘sends ambassadors by the sea,’ in that he spreads his preachers over the world; and it is rightly told of them how they are sent, when it said, in vessels of papyrus upon the waters, for from the ‘papyrus’ paper is made. What then is denoted by the ‘papyrus’ but secular knowledge? and so the vessels of papyrus are the hearts of the learned of the world. Therefore ‘to send ambassadors upon the waters in vessels of papyrus,’ is to put the preaching of him in the brains of the carnally wise, and to call the people running out into sin. Those very persons then who are there denoted by ‘vessels of papyrus,’ here, in that they see with a carnal sight, are denoted by ‘eyes. ’ Of whom it is yet further added;
Ver. 10. They have gaped upon me with their mouth, reproaching me. [xi]
14. Lost sinners open their mouths ‘in reproaching,’ when they at once do not fear to proclaim the mischiefs of their errors, and laugh to scorn the announcements of the right faith: with regard to whom be it known that they chiefly prosecute those in Holy Church, whom they see likely to be of service to many, who bruise the life of the carnal by the word of correction, and change them spiritually into the body of the Church. Hence it is added;
They have smitten me upon the cheek; they have taken their fill of my punishments.
[xii]
15. For ‘the cheek’ of the Church, are the holy preachers, as where it is said under the figure of Judaea, by Jeremiah, She weepeth sore in the night, and the tears are on her cheeks. [Lam. 1, 2] For in the adversities of the Church those mourn the most, who are used to crush the life of the carnal by preaching; for by these very persons Holy Church breaks and bruises the wicked to bad habits, and as it were swallowing them converts them into members of herself. Hence it is said to the first preacher himself too, as to a ‘cheek’ of the Church, Kill and eat [Acts 10, 13]. It is hence too that Samson laid hold of the jawbone of an ass, and destroyed his enemies [Judges 15, 16]; in that our Redeemer, with the Hand of His power laying hold of the simplicity and submissiveness of
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these that preach, killed the carnal to their bad habits. And the jawbone thrown down upon the earth, afterwards poured out water, in that the bodies of the preachers given over to death, shewed great miracles to the people. So the wicked ‘smite the cheek’ of Holy Church, when they persecute good preachers; and whereas lost sinners thus reckon themselves to have done something great, when they do put an end to the life of the preachers; after the striking of ‘the cheek,’ it is properly added, They have taken their fill of my punishments, for that punishment does fill them to satisfaction, which chastises the mind of the Church in an especial manner. It goes on;
Ver. 12. God hath shut me up with the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked.
[xiii]
16. The people of the Elect is ‘shut up with the ungodly man,’ when its flesh is given up in this present time to the persecutions of our old adversary; and it is ‘turned over,’ not to the spirit, but ‘the hands of the wicked;’ in that in proportion as they cannot take it captive in mind, they are the more pitilessly inflamed against the flesh thereof. But the People of Holy Church, when it begins to suffer adversities to an extreme degree, and sees the weak ones in her going off to worse and worse, recalls to mind the times of her peace, when she fed her faithful children with the richness of her preaching. Hence it is fitly added;
Ver. 13. I, the same that was once rich, am crushed on a sudden.
[xiv]
17. Herein, viz. that he declared himself to be ‘crushed on a sudden,’ he denoted the unguarded mind of weak persons: who, whilst they are not skilled to foresee the evils which are destined to come, find them more severe in proportion as they also undergo them contrary to expectation. But to stedfast minds adversities do not come on a sudden, in that they are foreseen before they come. And this Holy Church too does now undergo in certain backsliding people, who, after the richness of instruction, are sometimes so crushed by sudden assaults of evil, that they fall as deeply in certain wicked practices, as if they had never been vouchsafed the food of the word. It proceeds; He hath held my neck, and broken me in two, and set me up for His mark.
[xv]
18. As in evil the ‘neck’ denotes pride, so in good it denotes the lifting up in freedom; whence it is sometimes the case that ‘pride’ itself is also put for the authority belonging to that lifting up; as when the Lord says by way of promise to Holy Church by the Prophet, I will set thee for the pride of ages. [Is. 60, 15] And because in time of persecution some that are weak do not dare to preach with freedom the truths they have a sense of, it is rightly said of this enemy, He hath held my neck, and broken me in two. But perchance those are denoted by the appellation of ‘neck,’ who, in the season of her peace, are lifted up more than befits, and by occasion of defending the cause of right minister to the evil of self-exalting; which same in time of persecution feel adversity the more sensibly on this account, that they are elevated by prosperity. Concerning whom it is rightly said, He hath held my neck, and broken me in two; i. e. the pride which she had in her weak members, He bowed down by the severity of His smiting. And set me up for His mark. It is known that ‘a mark’ is for this reason ‘set up,’ that it may be hit by the sending of the arrow. And so the faithful people is ‘set as a mark’ to its enemy, in that he is ever assaulting it with his blows and afflicting it with
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his persecutions: for he that undergoes perpetual ills in this life, as if set for a mark, receives blows from one striking him; and hence the great Preacher, when he was suffering the ills of persecution, and groaning beneath the persecuting efforts of his enemies, to comfort the tender soul of the disciples touching his troubles, says, For yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. [1 Thess. 3, 3] As if be said to them in plain words; ‘Wherefore at this season do ye wonder at my wounds, when, if we seek the joys of the eternal world, we have come hither for this, even to be stricken? ’ It proceeds;
Ver. 13. He hath compassed me about with His lances, He hath wounded my loins together, He hath not spared, and He hath poured out my bowels upon the ground.
[xvi] [MORAL INTERPRETATION]
19. These particulars would seem to accord with blessed Job after the letter, in that it is said, He hath compassed me with His lances, He hath wounded my loins together, He hath not spared; if that were not added, which is not read as written about him, he hath poured out my bowels upon the ground. From which circumstance it follows, that whereas we cannot find this after the letter, we should investigate after the spirit those points, which in his words sound as of the fact of history. Holy Church is ‘beset with lances’ by her enemy, whensoever she is in her members assaulted by the cunning assailant with the darts of temptation; and it is well said that we are ‘encompassed with lances,’ in that our old enemy assails us on every side with the wounding of temptation. Thus oftentimes whilst the appetite is restrained, that lust may be brought under, the dart of vainglory strikes the mind; but if the body is not worn down by the infliction of abstinence, the flame of lust kindles itself against the soul: often whilst we strive to observe economy, we fall into stinginess; and often whilst we give profusely the things we possess, we are led into avarice, in that we seek to make up again what we may have to give. Whereas then the darts of the old enemy assail us in every direction, it is rightly said now, he hath compassed me about with his lances. And because, in the case of every sin, the crafty enemy indeed recommends it, but we by consenting to his recommendations execute it, it is fitly subjoined, he hath wounded my loins together, for in the loins lust is seated. Hence he who desired to eradicate the delight of lust from the heart, preached the words, Gird up the loins of your mind. [1 Pet. 1, 13] And so when our old enemy draws the faithful people into lust, surely he smites that people ‘in the loins;’ in which place it is deserving of observation, that he does not say ‘he has wounded [‘vulneravit’ ‘convulneravit’],’ but, he hath wounded my loins together. For as to talk is sometimes an act of one person, but to ‘talk together’ of two or perhaps of many, so our old enemy, in that he does not hurry us into sin without our own will, is never said ‘to wound our loins,’ but, ‘to wound our loins together:’ in that what he prompts us amiss we fulfil by following of our own will; and, as it were, ‘wound ourselves together’ in unity with him, because we are at the same time led to commit the evil deed of free will. It goes on; he hath not spared; as if he said, ‘he hath not ceased;’ and he hath poured out my bowels upon the ground. What else are we to understand by ‘the bowels’ of Holy Church, save the minds of those who contain in themselves certain of her mysteries, who are devoted to the interior Sacraments? But our old adversary, when he draws over to secular concerns any of the faithful, who appeared to be devoted to the interior sacraments, does, surely, ‘pour out her bowels upon the ground;’ in that he treads those down in things below, who were before buried from sight in secret and spiritual practices. It goes on;
Ver. 14. He hath broken me with breach upon breach.
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[xvii] [ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
20. In her weak members Holy Church is ‘broken with breach upon breach,’ when sin is added to sin, that transgression should be brought to a more dreadful pitch. Thus for him, whom avarice forces to robbery and robbery leads into deceit, so that the sin committed is further defended by falsehood, how else is it with this man, but that he is broken with breach upon breach? When too it is well said by the Prophet; Cursing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, adultery, have overflowed, and blood toucheth blood. [Hos. 4, 2] For by the title of ‘blood’ sin is used to be denoted; whence one who longs to be set free from sin exclaims in penitence, Deliver me from blood [sanguinibus]. [Ps. 51, 14] So ‘blood toucheth blood,’ when sin has heaped on sin; and whereas when breach is added to breach, the powers of our old enemy are the more terribly increased against us, it is rightly added;
He runneth upon me like a giant.
[xviii]
21. The enemy is easy to be resisted, if he is not consented to, whether in many backslidings, or in one for a continuance. But if the soul has been accustomed to submit to his persuasions, the oftener it subjects itself to him, it makes him the harder to itself to bear, so that it has not the power to struggle against him; in that our wicked adversary, ‘like a giant,’ fights against it, when it is vanquished by bad habit: yet very often Holy Church, even after sins have been committed, brings back the minds of the faithful to penitence, and cleanses away the sins of practice by the efficacy of a voluntary self-chastening. Whence it is well added;
Ver. 15. I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and covered my flesh with ashes.
[xix]
22. What ought to be understood by ‘sackcloth and ashes,’ but penance; what by ‘the skin’ and ‘the flesh,’ but sin of the flesh? And so whereas there are persons who after the backsliding of the flesh are brought back to penance, it is as if ‘sackcloth were sewn upon the skin,’ and ‘the flesh covered with ashes;’ because the guilt of the flesh is ‘covered with ashes’ by penance, that it should not be seen for its avenging in the inquest of the strict Judge. But Holy Church, when she withdraws her weak members from sins, and conducts them to the remedy of penance, these she surely aids with her tears, that they may recover strength to receive the grace of their Maker, and in the strong she bewails what she has not done, which yet in her weak members she has as it were done herself. Hence it is well added yet further;
Ver. 16. My face is swelled with weeping. [xx]
23. For ‘the face’ of Holy Church are those, who being set in posts or governorships appear the foremost, that in their goodly appearance should be the honour of the faithful people, even if there were aught deformed in the body hidden from sight. Which same persons that are set over the people bewail the sins of those that go weakly, and so chasten themselves for the downfall of others as if for their own. And often when they see some returning to pardon after sin, and others
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persisting in wickedness, they marvel at the secret counsels of Almighty God, but cannot fathom them. For they are dumb at the things which they do not understand. And hence it is fitly added; And mine eyelids have become darkened.
[xxi]
24. For they are rightly entitled ‘eyelids,’ who are on their watch for the fore-ensuring the paths of the feet; but when not even the rulers on the watch can understand the secret judgments of God, ‘the eyelids’ of Holy Church are ‘darkened;’ but, as I remember that I have already often said, blessed Job, while bearing a type of Holy Church, uses at one time the voice of the body, and at another time the voice of the Head; and while he is speaking of her members, he is raised on a sudden to speak the words of her Head. Whence here too it is added;
Ver. 17. I have suffered this without the wickedness of mine hand, whilst I made pure prayers to God.
[xxii]
25. He suffered without the wickedness of His hand; Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth, [1 Pet. 2, 22] and yet endured the pain of the Cross for our redemption. Who only above all others ‘made pure prayers to God,’ in that even in the very anguish of His Passion He prayed in behalf of His persecutors, saying, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. [Luke 23, 24] For what can be described, what can be conceived more pure in prayer, than when the mercifulness of intercession is vouchsafed even those, from whose hands pain is undergone? Whence it was brought to pass, that that Blood of our Redeemer, which His persecutors in raging had spilt, afterwards in believing they drank, and proclaimed Him to be the Son of God. Concerning which same Blood it is fitly subjoined;
Ver. 18. O earth, cover thou not my blood; and let my cry find no place to lie hid in thee. [xxiii]
26. It was said to man on his committing sin, Earth thou art, and unto earth shalt thou return; [Gen. 3, 19] and this ‘earth’ does not ‘cover the blood’ of our Redeemer: in that each several sinner taking to himself the price of his redemption makes confession and sings praise, and publishes it to all of his neighbours that he is able. Moreover, ‘earth did not cover His blood,’ in that Holy Church has now preached the mystery of His redemption in all parts of the world. And observe what is added: And let my cry find no place to lie hid in thee. For the very blood of redemption that is taken is itself ‘the cry’ of our Redeemer. Hence Paul too says, And to the Blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better than that of Abel. [Heb. 12, 24] It had been said of the blood of Abel; The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto Me from the ground. [Gen. 4, 10] But ‘the Blood of Jesus speaketh better things than the blood of Abel,’ because the blood of Abel brought the death of his fratricidal brother, but the blood of the Lord won life for His persecutors. So then that the Sacraments of our Lord’s Passion may not be ineffectual in us, we are bound to imitate that which we take, and to preach to others what we adore. For ‘His cry does find a place to lie hid in us,’ if what the mind
has been brought to believe the tongue is silent about. But that His cry may not lie hid in us, it remains that each one of us according to his small measure should make known to his neighbours the mystery of his own quickening. It is good to recall the eyes of the interior to the hour of the
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Lord’s Passion, when the Jews raged against Him in persecution, and the Disciples fled from Him in alarm. For He that appeared to die in the flesh was not in any wise believed to be God. Hence it is properly added in this place,
Ver. 19. Also, now, behold my witness is in heaven, and my heart’s associate [‘conscius meus’ lit. ‘my accomplice,’ ‘he who knows my mind’] is on high.
[xxiv]
27. For when the Son was brought to His downfall on earth, there was a witness to Him in heaven. Since the Father is the witness of the Son; concerning Whom He Himself saith in the Gospel, And the Father Himself, Which hath sent Me, hath borne witness of Me. [John 5, 37] Who is also rightly called ‘mine heart’s associate,’ in that with one will, and with one counsel, the Father acts always in union with the Son. Whose witness too He is, in that no man knoweth the Son but the Father. [Matt. 11, 27] Thus He had then ‘a witness in heaven,’ and His ‘heart’s associate’ on high, when they, who saw Him dying in the flesh, had their eyes closed to see the power of His Divine nature; and whereas men did not know, yet in the hour of death the Mediator between God and man did know, that the Father was working together with Himself. Which perhaps may be likewise applied to the voice of His Body. For Holy Church for this reason undergoes the miseries of this life, that the grace above may lead her on her way to the rewards of eternity. She slights the death of her flesh, because she is intent on the glory of the resurrection; and what she suffers is transitory, what she expects everlasting, concerning which same everlasting blessings she has no misgiving, in that she has already a faithful testimony in the glory of her Redeemer. For she sees with the mind the resurrection of His flesh, and is strongly fortified to have hope, in that what she sees already brought to pass in her Head, she hopes without doubting will also follow in His Body, which is herself. Which same Church the Psalmist seeing destined to continue in everlasting perfection, describes her under the title of the moon. A perfect moon for everlasting. [Ps. 89, 37] And whereas the Resurrection of the Lord heartens her to entertain the hope of a Resurrection, he properly added, And a faithful witness in heaven. Forasmuch as that she may not tremble for her own resurrection, she has Him in heaven for a witness, Who rose again from the dead; and so let the faithful People when it suffers adversity, when it is harassed with sore tribulations, lift up the mind to the hope of the glory to follow, and trusting in the resurrection of the Redeemer, let it say, Also now behold my witness is in heaven, and mine associate on high. Who is also rightly called ‘an associate,’ in that He was acquainted with our nature, not only by creating, but by taking it upon Himself. For His knowing is His having undertaken what belongs to us. Whence too it is said by the Psalmist, For He knoweth our frame. [Ps. 103, 14] For what wonder is it if He is said emphatically ‘to know our frame,’ when it is plain that there is nothing that He does not know? But His ‘knowing our frame,’ is His having taken it upon Himself out of pitifulness.
[MORAL/HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION]
28. Yet this voice may together with blessed Job suitably apply to each one of ourselves as well; for every man who in what he does aims at human praises, seeks a ‘witness’ on earth: but he that is eager to please Almighty God by his deeds, takes thought that he has a ‘witness in heaven. ’ And it often happens that the very good things themselves in us are found fault with by inconsiderate men; but he that ‘has a witness in heaven,’ has no need to fear men’s reproofs. Hence it is yet further added;
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Ver. 20. My friends are full of words; but mine eye poureth out tears unto God. [xxv]
29. For what is denoted by the eye, but the intent of the heart? as it is written, if thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. [Matt. 6, 22] For when any thing is done with a good intention, the enacting of that intention contracts no soil in the sight of God; and so when friends are full of words, i. e. when the very same persons detract that are joined with us in faith, ‘the eye’ must needs ‘pour out tears to God,’ that so the whole bent of our heart may run out in the piercing of interior love, and lift itself up to the things of the interior, the more exactly that being forced back by external reproaches, it is driven to turn back within, lest it should vanish away without. It proceeds;
Ver. 21. Oh! that a man were so judged with God, as a son of man is judged with his fellow! [xxvi]
30. We acknowledge indeed always that we are sinners, yet often, when laid under the rod, we do not know for what sin in particular we are stricken, and we sift ourselves with minute examining, that if we might in any way be able we might trace out the cause of our being struck; and whereas this is for the most part hidden from us, our blindness becomes a load upon us, and we are the more pained at what we are suffering. But anyone that ‘comes to judgment with his neighbour,’ both says what he thinks, and knows what answer is made in return, and strikes a blow where he will, and knows from what quarter he is struck. But he that is smitten with the visitation of God, while he knows indeed that he is beaten, but knows not why he is beaten, as it were himself says what he thinks, but does not know what may be said against him; seeing that he himself indeed groans under the rod, but God does not declare openly for what cause of vengeance He strikes him. Therefore it is said now, Oh! that a man were so judged with God, as a son of man is judged with his neighbour! As if it were expressed in plain words; ‘As in all, that I say, I am heard, so would that I heard all that is said concerning me. ’ Which, nevertheless, can never be brought about in this life, in that there is a great obstruction before the eyes of our heart, against our beholding the subtle nature of God, even our mere frailty by itself; but we shall then see Him with clearness by Whom we are now searchingly beheld, when this frailty laid aside, we attain to the grace of the interior contemplation, of which Paul saith, For then shall I know, as also I am known. [1 Cor. 13, 12] Hence blessed Job, seeing that that knowledge can never be in the fullest way perfected here, groans indeed over the blindness of the present life; yet consoles himself by the shortness thereof, saying,
Ver. 22. When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.
[xxvii]
31. Every thing that passes is short, even though it should seem slow in being finished, but in the way of death we ‘go, and do not return by it,’ not because we are not brought back by rising again to the life of the flesh, but because we do not come again to the labours of this mortal life, or to earn rewards by our labours.
Chap. xvii. Ver. 1. My spirit shall be wasted to thinness.
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[xxviii]
32. ‘My spirit is wasted to thinness,’ by the fear of judgment; in that the minds of the Elect, the more they feel themselves to be approaching the final Judgment, tremble so much the more fearfully in the searching of their own selves; and if they ever find in themselves any carnal thoughts, they consume them by the fervour of their penance; nor do they suffer their thoughts to expand with carnal delight, in that they pass sentence and inflict punishment on themselves more rigorously in proportion as they are awaiting the strict Judge close at hand; whence it comes to pass, that they look upon their departure as always near. For the minds of the lost do many things wickedly on this account, because they suppose themselves living here for long; and so ‘the spirit of the righteous is wasted to thinness,’ but the spirit of the wicked is thickened. For in proportion as they swell out in self-elation, they have not the wearing down of the spirit: but the righteous, whilst they consider the shortness of their life, eschew the sins of pride and impurity. And hence it is added;
My days shall be shortened, and the grave only is left me.
[xxix]
33. For he that bethinks himself what he will be in death, is always rendered fearful in practice, and from the very cause that henceforth he does not as it were live in his own eyes, he does genuinely live in the eyes of his Creator; he goes after nothing of a nature to pass away, he withstands all the desire of the present life, and views himself as almost dead, in that he is not unaware that he is destined to die. For a perfect life is an imitation of death, which while the righteous diligently enact, they escape the snares of sins. Whence it is written, Whatsoever thou takest in hand, remember thy latter end, and thou shalt never do amiss. [Ecclus. 7, 36] And hence blessed Job, because he sees that his ‘days are shortened,’ and reflects that ‘the grave only is left him,’ fitly subjoins,
I have not sinned, and mine eye abideth in bitternesses.
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34.
