No More Learning

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57. What other exactor can be understood, but the devil, who once offered to man in paradise the coin of evil persuasion, and seeks to exact from him daily the guilt of this debt? The word of this exactor is the beginning of evil persuasion. The cry of this exactor is temptation, no longer gentle, but violent. This exactor cries out, when he tempts mightily. Not to hear then the voice of the exactor, is not at all to consent to the violent emotions of temptations. For a man would hear, if he were to do the things which he suggests. But when he scorns to do perversely, it is rightly said, He heareth not. the cry of the exactor.
58. But some persons in this place wish the belly to be understood by the exactor. For it exacts from us a kind of debt; because it requires even by nature the daily fruit of human labour to be spent on it. Whilst abstinent men, then, who in this place are typified by the word ‘wild ass,’ repress by force the desires of the appetite, they contemn, as it were, the words of the clamouring exactor. But since many contests of virtues against innumerable vices befal the continent man, why, in speaking of the cry of the exactor being despised, is it said of the belly alone, that he restrains its impulse and assault, except that no one gains the palm of the spiritual contest, unless he has first conquered the incentives of the flesh, by afflicting the concupiscence of the belly? For we cannot stand up to the conflict of the spiritual contest, unless the enemy who is posted within, that is to say, the appetite of gluttony, is first conquered; because if we overthrow not those evils which are nearer to us, we doubtless proceed in vain to attack those which are further off. For war is in vain waged in the plain against outward foes, if a treacherous citizen is retained within the very walls of the city. The mind also of the combatant is itself kept back, by the grievous disgrace of confusion, from engaging in the spiritual contest, when, feeble in its battle with the flesh, it is wounded and overcome by the swords of gluttony. For when it sees itself defeated by trifles, it is ashamed to engage in greater dangers.
59. But some, ignorant of the order of the contest, neglect to tame their appetite, and proceed at once to spiritual battles And though they sometimes display many acts of great bravery, yet from the sin of gluttony ruling over them, they lose, by the allurement of the flesh, all that they have done boldly; and, while the belly is not restrained, all their virtues are overwhelmed at once by the lust of the flesh. Whence it is written also of the victory of Nahuchodonosor, The chief of the cooks destroyed the walls of Jerusalem. [2 Kings 25, 8] For what does Scripture signify and express by the walls of Jerusalem, but the virtues of a soul which is tending to the vision of peace? [Jer. 52, 12. Oxf. Mss. om. ‘de. ’] Or who is understood by the chief of the cooks, but the belly, which is served with most diligent care by cooks? The chief of the cooks then destroys the walls of Jerusalem, because the belly, when it is not restrained, destroys the virtues of the soul. Hence is it that Paul was withdrawing the strength of the chief of the cooks, who was contending against the walls of Jerusalem, when he was saying, I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection, lest perchance having preached to others, I myself become a cast-away. [l Cor. 9, 27] Hence he also premised, saying, I so run, not as uncertainly, so fight I, not as if beating the air. [ib. 26] Because when we restrain the flesh, we beat with these blows of our abstinence not the air, but unclean spirits; and when we subject that which is within us, we inflict blows [‘pugnos’] on adversaries set without. Hence is it that when the king of Babylon orders the furnace to be kindled, he commands a heap of bitumen, tow, pitch, and firebrands to be furnished. But yet he consumes not in this fire the abstinent youths; [Dan. 4, 27] because, though the ancient enemy presents to our view innumerable desires of dainties, to increase the fire of lust, yet the grace of the Holy Spirit breathes into holy minds, in order that they may remain uninjured by the heats of carnal concupiscence: so that though
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the flame may burn so far as to tempt the heart, yet the temptation may not blaze forth as far as to consent.
60. It should also be known, that the vice of gluttony tempts us in five ways. For it sometimes anticipates the seasons of want: but sometimes does not anticipate them, but seeks for daintier food. Sometimes it looks for those things, which must be taken, to be prepared more carefully; but sometimes it agrees with both the quality of, and the season for, its food, but exceeds, in the quantity of what is to be taken, the measure of moderate refreshment. But sometimes that which it longs for is even of a baser kind, and yet it sins more fatally through the heat of unbounded desire. For Jonathan deserved in truth the sentence of death from the mouth of his father, because in staking honey he anticipated the time which had been fixed for eating. [l Sam. 14, 44] And the people which had been brought out of Egypt, died in the desert, because it despised the manna, and sought for fleshly food, which it counted more delicate. And the first fault of the sons of Eli arose from this, that the servant, at their desire, would not receive cooked meat for the priest, after the ancient custom, but sought for raw flesh, for him to serve up with greater daintiness. [1 Sam. 2, 15] And when it is said to Jerusalem, This was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance, [Ez. 16, 49] it is plainly shewn that she forfeited her salvation, because, with the sin of pride, she exceeded the measure of moderate refreshment. And Esau lost the glory of the birth-right, because he desired mean food, namely, lentils, with great eagerness of longing; and when he preferred this, even to selling his birth-right, he shewed with what eagerness he was panting after it. [Gen. 25, 34] For it is not the food, but the desire that is in fault. Whence also we frequently take some delicate fare without blame, and take a taste of meaner food, not without guilt of conscience. For this Esau, whom we have spoken of, lost in truth his birth-right, through lentils, and Elias preserved the virtue of his body by eating flesh in the desert. Whence also the ancient enemy, because he knows that it is not food, but the desire of food, that is the cause of damnation, both subjected the first man to himself, not with flesh, but an apple; and tempted the second Man not with flesh, but with bread. Hence it is that the fault of Adam is commonly committed, even when mean and worthless food is taken. For it is not Adam alone who has received the prohibiting command to abstain from the forbidden fruit. For when God points out certain aliments as injurious to our health, He, by a kind of sentence, forbids us to use them. And while we desire and taste noxious food, what else do we do in truth but eat of what is forbidden?
61. Those things must therefore be taken, which the necessity of nature requires, and not those which gluttony suggests. But it is a great effort of discretion to give this exactor something, and yet to refuse him something: both to restrain gluttony by not giving, and by giving to support nature. And this discretion is perhaps suggested, when it is said; He heareth not the cry of the exactor. For the word of this exactor is the necessary demand of nature. But his cry is the appetite of gluttony going beyond the measure of necessity. This wild ass then hears the word of this exactor, and hears not his cry; because a discreet and abstinent man both supplies his belly so far as to temper his need, and restrains it from pleasure.
62. But it should be known that pleasure so veils itself under necessity, that a perfect man can scarce discern it. For whilst necessity asks for a debt to he paid, pleasure secretly demands a longing to be fulfilled; it hurries the appetite onward the more fearlessly, the more it conceals itself under the creditable profession of relieving a necessity. But frequently pleasure secretly attached follows behind in the very course of eating; though sometimes impudently free it endeavours even
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to go first. But it is easy to discover when pleasure anticipates its necessity, though very difficult to discern when it secretly connects itself with that very eating which is necessary. For because it follows the natural appetite which goes first, it seems, as it were, to advance slowly behind. For at that time, when the demand of necessity is paid, because pleasure is, through eating, blended with necessity, it is not known what necessity demands itself, and what (as has been said) pleasure secretly demands. But we frequently both distinguish them, and yet, from knowing that they are mutually connected together, take pleasure, when hurried beyond proper bounds, in being wittingly deceived: and whilst the mind flatters itself on the necessity, it is deceived by pleasure. For it is written; Make not provision for the flesh in the desires thereof. [Rom. 13, 14] That therefore which is forbidden to be done in desire, is yielded in necessity.
63. But often, whilst we incautiously condescend to necessity, we are enslaved to desires. And sometimes, while we endeavour to oppose our desires too immoderately, we increase the miseries of necessity. For it is necessary for a man so to maintain the citadel of continence, as to destroy, not the flesh, but the vices of the flesh. For frequently, when the flesh is restrained more than is just, it is weakened even for the exercise of good works, so as to be unequal to prayer also or preaching, whilst it hastens to put out entirely the incentives of vices within itself. For this very man, whom we hear outwardly, we have as the assistant of our inward intention, and both the motions of wantonness are within it, and there also abound in it the appliances of good works. But often, whilst we attack an enemy therein, we kill a citizen also whom we love; and often while we spare, as it were, a fellow-citizen, we nurture an enemy for battle. For our vices become proud upon the same food, on which our virtues are nourished and live. And when a virtue is nourished, the strength of our vices is frequently increased. But when unbounded abstinence weakens the power of vices, our virtue also faints and pants. Whence it is necessary for our inward man to preside, as a kind of impartial arbiter between itself, and him whom it hears without: in order that its outward man may both be always able to serve at its appointed ministry, and never proudly oppose it with unshackled neck; nor be moved if it whispers any suggestion, provided it always tramples it down with the heel of authority stamped upon it. And thus, whilst we allow our vices, when checked, to struggle against us, and yet prohibit their engaging with us on equal terms, it comes to pass that neither our vices prevail against our virtue, nor does our virtue again settle down to rest with entire extinction of our vices. In which way alone our pride [or ‘pride alone’] is utterly extinguished, because though it may serve for victory, yet a continual fight is reserved for us, to keep down the pride of our thoughts. And hence, because every abstinent person both complies with the demands of necessity, and yet opposes violent pleasure, it is well said in this place also by the voice of the Lord, He heareth not the cry of the exactor. But since a discreet person raises himself the more to the understanding of higher things, the more he chastises in himself the incentives of the flesh, after his scorning the cry of the exactor, it is rightly subjoined ;
Ver. 8. He looks round on the mountains of his pasture.
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64. The mountains of his pasture are the lofty contemplations of inward refreshment. For the more holy men abase themselves outwardly with contempt, the more abundantly are they supported within with the contemplation of revelations. Whence it is written; He hath disposed the ascents in his heart in the valley of tears; [Ps. 84, 6] because those, whom the valley of humility outwardly imprisons in tears, the ascent of contemplation elevates within. The mountains of pasture are also
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the lofty powers of angels: which therefore refresh us here by ministering and assisting, because they are fattened there with the inward dew of contemplation. And because, by the bounty of God, they protect us in every contest, they are well said to be beheld around. For we behold them present on all sides around us, by whose defence we are protected against our adversaries on every side. The mountains of pasture can be taken, still further, for the lofty sentences of Holy Scripture, of which it is said by the Psalmist; The high hills for the stags, [Ps. 104, 18] because those who know already how to make the leaps of contemplation, ascend the lofty summits of the Divine sentences, as the tops of mountains. And because the feeble cannot reach in truth to these tops, it is there rightly subjoined, the rock is a refuge for the urchins, because, namely, their understanding does not sublimely exercise the feeble, but faith alone in Christ humbly keeps them in. It follows;
He searcheth after every green thing.
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65. For parched in truth are all things, which, fashioned for a time, are dried up from the sweetness of the present life by the coming end, as if by the summer sun. But those are called green, which fade not away by any shortness of existence. For this wild ass then to seek every green thing, is for each holy man, despising transitory things, to long for those which are to endure for ever.
But all these things which have been said of the wild ass, can be understood in another way also. Which we explain, having repeated the former verse, in order to leave to the judgment of the reader what he believes is to be preferred. After, then, the dispensation of preachers has been described under the figure of hinds, to shew by Whom this same virtue of preaching is given, the mention of our Lord’s Incarnation is immediately subjoined, so that it is said,
Ver. 5. Who hath sent out the wild ass free? [xxi]
66. Nor let any consider it unbecoming that the Incarnate Lord can be typified by such an animal; whilst it is admitted by all that He is spoken of, in Holy Scripture, as, in a certain sense, both a worm and a beetle. As it is written; But I am a worm, and no man. [Ps. 22, 6] And as it is said by the Prophet in the Septuagint, A beetle cried out from the wood. [Hab. 2, 11. LXX. ] Since then He is typified by the mention of such vile and abject things, what is said offensively of Him, of Whom it is admitted that nothing is said appropriately? For He is called a lamb, but it is for His innocence. He is called a lion, but it is for His might. He is also sometimes compared to a serpent, but it is for His death, or for His wisdom. And He can therefore be spoken of figuratively by all these, because none of all these can be essentially believed of Him. For were He to be really one of these essentially, He could no longer be termed another. For were He properly called a lamb, He could no longer be called a lion. If He were properly called a lion, He would not be signified by a serpent. But we say all these things of Him in figure, with the greater latitude, the further removed they are from His essence. The wild ass can therefore designate the Incarnate Lord. For the wild ass is an animal of the fields. And because the Incarnate Lord profited the Gentiles more than the Jews, when, assuming a living body [‘corpus animale’], He went, as it were, not into the house, but rather into the field. Of which field of the Gentiles it is said by the Psalmist; The beauty of the field is with Me. [Ps. 50, 11] The Incarnate Lord therefore, Who in the form of God is equal to the Father, is in the form of a servant less than the Father, in which He is also less than Himself. Let it be said
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therefore by the Father of the Son in the form of a servant; Who hath sent out the wild ass free, and who hath loosed his bands? For every one who sins is the servant of sin. And because the Incarnate Lord was made partaker of our nature, not of our sin, He is said to have been sent forth free, because He is not held under the dominion of sin. Of Whom it is written elsewhere; Free among the dead. [Ps. 88, 5] He is said to have been sent forth free, because taking our nature, He is not at all held by the yoke of iniquity. And though the stain of our guilt touched Him not, yet the suffering of our mortality bound Him. Whence also after He is said to have been sent forth free, it is rightly added of Him; And who hath loosed His bands?
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67. For His bands were then in truth loosened, when the infirmities of His Passion were changed into the glory of His Resurrection. For the Lord had those infirmities of our mortal state, which we endure as the desert of our iniquity, as a kind of bands with which He wished of His own accord to be bound, even to death, and which He loosed marvellously by His Resurrection. For to be hungry, to thirst, to be weary, to be bound, to be scourged, and to be crucified, was the bond of our mortality. But when on the completion of His death the veil of the temple was rent, the rocks were cleft, the tombs were opened, the barriers of hell were laid bare, what else is shewn by so many arguments of such mighty power, but that those bands of our infirmity were loosened, that He, Who had come to take on Him the form of a servant, might return in freedom to heaven even with His members? Of which bonds of His the Apostle Peter witnesses, saying, Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of hell, because it was not possible for Him to be holden of it. [Acts 2, 24] And because after His Death and Resurrection He deigned to call the Gentiles to the grace of faith, after His bands are said to have been loosened, it is fitly subjoined ;
Ver. 6. To Whom I have given a house in the solitude, and His tabernacle in the land of saltness.
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68. For in the Gentile world, in which there was no Patriarch, no Prophet, there was hardly a man to exercise his reason to gain a knowledge of God. Of this solitude it is said by Isaiah; The desert and the pathless land shall rejoice, and the solitude shall exult and blossom as the lily. [Is. 35, 1] And again it is said of the Church; He will make her desert as delights, and her solitude as the garden of the Lord. [Is. 51, 3] But this same solitude, which, before it knew the true wisdom of God, had brought forth saltness, is mentioned again as a land of saltness; because it produced no verdure of good understanding, and savoured only of what was wrong. He receives therefore his house in the solitude, and His tabernacle in the land of saltness, because God when Incarnate for men, forsook Judaea, and possessed the hearts of the Gentiles. Whence it is said to Him by the voice of the Father, through the Prophet; Ask of Me, and I will give thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Thy possession. [Ps. 2, 8] Who, as He is God, gives all things with the Father, as He is Man, receives of the Father among all things, as it is written; He hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man. [John 5, 27] And it is written again; Knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands. [John 13, 3] Or as He Himself says; All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me. [John 6, 37] But if it is now asked what is the difference between a house and a tabernacle; a house is for a dwelling place, a tabernacle for a journey. He possessed therefore on His coming the hearts of the Gentiles as if they were tabernacles, but, strengthening them by righteousness, He made them His house by inhabiting. And
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because He scorned to imitate the conduct of those to whom He had come, it is rightly subjoined;
Ver. 7. He scorneth the multitude of the city.
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69. That is, He despises the customs of human conversation. For having been made a Man amongst men, He refused to observe the practice of men. For He was therefore made a Man amongst us, not only to redeem us by the shedding of His blood, but also to change us by setting an example. He found therefore one thing in our conversation at His coming, and taught us another by His life. For all the progeny of the haughty race of Adam were striving to seek after the prosperity of the present life, to avoid its adversities, to escape disgrace, to follow glory. The Incarnate Lord came amongst them courting adversity, scorning prosperity, embracing insults, flying from glory. For when the Jews had wished to make Him their king, He shrunk from being a king. But when they were endeavouring to kill Him, He came of His own accord to the scaffold of the cross. He therefore avoided that which all seek after, He sought after that which all avoid; He caused all to marvel that both He Himself rose again when dead, and by His death raised others from death. For there are in truth two lives of a man who exists in the body, one before death, the other after the resurrection; one of which all practically knew, but knew not the other; and mankind were directing their thoughts to that only which they knew. The Lord came in the flesh, and while He took on Himself the one, He pointed out the other. While He took on Himself that which was known to us, He pointed out to us that which was unknown to us. For by His dying He practised that life which we possess, by rising again He disclosed that life for which we are to seek, instructing us by His example, that this life which we pass before our death, is not to be loved on its own account, but to be tolerated on account of the other. Because then, by practising a new conversation amongst men, He followed not the customs of Babylon, it is well written of Him, He scorneth the multitude of the city.
70. Or certainly, because He forsook the many who were wandering along the broad way, and chose the few who were walking through narrow paths. For to ‘scorn the multitude of the city,’ is to reject from a share in His Kingdom that portion of mankind which enters the broad way, which also through the abundance of iniquity is many. It follows;
He heareth not the cry of the exactor.
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71. As was said before, what exactor can be understood in this place, but the devil? who by his wicked persuasion held out the hope of immortality, but by deceiving exacted the tribute of death; who by his persuasion introduced sin, by his cruelty exacts punishment. The word of this exactor is his crafty persuasion of man before death, but his ‘cry’ is his violent seizure of him after death. For those whom he secretly intercepts before death, he violently hurries to share with him his punishment after death. But because the Lord when drawing near to death feared not the violent assaults of this exactor, (as He Himself says, For the prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in Me,) [John 14, 30] it is well said, He heareth not the cry of the exactor. For the exactor of
mankind came to Him, because he saw Him to be a man.
But Him Whom He believed to be a man despised for His weakness, he felt, by his power, to be above man.
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72. Laban doubtless represented this exactor, when coming with wrath, he demanded his idols which were with Jacob. [Gen. 31, 30] For Laban is interpreted ‘whitening. ’ But the devil is appropriately understood by whitening, who though dark through his deserts, transforms himself into an angel of light. [2 Cor. 11, 14] Him did Jacob serve, that is, the Jewish people, on the part of the reprobate, from whose flesh the Lord Incarnate came. But by Laban can this world also be represented, which follows Jacob with fury, because it endeavours to oppress by persecution all the Elect, who are members of our Redeemer. Jacob carried off the daughter of this person, that is, either of the world or of the devil, when Christ united to Himself the Church from the Gentile world. Whom he takes away also from the house of her father, because He says to her by the Prophet; Forget thine own people, and thy father’s house. [Ps. 45, 10] But what is designated by idols but avarice? Whence it is said by Paul; And covetousness, which is idolatry. [Col. 3, 5] Laban therefore on coming found not the idols upon Jacob, because when the devil displayed the treasures of the world, he found not in our Redeemer the traces of earthly concupiscence. [Gen. 31, 33] But those idols which Jacob had not, Rachel covered by sitting. [ib. 34] For by Rachel, which also means ‘a sheep,’ is typified the Church. But to sit, is to seek after the humility of penitence, as it is written; Arise, after ye have sat down. [Ps. 127, 2] Rachel therefore covered the idols by sitting, because Holy Church, by following Christ, covered, with penitence, the vices of earthly concupiscence. Of this covering of vices it is said by the Psalmist; Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. [Ps. 32, 1] That Rachel then signified us, who press down idols by sitting, if we condemn the sins of covetousness by penitence. But this covetousness is not wont to befal those, who run like men in the way of the Lord, to whom it is said; Do manfully, and let your heart he strengthened;[Ps. 31, 24] but those especially who walking, as it were, with effeminate step, are relaxed by the blandishments of the world. Whence also in that place these are the words of this same Rachel, According to the custom of women it now is happening to me. [Gen. 31, 35] Laban therefore finds not the idols upon Jacob, because the crafty exactor found nothing to blame in our Redeemer. Of which exactor it is said to our Redeemer by the Prophet, when He was delivering the Gentile world from his dominion; For thou hast overcome the yoke of his burden, and the rod of his shoulder, and the sceptre of his oppressor, as in the day of Madian. [Is. 9, 4] For the Lord in rescuing the Gentile world, overcame the yoke of its burden, when He delivered it, by His coming, from that bondage to the tyranny of the devil. He overcame the rod of its shoulder, when He kept his blow, which was oppressing it heavily in consequence of wickedness, from redeemed mankind. He overcame the sceptre of its oppressor, when He swept away from the heart of the faithful, that kingdom of the same devil, who had been wont to exact the due tribute of punishments for the fatal perpetration of sins.
73. But let us hear how these things were done. It is immediately subjoined, As in the day of Madian. I think it will not be amiss if we consider at greater length this war of the Madianites, which was intentionally introduced by the Prophet in comparison with the coming of the Lord. For in the book of Judges Gedeon is described as having fought against the Madianites. [Judg. 7, 1-22] When he was bringing forth the multitude of the army to war, he was ordered by a Divine admonition, to remove from the conflict of battle all whom on coming to the water he beheld drinking the water with bended knees. And the result was, that only three hundred men remained, who had drunk the water in their hands, standing. With these he proceeds to the battle, and he equipped them not with arms, but with trumpets, lamps, and pitchers. For, as is there written, they placed the lighted lamps in the pitchers, and held their trumpets in their right hand, but their pitchers in their left, and on coming close to their enemies, they sounded with the trumpets, they
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brake the pitchers, the lamps appeared: and their enemies alarmed on one hand with the sound of the trumpets, and on the other by the glittering of the lamps, were turned to flight. Why then is it that such a battle is brought forward by the Prophet, and why is victory in that battle compared to the coming of our Redeemer? Did the Prophet intend to point out to us that that victorious battle under the command of Gedeon was a type of the coming of our Redeemer? Such deeds were doubtless there wrought, which, the more they exceed the usual mode of fighting, are the less removed from the mystery of prophecy. For who ever went forth to battle with pitchers and lamps? Who, when going against arms, ever abandoned his arms? These things would have been truly absurd to us, had they not been terrible to the enemies. But we have learned by the evidence of the victory itself, not to regard these things which were done as of little account. Gedeon, therefore, coming to the battle, signifies to us the coming of our Redeemer, of Whom it is written; Lift up, O princes, your gates, and be ye lift up,? ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle. [Ps. 24, 7. 8. ] He prophesied of our Redeemer, not only by his doings, but also by his name. For Gedeon is interpreted ‘going about in the womb. ’ For our Lord embraces all things by the power of His majesty, and yet He came, through the grace of the dispensation assuming man’s nature in the womb of the Virgin. Who then is He Who goes about in the womb, except Almighty God, redeeming us by His own dispensation, embracing all things by His Godhead, and taking man’s nature in the womb? In which womb He was both Incarnate, and not confined; because He was both within the womb by the substance of His infirmity, and beyond the world by the power of His majesty. But Madian is interpreted ‘from judgment. ’ For that His enemies were to be repulsed and destroyed, was not from the imperfection of their conqueror, but from the judgment of Him, Who judgeth rightly. And for this reason they are called ‘from judgment:’ because, being aliens from the grace of the Redeemer, they bear, even in their designation, the desert of just condemnation.
74. Against these Gedeon proceeds to battle with three hundred men. The plenitude of perfection is usually understood by the number ‘hundred. ’ What then is designated by the number hundred taken thrice, except the perfect knowledge of the Trinity? For with those our Lord destroys the adversaries of the faith, with those comes down to the contests of preaching, who can understand Divine truths, who know how to think accurately of the Trinity, Which is God. But we must observe, that this number three hundred is comprised in the letter Tau [“T” or in the Greek but not in the Hebrew character], which bears a resemblance of the cross. For if there were added over the transverse line, the projecting part of the cross, it would no longer be a resemblance of the cross, but the cross itself. Because then that number of three hundred is comprised in the letter Tau, and by the letter Tau, as we have said, a resemblance of the cross is set forth, by those three hundred followers of Gedeon, those persons are not inappropriately designated, to whom it is said, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. [Luke 9, 23] And these take up the cross more truly, as they follow the Lord, the more severely they both tame themselves, and are tortured with the compassion of charity towards their neighbours. Whence it is said also by the prophet Ezekiel, Mark Tau upon the foreheads of the men that groan and lament. [Ez. 9, 4] Or certainly, by these three hundred who are comprised in the letter Tau, it is expressed that the sword of the enemy is overcome by the wood of the cross. And they are brought to the river, to drink the waters; and whoever drank the waters with bended knees, were removed from the struggle of war. For by the waters is designated the doctrine of wisdom, but by the unbended knee righteous conduct. They therefore who are reported to have bent their knees, while drinking the water, retired from the strife of battles, having been forbidden; because Christ proceeds to battle
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against the enemies of the faith, with those who when they drink the streams of doctrine, distort not the uprightness of their actions. For all are said at that time to have drunk the water, but not all to have stood with unbended knee. And they who bent their knees, while they were drinking the waters, were rejected, because, as the Apostle witnesses, For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified. [Rom. 2, 13] For since dissoluteness of conduct is, as we have said, signified by this very bending of the knees, it is rightly again said by Paul, Lift up the hands that hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight steps with your feet. [Heb. 12, 12] They therefore proceed, under Christ as their leader, to battle, who exhibit in their conduct that which they profess with their mouths, who drink spiritually the streams of doctrine, and yet are not carnally distorted by wicked works; because, as it is written, Praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner. [Ecclus. 15, 9]
75. They go forth therefore to battle with trumpets, with lamps, and with pitchers. This, as we have said, was an unusual order of battle. They sounded with the trumpets, and the pitchers were held in their left hands. But lamps were placed within the pitchers; but, when the pitchers were broken, the lamps appeared, and by their flashing light the affrighted enemies are put to flight. By the trumpets is designated therefore the loud voice of preachers, by the lamps the brightness of their miracles, by the pitchers the frailness of their bodies. For our Leader led forth with Him, to the contest of preaching, such as by making light of their bodily safety, would overthrow their enemies by dying, and would overcome their swords, not by arms, not by words, but by patience. For our Martyrs came armed under their Leader to battle, but armed with trumpets, with pitchers, with lamps. And they sounded with their trumpets, when preaching; they broke their pitchers, when exposing their bodies to dissolution by the swords of the enemy in their suffering; they shone forth with lamps, when after the dissolution of their bodies they flashed forth with miracles. And their enemies were presently put to flight, because, when they beheld the bodies of dead Martyrs glittering with miracles, they were overpowered by the light of truth, and believed that which they had impugned. They sounded therefore with the trumpets, that the pitchers might he broken; the pitchers were broken, that the lamps might appear; the lamps appeared, that the enemies might be put to flight. That is, the Martyrs preached, till their bodies were dissolved in death; their bodies were dissolved in death, that they might shine forth with miracles; they shone forth with miracles, that they might overthrow their enemies with divine light; so that they might no longer stand up and resist God, but submit to, and be afraid of, Him.
76. And it must he observed, that the enemies stood firm before the pitchers, but fled before the lamps; doubtless because the persecutors of Holy Church resisted the preachers of the faith while yet in the body, but were put to flight by the miracles which were manifested after the dissolution of their bodies, because, terrified by fear, they ceased from persecuting the faithful. They were afraid, in truth, at the lamps of miracles which appeared, when the pitchers of their bodies had been broken, at the preaching of the trumpets.
77. We must also notice that which is there written; that they held the trumpets in their right hand, but the pitchers in their left. For we are said to have on the right hand, whatever we consider a great thing; but on the left, that which we regard as nothing. It is therefore well written in that place, that they held the trumpets in their right hand, but the pitchers in their left; because the Martyrs of Christ consider the grace of preaching as a great thing, but the benefit of their bodies as of the least moment. But whoever thinks more of the benefit of the body, than of the grace of preaching, holds
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the trumpet in his left hand, but the pitcher in his right. For if the grace of preaching is attended to in the first place, and in the next place the benefit of the body, it is certain that the trumpets are held in the right hand, and the pitchers in the left. Hence the Lord says in the Gospel, Neither do they light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick. [Matt. 5, 15] For by a bushel is understood temporal advantage, but by a candle the light of preaching. To place therefore a light under a bushel, is, for the sake of temporal advantage, to conceal the grace of preaching, which none of the Elect surely does. And it is well there added, But upon a candlestick. For by a candlestick is designated the position of the body, on which a candle is placed above, when the duty of preaching is preferred to the body. It is therefore well said by the Prophet, Thou hast overcome the sceptre of his oppressor, as in the day of Madian. [Is. 9, 4] But since we have made a long digression for the sake of expounding the testimony of the Prophet, let us return to the regular order of our work. After, therefore, it was said, He heareth not the cry of the exactor; because, namely, our Lord when manifested in the flesh despised the snares of the great enemy, He rightly subjoins what He did further in behalf of His Elect, saying;
Ver. 8. He looketh around on the mountains of His pasture.
[xxvi]
78. Mountains we understand to be all the lofty ones of this world, who were swollen in their hearts with earthly loftiness. But since the Lord engrains [‘inviscerat’] even such, when converted, into the body of His Church, and, turning them from their former pride, transforms them into His own members, these are mountains of His pasture; doubtless, because He is satisfied with the conversion of the wandering, and the humility of the proud. As He Himself says, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me. [John 4, 34] And as He commanded the Apostles, when sent forth to preach, saying, Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that which endureth unto eternal life. [John 6, 27] Of these mountains it is said by the Prophet, The Lord will not reject His people, for in His hand are all the ends of the earth, and the heights of the hills He beholdeth. [Ps. 95, 4. LXX. ] For the heights of the mountains are surely the loftinesses of the proud. Which the Lord is said to behold, that is, to change from their iniquity for the better. For the Lord converts the person whom He looks on. Whence it is written, The Lord turned, and looked upon Peter; and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said, Before the cock crow thou shalt deny Me thrice; and he went out, and wept bitterly. [Luke 22, 61. 62. ] And as Solomon says, A King that sitteth on the throne of judgment, scattereth away all evil with His look. [Prov. 20, 8] Of this looking at the mountains it is said again by the Prophet, The mountains melted like wax from the face of the Lord; [Ps. 97, 5] because, after the hardness of their perversity, they were melted by the Divine fear, and subsided from their former rigid swelling.
79. But we must observe, that He does not say, ‘beholdeth,’ but looketh round on the mountains of His pasture. For the Lord was in truth Incarnate in Judaea, which was placed in the midst of the nations. And He therefore looked round on the mountains, because He gathered together, from the whole body of the Gentiles, the proud of this world situated every where around. He feeds therefore in these mountains; because He is satiated with the good works of the converted, as if with green herbs. Hence is it that it is said to Him by the voice of the Bride in the Song of Songs, Shew me where Thou feedest, where Thou liest at noon. [Cant. 1, 7] For the Lord is fed, when He is delighted with our good deeds. But He lies down at noon, when, after the heart of the reprobate burning with carnal desires, He finds the cool refreshment of holy thought in the breasts of His Elect. For
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Matthew had been a kind of mountain, when he was swelling with the profits of the custom house; of whom it is also written, that after he believed, he invited our Lord into his house, and made a great feast. [Luke 5, 29] This mountain therefore produced for this wild ass the herbs of green pasture, because he fed Him outwardly with a feast, and inwardly with banquets of virtues. And this is set forth still more fully, when it is subjoined;
He searcheth after every green thing.
[xxvii]
80. For He deserts the parched places, and searches for every green thing. For parched are those hearts of men, which, planted in the perishing hope of this world, have no assurance of eternity. But those flourish, which cling to that inheritance of which the Apostle Peter says; To an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. [1 Pet. 1, 4] For they are more truly green, the more they plant the root of thought in the portion of an inheritance that fadeth not away. Let every one therefore, who dreads being parched within, fly from the barren desires of this world without. Let every one who longs to be sought for by the Lord, seek for his eternal home, and become verdant in the inward plantation of his heart.
81. Let this twofold exposition of the wild ass he sufficient. But it must he left to the judgment of the reader, which he thinks best to select. But if he chance to scorn the meaning of either exposition, I will willingly myself follow my reader, as a pupil his master, if he thinks more accurately and truly. Because whatever I find he knows better than myself, I believe it to be vouchsafed as a special gift to myself. For all we, who endeavour, full of faith, to utter something concerning God, are organs of truth: and it is in the power of this same Truth, whether It utters Its voice through me to another, or through another to me. For dwelling in the midst of us it deals alike with all, even though they live not alike, and often touches one person to hear plainly what It has spoken by another, but often touches another, to utter something clearly to be heard by others.
82. Power of speech is often given to a teacher, for the sake of his hearer, and skill in speaking is often taken away from a teacher, on account of the guilt of his hearer. Let not the teacher then be puffed up with pride in these cases in which he preaches copiously, lest his tongue be perchance filled, not for his own, but for his hearers’ sake; and let not a hearer be angry, in cases in which a teacher speaks barrenly, lest the tongue of the teacher perchance be dumb, not for his own, but his hearers’ rejection. For power of speech is given even to bad teachers for the sake of a good hearer, just as words of preaching were able to abound to the Pharisees, though it was written of them, All therefore whatsoever they have said to you, observe and do: but do not after their works. [Matt. 23, 3] But skill in speaking is taken away even from good teachers, for the rejection of their hearers. As is said to Ezekiel against Israel; I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, and thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be as a man reproving, for it is a provoking house. [Ez. 3, 26]
82. But the word of preaching is sometimes granted on account of both, sometimes withdrawn on account of both. For it is given on account of both, as is said by the voice of God to Paul amongst the Corinthians; Be not afraid, but speak. [Acts 18, 9] And a little after, For I have much people in this city. [ibid. 10] But it is withdrawn on account of both, as Eli the priest both knew the wicked conduct of his children, and exercised not the fitting language of reproof, when these the guilt of their sin, and him the punishment of his silence, was plainly about to mulct with the suffering of
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death. When we know not therefore, amongst these cases, either for whom the fervour of speech is given, or on whose account it is withdrawn, the one safe remedy is, neither to pride ourselves on those gifts which we have received beyond others, nor yet to make jest of another for having received less: but to walk gravely and steadily, with the firm-fixed foot of humility. Because we are in this life the more truly learned, the more we know that our learning cannot be supplied to us from ourselves. Why should therefore any one be proud of his learning, who knows not either when it is given to any one by a secret sentence, or when it is withdrawn? For though fear seems to be always far removed from security; yet there is nothing safer for us than ever to feel fear, under the prevalence of hope, lest our mind should from want of caution plunge itself into sin through desperation, or fall headlong through boasting of its gifts. For the more humbly a man trembles for himself, together with hope, before the eyes of the strict and merciful Judge, the more firmly does he stand in Him.
BOOK XXXI.
The ninth, with the remaining verses of the thirty-ninth chapter, is explained, the last three only being omitted; and the efficacy of Divine Grace, in the preaching of the Gospel, and in the conversion of sinners, is especially demonstrated.
[i]
1. The devil, through envy, inflicted the wound of pride on healthful man in Paradise; in order that he, who had not received death when created, might deserve it when elated. But since it is competent for Divine power, not only to make good things out of nothing, but also to refashion them from the evils which the devil had committed; the humility of God appeared amongst men, as a remedy against this wound inflicted by the proud devil, that they who had fallen through imitation of their haughty enemy, might rise by the example of their humbled Creator. Against, therefore, the haughty devil, God appeared amongst men, having been made a humble Man. The mighty of this world, that is, the members of the haughty devil, believed Him to be as despicable, as they saw Him to be lowly. For the more the wound of their heart swelled up, the more it despised the soothing remedy. Our medicine therefore being spurned by the wound of the proud, came to the wound of the humble. For, God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. [1 Cor. 1, 27] And a work was wrought upon the poor, for the wealthy proud ones afterwards to wonder at.