No More Learning

For because they cannot be avoided, as being of the number of the faithful, they are borne by the faithful as the greater harm, in proportion [see Preface, § 14] as it is nearer home. But his friends, who come as if to administer consolation, but run out into words of bitter upbraiding, bear the likeness of heretics, who, in striving to defend God against the righteous, only offend Him.
2. These things then, which have been more fully delivered above, I have endeavoured to gather into a small compass after their mystical representation, that by this very repetition it might be recalled to the recollection of my reader, that I minister to the spiritual understanding. And yet, when occasion of usefulness demands, I also busy myself to make out with minute exactness the letter of the history, but when it is needed I embrace both at the same time, that the allegory may put forth spiritual fruit, which same nevertheless is produced by the historical verity as from the root. Now the friends of blessed Job, who, we have said, bear the likeness of heretics, we by no means condemn for their words throughout; for whereas it is delivered against them by the sentence from above, For ye have not spoken before Me the thing that is right; [Job 42, 7] and it is thereupon added, Like My servant Job; it is plainly manifest that that is not altogether set at nought, which is only disapproved by comparison with what is better. For they incautiously slip into censure of him, but yet, as they are the friends of so great a man, from familiar intercourse with him they learnt many mystical truths. Whence, as we have also said above, Paul uses their very words, and by taking these in aid of his statement, he testifies that they were delivered from a source of truth. Which same nevertheless Truth does rightly censure, in that no sentence, however full of force, should be delivered against a holy man. Accordingly the words of Eliphaz may be considered in a mystical sense, whereby he addresses blessed Job, saying,
Ver. 3. I have seen the foolish taking root; but suddenly I cursed his beauty. [so V. ] [ii]
3. For the Jewish people shewed itself to be ‘foolish,’ in that it slightly regarded the very Presence of Eternal Wisdom in the flesh. And it waxed strong, as it were, by taking root, in that it had power
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over the life of the Elect to the extinction thereof in time. And Eliphaz despises such an one, cursing him, in that all heretics, whom we have said the friends of blessed Job bear a figure of, while they boast themselves in the name of Christ, censure in a way of authority the unbelief of the Jews. Concerning which same foolish one it is forthwith added,
Ver. 4. His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither shall there be any to deliver them.
4. They all are ‘the children’ of this foolish man, who are generated by the preaching of that unbelief, and these ‘are far from safety,’ for though they enjoy the temporal life without trouble, they are stricken the worse with eternal vengeance, as the Lord says concerning these same sons of such an one, Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made ye make him twofold more the child of hell than, yourselves. [Matt. 23, 15] It follows, And they are crushed in the gate, neither shall there be any to deliver them. Who else is to be understood by the name of gate, but the Mediator between God and Man, Who saith, I am the door; by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved. [John 10, 9] The sons, then, of this foolish man advance without the gate, and they are ‘crushed in the gate,’ for the evil offspring of the Jews, before the Mediator's coming, prospered in the observance of the Law, but in the presence of our Redeemer itself they fell away from the service of the Divine Being, proving outcasts by the deserts of their faithlessness. And verily there is none ‘to rescue them,’ for while they strive by their persecution to kill the Redeemer Himself, they cut themselves off from the proffered means of their rescue. And it is well added concerning him,
Ver. 5. Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and the armed one shall seize him.
[iv]
5. Now ‘the harvest’ of this foolish man was the crop of Sacred Writ. For the words of the Prophets are like so many grains of the ears, which the foolish man had, but did not eat. For the Jewish people indeed held the Law as far as the letter, but, from an infatuated pride, as to the sense thereof, they went hungering. But ‘the hungry eateth the harvest’ of this foolish one, in that the Gentile folk eats by taking in the words of the Law, in which the Jewish people toiled and laboured without taking them in. These hungry ones of faith the Lord foresaw, when He had said by the Evangelist, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. [Matt. 5, 6] Of these hungry ones Hannah saith prophesying, They that were full, have hired out themselves for bread, and they that were hungry were satisfied. [1 Sam. 2, 5] And as he lost the harvest, it is rightly added how the foolish man himself too perishes, where it is said, And himself shall the armed one seize. The old enemy, being ‘armed,’ seized the Jewish people, for he extinguished in them the life of faith by the darts of deceitful counsel, that in the very point, wherein they imagined themselves to be rooted in God, they might resist His dispensation. And Truth forewarns the Disciples of this, saying, Yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. [John 16, 2] It follows.
And the thirsty shall drink his riches.
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[v]
6. The riches of this ‘foolish’ one ‘the thirsty drink,’ in that by the streams of Sacred Writ, which the Jewish people possessed in the display of pride, the converted minds of the Gentiles are watered. And hence it is said to those same persons by the Prophet, Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no silver, come ye. [Is. 55, 1] For that the divine oracles are denoted by the word ‘silver,’ is testified by the Psalmist in these words, The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in the fire. [Ps. 12, 6] They then that ‘have no silver,’ are bidden to the ‘waters,’ in that the Gentile world which had never received the precepts of Holy Writ, is satisfied with the outpouring of Divine Revelation, which they now drink of the more eagerly, in proportion as they thirsted for it long time in a state of drought. Thus the very same Divine oracles are called at once ‘harvests’ and ‘riches;’ ‘harvests,’ because they refresh the hungering soul; ‘riches,’ because they array us in a rare richness of moral excellences. The same things are said both to be ‘eaten,’ and to be ‘drunk,’ for this reason, that whereas there are certain things therein that are obscure, which we understand not without they be interpreted, these same we in a manner swallow eating; and whereas certain other things indeed, that are easy to be understood, we so take as we find them, these we drink as if unchewed, in that we swallow them unbroken. These things we have run through in brief mode under their mystical signification, lest perchance we might seem to have passed over any thing; but because they could not be the friends of blessed Job, except in some points they also shone conspicuous for high moral worth, it remains that in their words we examine the force of their import in a moral sense, that, whilst the weight and substance of their speech is made out, it may be shewn what sort of teaching they were masters of.
Ver. 3. I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his beauty. [vi] [MORAL INTERPRETATION]
7. ‘The foolish’ is as it were made fast in the earth by ‘taking root,’ in that he is fixed in the love of earth with all his heart's desire. And hence Cain is recorded to have been the first that builded a city in the earth, that it might be plainly shewn, that that same man laid a foundation in the earth, who was turned adrift from the firm hold of our heavenly country. The foolish man as it were lifts himself up by ‘taking root,’ when he is buoyed up in this world with temporal good fortune, so that he obtains whatsoever he desires, is subject to no crosses, prevails against the weak without meeting with resistance, gainsays those that do well with authority, is ever attaining to better circumstances by means of worse practices, so that from the very cause that he is forsaking the path of life, he lives for the time the happier. But when the weak see that the wicked flourish, they are alarmed, and being troubled in their own breasts by the prosperity of sinners, they inwardly falter in the mind's footsteps. It was the likeness of these same that the Psalmist took when he declared, But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my step, had well nigh slipped; for I was envious at the sinner, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. [Ps. 73, 2. 3. ]
8. But when the strong see their glory, they forthwith fix their minds upon the punishment which is to follow after that glory, and with deep thought of heart within they contemn that, which swells the
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proud without with the bigness of empty inflation. It is then well said, I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his beauty. For to ‘curse the beauty’ of the fool is to condemn his glory by an advised sentence, for he is the more frightfully drowned in torments, the higher he
is lifted up in sins; for the being lifted up is transient, but the being punished is perpetual; for he, that meets with honour on his road, will meet with condemnation on his arrival; and he is as it were coming to a prison through pleasant meadows, who is going on to ruin through this world's prosperity. But it is to be observed, that, when he says that he ‘cursed the beauty of the fool,’ he directly adds, suddenly; for it is the way with man's weak mind to vary according to the modification of the objects which it beholds. Thus it often happens that his judgment is led by the mere appearance of the object presented, and his bias and feeling are framed according to the thing which is before his eyes. For often persons, while they see the glory of certain individuals, are charmed with the appearances thereof, and account it something great, and heartily wish they might themselves obtain the like; but when they see the children of glory severally either overthrown of a sudden, or perchance even brought to death, they acknowledge with a sigh that human glory is altogether nought, so as to exclaim at once, ‘See what a nothing is man! ’ Which indeed they would say with more propriety, if when they saw man in possession of glory, then thinking of his destruction, they had felt that transitory power is nought. For it is then that we are to reflect what a nothing human exaltation is, when by its successes it mounts above others; then we ought to reflect with what speed happiness will flee away, when it flourishes, as if for ever, before the eyes of men. For that the glory of a perishable being is nothing in the actual hour of death, any of the weak sort can presently consider. For then even they hold it cheap, who even until death follow after it with affection. So that it is well said, I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his beauty. As if he said plainly; ‘Against the beauty of the foolish I admitted no delay in my cursing, for as soon as I discerned it, I saw along with it the punishment that comes after; for I should not have cursed suddenly, if any delight in that glory had kept hold of me, but I cursed without tardiness, for beholding his punishments which are destined to endure, I condemned his power without hesitating. ’ But because in every case the more the wicked make way in this world, the greater numbers they drag to destruction, it is rightly subjoined, Let his children be [al. his children shall be] far from safety. For the children of the foolish one are they, that after his copy are brought forth in this world's ambition; who truly are so much the further from safety, in proportion as in the practice of iniquity they are stricken by no infirmity. Of these it is well added,
Ver. 4. And they shall be crushed in the gate; neither shall there be any to deliver them.
[vii]
9. For as the entrance of a city is called the ‘gate,’ so is the day of Judgment the gate of the Kingdom, since all the Elect go in thereby to the glory of their heavenly country. And hence when Solomon saw this day approaching for the recompensing of Holy Church, he said, Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. [Prov. 31, 23] For the Redeemer of mankind is the ‘husband’ of Holy Church, Who shews Himself ‘renowned’ in the gates. Who [A. B. C. D. ‘because he’] first came to sight in degradation and in mockings, but shall appear on high at the entering in of His kingdom: and ‘He sitteth among the elders of the land,’ for that He
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shall decree sentence of condemnation together with the holy preachers of that same Church, as Himself declares in the Gospel, Verily I say unto you, Ye which leave followed Me, in the Regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. [Matt. 19, 28] Which same Isaiah also foretelling long before uses these words, The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of His people. [Is. 3, 14] Of these gates Solomon says again, Give her of the fruit if her hands, and her own works shall praise her in the gates. [Prov. 31, 31] For Holy Church then receives of ‘the fruit of her hands,’ when the recompensing of her labours lifts her up to the entertainment of heavenly blessings, for her ‘works then praise her in the gates,’ when the words are spoken to her members in the very entrance to His kingdom; For I was an hungred, and ye gave Me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took Me in; naked, and ye clothed Me. [Matt. 25, 35] The children then of this foolish man are lifted up before ‘the gate,’ but ‘in the gate they shall be crushed;’ in that the followers of this world carry themselves proudly in the present life, but in the very entrance of the kingdom they are struck with an everlasting visitation. And it is well added, Neither is there any to deliver them. For ‘Truth’ delivers from eternal woe those whom in temporal weal She straitens by discipline. He, then, that now refuses to be straightened, is left then without the means to be ‘delivered,’ For Him, Whom they care not to have as a Father in training, the wicked in the season of their calamity never find a deliverer in succouring. It proceeds;
Whose harvest the hungry one shall eat up.
[viii]
10. Even the foolish man has a ‘harvest,’ when any wicked man is vouchsafed the gift of a right understanding, is instructed in the sentences of Holy Writ, speaks good words, yet never in any wise does the thing that he says; gives forth the words of God, yet does not love them; by his praise magnifies them, by his practice tramples on them. Thus because this foolish man both understands and speaks that, which is right, yet does not love this in his doings, while he has a harvest, he goes starving. Which same ‘the hungry eateth up,’ in that he, who pants after God with holy desires, learns what he hears, and practises what he has learnt. And, whilst he is invigorated by the right preaching of a wrong teacher, what else is this than that he is filled with the produce of the foolish? Did not ‘Truth’ charge His ‘hungry ones’ to eat up the ‘harvest’ of the foolish, when, they being inflamed by holy desires, He charged them concerning the Pharisees, saying, All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, observe and do; but do not ye after their works. [Matt. 23, 3] As though He said plainly; ‘By speaking they rear the harvest of the word, but by evil living they touch it not. Let this harvest then be the refreshment for your hunger, for it is for you that they reserve it in their own infatuated loathing. ’ And it is well added,
Ver. 5. And the armed man shall seize him. [ix]
11. For our old enemy is conquered as an unarmed man, when, by openly prompting evil things to the mind of man, he aims to destroy all the good together. But he comes ‘armed,’ when, leaving
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some good things untouched, he covertly works the ruin of others. For often he does not tempt some people in the understanding, nor oppose them in their meditation on Holy Writ, yet he undoes the life of those in practice, who, while they are praised for the excellence of knowledge, neglect to have regard to the shortcomings of their works, and while the mind is decoyed in the delightfulness of good esteem, no remedy is applied to the wounds of the life; and thus the ‘armed’ enemy has swallowed up this man, whom under the cloak of deceit, whilst leaving on one side, he has got the better of on another. It goes on,
And the thirsty shall drink [so. V. ] his riches.
[x]
12. Often the foolish man has a fountain of inward liquid, but he does not drink thereof; in that he is vouchsafed parts to understand, yet he disdains to acquaint himself with the sentences of Holy Writ by the reading of them; he knows that he has ability to understand by studying, yet he gives over in disdain all study of the lessons of truth. ‘The riches’ of the mind too are the words of Divine utterance, yet the foolish man regards these riches with his eyes, while he never applies them to the purpose of his own adornment. For on hearing the words of the law he sees indeed that they are great, yet he does not put himself to pains to understand them with any earnestness of love. But, reversely, another man has a thirst, but has not ability; love draws him to meditation, but the dulness of his sense withstands him, and often in the science of the Divine law, he from time to time finds out that by application, which the man of parts remains ignorant of from carelessness. Thus ‘the thirsty drink up the riches of this foolish man,’ as often as those precepts of God, which the quickwitted know nothing of from disdaining them, the duller sort follow after with warm affection. In these verily the eye of love lights up the shades of dulness; for thirst uncloses that to the slower sort, which disdain shuts up to the quicker. And they for this reason get to the depths of understanding, because they do not scorn to practise even the very least things that they have learnt, and while they aid the understanding with the hands, they lift themselves above the level of the clever. Hence it is well said by Solomon, The lizard climbeth with his hands, and is in kings’ palaces. [Prov. 30, 28] For commonly ‘birds,’ which have a wing that lifts them up to fly, dwell in the bushes, and the ‘lizard,’ which has no wings for flying, ‘climbing with hands,’ occupies the abode of royalty, in that often any that are quickwitted, while they grow slack from carelessness, continue in bad practices, and the simple folk, which have no wing of ability to stand them in stead, the excellency of their practice bears up to attain to the walls of the eternal kingdom. Whereas then ‘the lizard climbeth with his hands,’ he ‘is in kings’ palaces;’ in that the plain man, by earnestness of right practice, reaches that point, whereunto the man of ability never mounts. But having heard this, a question occurs to our mind, wherefore either the gift of understanding is bestowed on a heedless man, or any earnest mind is hindered by its slowness? To which an answer is speedily given, in that it is forthwith added,
Ver. 6. There is nothing in the earth without cause. [so Vulg. ] [xi]
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13. For on this account it often happens that even a slothful man receives ability, that he may be the more deservedly punished for his carelessness, because he scorns to acquaint himself with that which he might attain to without labour. And on this account the earnest person is straitened with slowness of understanding, that he may obtain so much the larger rewards of compensation, the more he toils in anxiety to find out. Therefore ‘there is nothing in the earth without cause,’ since slowness stands the earnest mind in stead for a reward, and to the slothful quickness only thrives for punishment. But for the understanding of those things that be right, we are at one time instructed therein by earnestness of labour, at another time by pains of affliction. Hence after it has been said, There is nothing in the earth without cause, it is fitly added thereupon,
Neither doth trouble spring out of the ground.
[xii]
14. For ‘trouble springeth out of the ground,’ as it were, when man, being created after the image of God, is scourged by things without sense. But because it is by reason of the hidden deserts of men's souls that the open scourges of chastisements are sent forth, it happens at the same time that ‘trouble springeth not out of the ground,’ since it is the perversity of our sense, which requires that it should be stricken by things that have no sense. For thus we see that for our correction the looked for rain is withheld from the parched earth, and the vaporous air is scorched by the fiery heat of the sun; the sea rages with bursting tempests, and some embarked to cross its bosom it cuts off, and others are debarred the longed-for passage by the rampant water; the earth not only yields sparingly the produce of her fertility, but also destroys the seeds she has received. In all which circumstances we clearly discern that which a wise man testifies concerning God, And the world shall fight with Him against the unwise. [Wisd. 5, 20] For ‘the world fights with the Lord against the unwise,’ when even the very contrariety of the elements does service in the chastisement of offenders. Yet neither doth ‘trouble Spring out of the ground,’ for each insensate thing is put in motion to our annoyance, only by the impulse of our own doings. ‘Trouble does not spring out of the ground,’ for chastisement never a whit springs from that creature that strikes the blow, but from that one, without doubt, which, by committing sin, drew forth the severity of the stroke. But we must take great and diligent heed, that, when in outward circumstances we are afflicted with a weight of grief, we reach forward in hope to things above; that the mind may attain the heights above, in proportion as we are chastened by the external punishment. And hence it is justly subjoined,
Ver. 7. Man is born to labour, and the bird to flying. [xiii]
15. For ‘man is born to labour,’ in that he, who is furnished with the gift of reason, bethinks himself that it is wholly impossible for him to pass through this season of his pilgrimage without sorrowing. Hence when Paul was recounting his woes to his disciples, he justly added, For yourselves know that we are appointed thereto. [1Thess. 3, 3] But even in that the flesh is afflicted with scourges, the mind is lifted up to seek higher things, as Paul again bears witness, saying, But
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though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. [2 Cor. 4, 16] So then, ‘man is born to labour, and a bird to flying,’ for the mind flies free on high for the very same reason that the flesh toils the sorer below.
16. By the designation of ‘man’ too, may be represented the life of the carnal sort. And hence Paul says, For whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal? [1 Cor. 3, 3] Soon after which he subjoins and says, Are ye not men? [ver. 4, Vulg. ] In this life, then, ‘man is born to labour,’ for every carnal person, in seeking to obtain transitory things, is overcharging himself with the burthen of his desires. For it is sore labour to be seeking this same glory of the present life, at times to win it so sought, and to guard it with diligence when won. It is sore labour, with infinite pains to lay hold of that, which he, that shall lay hold, knows can never remain for long. But holy men, forasmuch as they have no fondness for transitory objects, are not only laid under no burthen of temporal desires, but even, if crosses on any occasion arise, in these very straits and faintings are free from trouble. For what is there more severe than scourges? and yet it is written concerning the Apostles when scourged, And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His Name. [Acts 5, 41] What then can be labour to the minds of those, to whom even the chastisement of stripes is not labour? Man then is ‘born to labour,’ for he really feels the ills of the present state, who is agape after the good things thereof. For that mind which hangs on the attraction of things above, has beneath it whatsoever is set in motion against it from without. Therefore it is well added, and a bird to flying. For the soul withdraws itself from the painfulness of labour, in proportion as it raises itself through hope toward things on high. Was not Paul like a ‘bird born to flying,’ who in undergoing such countless crosses, said, Our conversation is in heaven? [Phil. 3, 20] And again, We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. [2 Cor. 5, 1] Like a bird, then, he had mounted above the scenes below, whom, while yet lingering on earth in the body, the wing of hope was already bearing up in the heights. But forasmuch as none by his own strength can transport himself on high, so as to be raised to the invisible world, while he is borne down by visible things, it is immediately added with propriety,
Ver. 8. Wherefore I will entreat the Lord, and unto God would I make my address. [xiv]
17. As though he said in plain words, ‘Him I petition, by Whom I know that these things are bestowed. ’ For if he imagined that he had them by himself, he would not need to make his prayer to God. It goes on;
Which doeth great things and unsearchable, marvellous things without number.
[xv]
18.
Who may see to the bottom of the marvellous works of Almighty God, how He made all things of nothing, how the very framework of the world is arranged with a marvellous mightiness of
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power, and the heaven hung above the atmosphere, and the earth balanced above the abyss, how this whole universe consists of things visible and invisible, how He created man, so to say, gathering together in a small compass another world, yet a world of reason; how constituting this world of soul and flesh, He mixed the breath and the clay by an unsearchable disposal of His Might? A part, then, of these things we know, and a part we even are. Yet we omit to admire them, because those things which are full of marvels for an investigation deeper than we can reach, have become cheap from custom in the eyes of men. Hence it comes to pass that, if a dead man is raised to life, all men spring up in astonishment. Yet every day one that had no being is born, and no man wonders, though it is plain to all, without doubt, that it is a greater thing for that to be created, which was without being, than for that, which had being, to be restored. Because the dry rod of Aaron budded, all men were in astonishment; every day a tree is produced from the dry earth, and the virtue residing in dust is turned into wood, and no man wonders. Because five thousand men were filled with five loaves, all men were in astonishment that the food should have multiplied in their teeth; every day the grains of seed that are sown are multiplied in a fulness of ears, and no man wonders. All men wondered to see water once turned into wine. Every day the earth's moisture being drawn into the root of the vine, is turned by the grape into wine, and no man wonders. Full of wonder then are all the things, which men never think to wonder at, because, as we have before said, they are by habit become dull to the consideration of them; but when he said, which doeth great things, he did well in immediately adding, and unsearchable. For it was but little to do great things, if the things that were done could have been searched to the bottom. And it is lightly added, marvellous things without number. As it would have been but an inferior greatness, if the things, which He created ‘unsearchable,’ He had made [a] but few in number.
19. But herein it ought to be impressed upon us, that the Divine miracles should both ever be under our consideration in earnestness of mind, and never sifted in intellectual curiosity. For it often happens that the thought of man, when, seeking the reason of certain things, it fails to find it out, plunges into a whirlpool of doubt. Hence it comes to pass that some men reflect that the bodies of the dead are reduced to dust, and while they are unable to infer the power of the Resurrection from reasoning, they despair of their being able to be brought back to their former condition. Things that are marvellous then are to be believed on a principle of faith, but not to be pried into by reason.
For, if reason set them open before our eyes, they would no longer be marvellous, But when the mind may chance to falter in these, it is needful that such things as it knows by custom, yet does not infer by reason, should be recalled to mind, that by the weight of a similar circumstance one may supply strength to the faith, which one finds to be undermined by one's own shrewdness. For, when the dust of the human flesh is thought on, the mind of some is shaken, and despairs of the time, when dust shall return to flesh, and through the lineaments of the limbs form a body restored to life, when that dryness of earth shall flush into freshness through the living limbs, and fashion itself in distinct parts by the forms and shapes of them. This indeed can never be comprehended by reason, yet it may be easily believed from example. For who would imagine that from a single grain of seed a huge tree would rise up, unless he had it as a certain fact by experience? In that extreme minuteness of a single grain, and with next to no dissimilarity within itself, where is the hardness of the wood buried, and a pith either tender or hard compared with the wood, the roughness of the
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bark, the greenness of the root, the savour of the fruits, the sweetness of the scents, the variety of the colours, the softness of the leaves? Yet because we know this by experience, we do not doubt that all these spring from a single grain of seed. Where then is the difficulty that dust shall return into limbs, when we have every day before our eyes the power of the Creator, Who in a marvellous manner, even from a grain creates wood, and in a still more marvellous manner from the wood creates fruit? Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number. For the greatness of the Divine works can neither be made out in respect of kind and quality, nor reckoned in respect of quantity. Hence it is still further added,
Ver. 10, 11. Who giveth rain upon the face of the earth, and sendeth waters upon all things. Who setteth up on high those that be low; and those which mourn He exalteth with safety.
[xvi] [MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION]
20. Forasmuch as we believe that the friends of blessed Job were enlightened by their intercourse with him, we must needs handle these words of Eliphaz in a mystical manner. Thus Almighty God ‘gives rain upon the earth,’ when He waters the withered hearts of the Gentiles with the grace of heavenly preaching, and He ‘sendeth waters upon all things,’ in that by the fulness of the Spirit He fashions the barrenness of lost man to fruitfulness; as ‘Truth’ says by His own lips, Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst. But by the title of the universe man is denoted, in that in him there is set forth a true likeness and a large participation in common with the universe. For every thing that is either is, yet does not live; or is and lives, yet does not feel; or is and lives and feels, yet neither understands nor discriminates; or is and lives and feels and understands and discriminates. For stones are, yet do not live. Trees both are and live, yet do not feel. For their verdure is called the life of herbs and of trees, as is declared by Paul concerning seeds, Thou fool! that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die. [1 Cor. 15, 36] Brute creatures both are and live and feel, yet do not understand. Angels both are and live and feel, and by understanding they exercise discernment. Man, then, in that he has it in common with stones to be, with trees to live, with animals to feel, with angels to discern, is rightly represented by the title of the ‘universe,’ in whom after some sort the ‘universe’ itself is contained. And hence ‘the Truth’ saith to His disciples, Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. That is, He would have every creature to be taken for man only, in whom He created something common with all things.
21. Though in this place, ‘all things’ may be understood in another sense also. For the grace of the Holy Spirit in bringing the rich under its influence, does not keep back the poor; while it abases the strong, it does not forbid the weak to come to it; while it gathers together the noble, at the same time it lays hold of the base-born; while it takes up the wise, it disdains not the foolishness of the unskilful. God, then, ‘sendeth waters upon all things,’ Who by the gift of the Holy Spirit calleth to the knowledge of Himself from every class of men.
22. Again it may be that by the designation of ‘all things,’ the mere diversities of characters are set before us. For one is lifted up by pride, another is bent down by the weight of fear, one burns with
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lust, another pants with avarice, one lets himself sink from listlessness, another is fired with rage. But while, by the teaching of Holy Writ, humility is given to the proud man, confidence bestowed upon the fearful, the lustful cleansed from impurity by devotedness to chastity, the avaricious by moderation cooled from the heat of his covetous desires, the careless liver made erect by the uprightness of an earnest mind, the passionate man restrained from the hastiness of his headlong disposition, God ‘sendeth water upon all things,’ for He adapts the power of His Word in each severally according to the diversity of their characters, that each may find in His revelation that, whereby he may yield the produce of the virtue that he needs. Hence it is said by a wise man of the sweetness of manna, Thou didst send them from heaven bread prepared without their labour, having in itself all delight, and the sweetness of every taste. [Wisd. 16, 20] For the manna contained in itself all manner of delight and the sweetness of every taste, for this reason, that in the mouth of the spiritual sort it yielded a taste, according to the eater's will, in that the Divine Word, being at the same time suited to all minds, yet never at variance with itself, condescends to the kind and character of its hearers; and whereas every elect person understands it with profit according to his own fashion, he as it were turns the manna he received into a taste at will. And forasmuch as after the toils of good practice comes the glory of compensation, it is rightly subjoined after the sending of water, Who setteth up on high those that be low, and those which mourn He exalteth with safety.
23. ‘Those that be low are set on high,’ in that they, who are now despised for the love of God, shall then come as judges along with God, as ‘Truth’ pledges this which we have just named to the same humble ones, saying, Ye which have followed Me, in the Regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. [Matt. 19, 28] Then ‘those that mourn the Lord exalts with safety,’ in that they who, being inflamed with desire of Him, flee prosperity, endure crosses, undergo tortures at the hands of persecutors, chasten their own selves with grieving, are then vouchsafed a safety so much the more exalted, as they now from devout affection kill themselves to all the joys of the world. Hence it is that it is said by Solomon, The heart knoweth his own soul's bitterness, and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy. [Prov. 14, 10] For the human mind ‘knoweth its own soul's bitterness,’ when inflamed with aspirations after the eternal land, it learns by weeping the sorrowfulness of its pilgrimage. But the ‘stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy,’ in that he, that is now a stranger to the grief of compunction, is not then a partaker in the joy of consolation. Hence it is that ‘Truth’ saith in the Gospel, Verily, verily I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice; and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. [John 16, 20] And again, And ye therefore now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. [ver. 21. 22] The Lord, then, is said ‘to exalt with safety those which mourn,’ in that to all, who for His sake are stricken with grief in time, He vouchsafes true salvation for their comfort. But at the same time nothing hinders but that this may be understood of God's Elect even in this life.
24. For those that be ‘low are set on high,’ in that when they abase themselves in humility, they mount above all sublunary things in the discernment of a lofty mind. And, while they reckon
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themselves to be worthless in all things, by the discriminating view of a right mind, they surmount and trample upon the glory of this world. Let us look at lowly Paul. Mark how he says to his disciples, For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Christ's sake. [2 Cor. 4, 5] Let us see this ‘humble man set up on high. ’ He says, Know ye not that we shall judge Angels? [1 Cor. 6, 3] and again, And hath raised us together, and made us sit together in heavenly places. [Eph. 2, 6] Perchance at that moment the chain was holding him outwardly fast bound. Yet he had been ‘set on high’ within, who, by the certainty of his hope, was already sitting in heavenly places. Holy men then are objects of scorn without, and as unworthy persons have every indignity put upon them, yet in sure confidence that they are meet for the heavenly realms, they look with certainty for the glory of the Eternal world. And when they are hard pressed without in the assaults of persecution, they fall back within into the fortified stronghold of their mind; and thence they look down upon all things passing far below them, and amongst them they see passing even themselves as in the body. They dread no threats, for even tortures they so endure as to set them at nought. For it is hence that it is said by Solomon, But the righteous shall be bold as a lion. [Prov. 28, 1] Hence it is written again by the same, The righteous man shall not be grieved by any thing that shall happen to him. Prov. 12, 21] For because all the righteous are seated on the lofty height of their purposed mind, whereas in dying they are not sensible of death, it is so in a marvellous manner, that the missiles of the reprobate at the same time both strike them, and do not reach them. Those then that are ‘low are set up on high,’ in that from the very circumstance that they despise themselves in all things, they are rendered the more secure against them all.
25. Contrary to which it is rightly delivered by the Prophet to the lost soul under the likeness of Babylon, Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground; there is no throne for the daughter of the Chaldeans. [Is. 47, 1] For here I think the human mind is called a virgin, not as undefiled, but as unproductive. And forasmuch as Babylon is rendered ‘confusion,’ the barren soul is rightly named the daughter of Babylon, who, in that she never puts forth good works, whilst she is framed on no method of a right life, is as it were engendered of the parentage of confusion. But if she is called a virgin not as being barren but undefiled, after that she is fallen from the state of saving health, it is only to the increase of her ‘confusion’ that she is called that which she once was. And it is fitly that the Divine voice, in rebuking her, saith to her, Come down; for the human mind is stationed on high, when it covets the rewards above; but it ‘comes down’ from this station, when being overcome it yields itself cowardly to decaying worldly desires. And it is immediately subjoined to her with justice, And sit in the dust. For ‘coming down she sits in the dust,’ in that quitting heavenly scenes, she grovels in the very lowest [b], being stained with earthly imaginations. And here it is yet further added by way of repetition, Sit on the ground. As if in uttering reproaches he said in plain words, ‘Because thou refusedst to lift thyself by a heavenly conversation, laid prostrate beneath thyself, be degraded in earthly courses. ’ And hence it is forthwith added by a necessary consequence, There is no throne for the daughter of the Chaldeans. For the Chaldeans are translated ‘fierce. ’ And they are very fierce, who, pursuing their own wills, refuse to spare even their own lives. Earthly desires are ‘fierce,’ which render the mind hard and insensible not only to the precepts of the Creator, but also to the blows of stripes. But the ‘daughter
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of the fierce ones has no throne,’ in that the mind that is born to the love of the world by bad desires, and is by those same desires rendered obdurate, herein that she yields herself to earthly concupiscence, parts with the seat of judgment, and she sits as mistress upon no throne within her, in that she lacks the balance of discernment, and is withheld from the sitting of her judgment, because she ranges abroad among external lusts. For it is clear that that mind, which has lost the seat of counsel within, in a thousand ways dissipates itself without in desires. And because it shut the eyes to doing what it understands, it is deservedly blinded, so as not even to know what it does; and oftentimes by a deserved visitation it is left in its own will, and is set loose under those very toilsome services of the world, which it pants after with solicitude. Hence it is fitly added in that place, For thou shall no more be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones, and grind meal. [Is. 27, 2] It is well known that parents spare their tender daughter, nor charge her with hard and servile employments. So Almighty God as it were calls a daughter tender when He recalls the well- beloved soul of each person from the wearisome services of this world, that, whilst it is charged with external works, it be not hardened to internal desires. But the ‘daughter of the Chaldeans’ is not called ‘soft and tender,’ in that the mind, which is abandoned to evil inclinations, is left in this world's travail, the thing which it most anxiously desires. So that like a handmaid she drudges in the service of the world without, who refuses as a daughter to love God within. Hence she is bidden to ‘take the millstone, and grind meal. ’ A millstone is whirled round in a circle, and the meal is thrown out. Now each separate course of this world's action is a mill, which, while it heaps up a multitude of cares, as it were whirls the minds of men in a circle, and she as it were throws forth the meal from herself, in that, when the heart is turned wrong, she is ever producing infinitely little thoughts. But it sometimes happens that he, who while at rest is accounted of some worth, on being placed in any scene of action is stripped bare. Hence we have it forthwith subjoined in that place, Uncover thy baseness, make bare the shoulder, uncover the thighs, pass over the rivers. For in the execution of a work ‘baseness is uncovered,’ in that the base and abject soul is made known in the manifestation of working, whereas before while at rest, it was accounted great. The mind ‘makes bare the shoulder,’ when it brings to light its practice, which was kept from view. It ‘uncovers the thighs,’ in that it plainly discovers, by what strides of desire it reaches after the advantages of the world. Furthermore ‘it passes over the rivers,’ in that it unceasingly pursues the courses of this present life, which are daily running out to their end. And, whilst it gives over one set, and follows after another, it is as it were ever going on from river to river. These things we have delivered by way of discussion in few words, in order to shew where that mind lies grovelling, which has been unseated from the throne of a holy purpose. For if it ever cease to pant after the things which are above it, it plunges even unceasingly below itself. But it is fixed on high, if, abandoning the love of temporal things, it is bound fast to the hope of a changeless eternity.
[LITERAL INTERPRETATION]
26. It is well said then, Who setteth up on high those that be low. And it is fitly added, And those which mourn He exalteth with safety. Oftentimes in this world even any that be glad of heart are ‘exalted,’ whilst they are swoln by the mere gloriousness of their fortune, but ‘those that mourn, the Lord exalts to safety,’ in that he raises His sorrowing children to glory by the solid substance of
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true joy; for they are exalted by safety, and not by madness, who, set fast in good works, rejoice with a sure hope in God. For there are some, as we have said, who both do misdeeds, and yet do not cease to rejoice. Of whom Solomon saith, Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the things that be froward. [Prov. 2, 14] And again, There be wicked men, who are as secure, as though they had the deeds of the righteous. [Ecc. 8, 14. Vulg. ] These, truly, are not ‘exalted by safety,’ but by foolishness, which same are full of pride when they ought to be loaded with sorrow, and for the very reason that these wretched persons let themselves out in exultation, they are wept over by all good men. Verily not unlike to the senses of madmen, they account that insanity, in which they surpass others, to be strength. They know not that it comes from disease, that they are able to do more than the sane, and they as it were esteem themselves to have increased in powers, whilst they are drawing near to the end of life by accessions of sickness. These because they have no perception of reason, are wept for, and they laugh, and they expand in an extraordinary exultation of heart, in the very same proportion that from insensibility they are ignorant of the evil they are undergoing. Those then that ‘mourn’ the Lord ‘exalts with safety,’ in that the mind of the Elect is full of joy, derived, not from the madness of the present life, but from the certain prospect of eternal salvation. Hence it is fitly added immediately afterwards, with respect to this very destruction of the wicked,
Ver. 12. He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
[xvii]
27. The minds of the lost are ever awake to evil imaginations, but very often the Providence above counteracts them, and though not even when they are crushed with adversities do they amend the wickedness of their counsel, yet that they may never prevail against the good, He puts a check upon their power. And against these it is brought to pass by marvellous retribution, that whilst the effect of their evil doing is lacking to them, still conscience gives them over convicted to the just sentence of the Judge. Whereas then they devise evil things, they shew what they themselves are about; but, whereas they cannot ‘perform their enterprize,’ they, against whom it was imagined, are protected; and hence is yet further added aright,
Ver. 13. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.
[xviii]
28. For oftentimes, some that are puffed up with human wisdom, when they see that the decrees of God are contrary to their inclinations, set themselves to oppose them with crafty manoeuvres, and that they may bend the power of the dispensation of the Most High to meet their own wishes, they busy themselves in cunning contrivances, they devise schemes of excessive refinement. But they are only executing the will of God by the very way they are labouring to alter it, and whilst they strive to withstand the purpose of the Almighty, they are obeying His behests; for it often happens that that renders good service to His provident ordering, which on the part of human efforts makes
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a silly opposition to Him. Therefore the Lord taketh the wise in their own craftiness, when the acts of man even then conveniently serve His purposes, when they are opposed to them. Which we shall the better shew, if we bring forward a few instances of actual facts.
[Joseph’s Brethren]
29. Joseph had been visited by a dream, how that his brother's sheaves fell down before his sheaf; he had been visited by a dream, how that the sun and moon together with the other stars
worshipped him. And because he related these things guilelessly to his brethren, envy and fear of his future dominion over them forthwith smote their breasts; and when they saw him coming to them, they said with malice burning against him, Behold this dreamer cometh. Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and we shall see what good his dreams will do him. [Gen. 37, 19. 20. ] And fearing to become subject to his dominion, they let down the dreamer into a well, and sell him to Ishmaelites that were passing by. He, then, having been brought into Egypt, subjecled to slavery, condemned on the charge of lust, being vouchsafed aid for the merits of his chastity, and set up for his judgment in prophecy, was advanced over the whole of Egypt; and by the wisdom from on high with prudent foresight he collected stores of corn, and thus met the impending peril of a scarcity. And when the famine poured itself over the earth, Jacob, being distressed for the providing of food, sent his sons into Egypt. They find Joseph, whom they did not know, master of the distribution of corn, and that they might win the favour to have food given them, they were forced to worship the distributor thereof with their necks bent down to the earth. Now then let us consider the course of the transaction; let us consider how the power of God ‘took the wise in their own very craftiness. ’ Joseph had for this reason been sold, that he might not be worshipped, yet he was for this reason worshipped, because he was sold; for they dared to try a thing in craft, that the counsel of God might be changed; but by resisting they helped on the decree of God, which they strove to get quit of. For they were constrained to execute the will of God by the very act by which they laboured craftily to alter the same. Thus whilst the Divine purpose is shunned, it is fulfilling; thus while human wisdom resists, it is ‘caught. ’ Those brethren feared lest Joseph should grow to an height above themselves. But that which was arranged by the Divine disposal, their precautions were the cause and occasion of bringing about. Human wisdom then was ‘caught’ in itself, when in the very way that its purpose was to oppose the will of God, it did service toward the completion thereof.
[Saul]
30. Thus, whereas Saul saw David, his subject, grow up in a daily advance in valorous achievements, he betrothed his daughter to him in marriage, and demanded that an hundred foreskins of the Philistines should be given by him for her dowry, that when the soldier thus challenged sought to exceed his own measure, being delivered over to the swords of his enemies, he might bring his life to an end; according as it is written, The king requireth not any dowry, but an hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hands of the Philistines. [1 Sam. 18, 25] But David, strengthened by the
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favourable aid of the interior Disposal, engaged himself to give the hundred, and he brought back two hundred foreskins. By the convincing force of which deed Saul being overcome, was ‘caught’ in the purpose of his wisdom by Providence above; for by the very means that he looked to destroy the life of the rising soldier, he raised to the highest pitch the fame of his merits.
[Jonah]
31. But because the very Elect sometimes strive to be sharp-witted in a degree, it is well to bring forward another wise man, and to shew how the craft of mortal men is comprehended in the Inner Counsels. For Jonah desired to be sharp-witted in prudence, when being sent to preach the repentance required of the Ninevites, because he feared that, if the Gentiles were chosen, Judaea would be forsaken, he refused to discharge the office of that preaching. He sought a ship and settled to fly to Tharsis, but straightway a storm arises, the lot is cast, that it may be found out to whose fault it is owing that the sea is in commotion. Jonah is found in the offence, he is plunged into the deep, devoured by the whale swallowing him, and there he is brought by the beast carrying him, where he despised to go of his own accord. See, the tempest of God finds out the runagate, the lot binds him, the sea receives him, the beast encloses him, and because he sets himself against paying obedience to his Maker, he is carried a culprit by his own prison to that place, whither he was sent. When God commanded, man would not administer the prophecy; when God breathed on it, the beast vomits the Prophet. God then ‘taketh the wise in their own craftiness,’ when He brings back even that to serve the purpose of His will, by which the will of man sets itself in contradiction to Him.
[The Jews]
32. Let us, yet further, look well into the wisdom of the Hebrews, that we may see what in its foresight it resisted, what by so resisting it brought about. Surely, when a multitude of believers was gathering together at the miracles of our Redeemer, when the priests of the people, kindled by the torches of envy, declared that all the world were going after Him, saying, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? Behold, the world is gone after Him [John 12, 19]; that they might cut away from Him the strength of so great a concourse, they endeavoured to put an end to His power by death, saying, It is expedient that one man die, and not that the whole nation perish. [John 11, 50] Yet the death of our Redeemer availed to the uniting of His Body, i. e. of the Church, and not to the severing away of it.