No More Learning

[xxxviii]
[HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION]
73. I see that it is a thing to be carefully noted historically considered, that the holy man who a little before said, Thou hast lifted me up, added below, I went mourning. For by a wonderful arrangement at one and the same time there is wont to meet together in the courses of good men, at once
without, the honour of the highest pitch, and within, the mourning of afflicted abasement. Hence the holy man likewise, whilst lifted to a height by substance and by honours; ‘went mourning’; for though this man the high credit of power displayed advanced above his fellow-creatures, yet inwardly he offered to the Lord by his mourning the secret sacrifice of a contrite heart. Since the sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit. [Ps. 51, 17] Now all the Elect are taught by inward reflecting to fight against the temptations of outward superiority. Which persons, if they set their heart to their outward good fortune assuredly would cease to be righteous. But because it cannot be that upon the mere grounds of the successes of fortune alone the heart of man should never be at all tempted with
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however slight a degree of pride, holy men strive hard within against their very good fortune itself; I do not say, lest in self exaltation, but lest in the love of that prosperity at all events they should be brought to the ground. And it is most effectually to have been brought under this, to have surrendered the mind in a state of captivity to the desires thereof. But who that has a taste for earthly things, who that embraces temporal objects, would not look upon blessed Job as happy amidst so many circumstances of prosperity, when the health of the body, the life of his children, the preservation of his household, the completeness of his flocks, were all vouchsafed to him? But that in all these circumstances he did not take delight, he is his own witness, in that he says, I went mourning. For to the holy man still placed in this state of pilgrimage, all that is full of abundance, without the Vision of God, is destitution; because when the Elect see that all things are theirs, they lament that they do not see the Author of all things, and to them all this is too little, because there is still wanting the appearance of One. And in such sort does the grace of Heavenly Appointment exalt them without, that nevertheless, within, the sorrow of the instructress charity holds them under discipline. By which same they learn, that for the things which they receive outwardly, they should ever be the more humbled to themselves, should keep the mind under the yoke of discipline, should never by the liberty of power be made to break out into impatience. Whence also it is fitly subjoined, Without rage rising in the crowd, I cried out. For it often happens that the tumults of seditious men provoke the spirit of their rulers, and by disorderly emotions they transgress the limit of their orderliness.
74. And very often they who are set at the head, except in the mouth of the heart they be held in with the bridle of the Holy Spirit, leap forth into the fierceness of enraged retribution, and as much as they are able to do, reckon themselves to be at liberty to do with those under them. For impatience is almost always the friend of power, and that power when evil it even rules over as subject to it. For what that same feels, power executes. But holy men bow down themselves much more to the yoke of patience inwardly, than they are above others outwardly, and they exhibit without the truer governance, in proportion as they maintain within more lowly servitude to God: and they for this reason often endure persons the more fully, the more they have it in their power to revenge themselves upon them, and lest they should ever pass over into things unlawful, they very often will not put in execution in their own behalf even what is lawful; they are subject to the clamours of those under their charge, they rebuke in love those, whom they bear in mildness. Whence it is rightly said now, Without rage rising up in the crowd, I cried out; in this way, because against the clamours of the unruly the good have ‘crying out,’ but they have not ‘rage,’ because those whom they bear with gently they do not cease to teach.
[ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
But these particulars which after the historical view we have delivered concerning one individual, it remains that we understand after the allegorical view concerning diverse Elect ones of Holy Church. For she too in her Elect ‘goes mourning,’ even in prosperous circumstances. For she accounts nothing truly prosperous to her, until the good, which she is preeminently seeking after, she may lay hold of. Since her faithful ones enjoy temporal peace indeed, but sigh evermore; they are honoured, and afflicted: because very often they are seen at the highest pitch there, where they are not citizens. She too ‘rises in the crowd without rage, and cries out,’ because she presses upon the life of the evil doers with the eagerness of right jealousy, not with the frenzy of rage. She is
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angry and loving, she deals wrathfully and is tranquil, that so her weak members she may reform by zealousness, and cherish in pitifulness. It goes on;
Ver. 29. I was a brother to dragons, and a companion to ostriches.
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75. What is there denoted by the title of ‘dragons,’ but the life of evil minded men? Of whom also it is said by the prophet, They drew up the wind like dragons. [Jer. 14, 6] For all wicked men ‘draw in wind like dragons,’ when they are swoln with evil minded pride. But who are used to be understood by the designation of ‘ostriches,’ saving pretenders? For the ostrich has wings, but has not flight; because all pretenders have an appearance of sanctity, but the goodness of sanctity they have not. For those persons the appearance of good conduct adorns, but the wing of virtue never lifts them from the earth. So let the Elect people of Holy Church, because in the time of its peace it suffers within itself persons that are evil minded and pretenders, say the words, I was a brother to dragons, and a companion to ostriches. Which too in a special manner accords with the words of blessed Job, who to the highest pitch of great fortitude was a good man amongst bad. For no one is perfect who amidst his neighbours’ evil things is not patient. For he who does not bear others’ evil with composure, is by his impatience witness to himself that he is very far removed from the plenitude of goodness. For he refuses to be Abel, whom the malice of Cain does not exercise.
76. Thus in the threshing of the floor the grains are squeezed under the chaff; thus the flowers come forth between thorns, and the rose that smells grows along with the thorn that pricks. Thus the first man had two sons, but one was elect, the other refuse. The three sons of Noah too did the ark contain, but while two continued in humility, one went headlong into the mocking of his father. Two sons Abraham had; but one was innocent, the other the persecutor of his brother. Two sons also Isaac had, one saved in humility, while the other even before that he was born was cast away. Twelve sons Jacob begat, but of these one was sold in innocency, while the rest were through wickedness the sellers of their brother. Twelve Apostles too were chosen in Holy Church; but that they might not remain untried, one is mixed with them, who by persecuting should try them. For to a just man there is joined a sinner together with wickedness, just as in the furnace to the gold there is added chaff along with fire, that in proportion as the chaff burns the gold may be purified. So then those are truly good men, who are enabled to hold on in goodness even in the midst of bad men; herein too it is said to Holy Church by the voice of the Spouse; As a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. [Cant. 2, 2] Hence the Lord saith to Ezekiel And thou, son of man, unbelievers and overturners are with thee, and thou dwellest among scorpions. [Ez. 2, 6] Hence Peter magnifies the life of blessed Lot, saying, And delivered righteous Lot, when oppressed, from the wrongful conversation of the wicked. For to be seen and to be heard he was righteous, living among, those, who from day to day vexed the soul of the righteous man by wicked works. [2 Pet. 2, 7. &c. ] Hence Paul magnifies the life of his disciples, and in magnifying strengthens it, saying, In the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding the word of life. [Phil. 2, 15. 16. ] Hence by John, the Angel of the Church of Pergamus is borne witness to in the words, I know where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is; and thou holdest fast My name, and hast not denied My faith. [Rev. 2, 15] So then let blessed Job, that he may evince what firmness he is of, tell with whom he lived, saying, I was a brother to dragons, and a companion to ostriches. Because it would have been but little that he himself did good things,
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except that for the heightening of his goodness he likewise sustained what was evil at the hands of others. It goes on;
Ver. 30. My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
[xl]
77. This we forbear to take account of after the history, for this reason, that the force of the speech appears from the pain of the suffering. But because, as we have already often said, blessed Job very frequently so relates things done, as to foretell things to be done, this excellently agrees with the accents of Holy Church, who in her weak members grievously feels the pain of the last persecution. And when others die off from her, all the stronger ones are wrung with sorrow. For her outward concern is earthly dispensing, but the interior is a heavenly charge. And so by the name of the ‘skin’ the weak are denoted, who now do service in her to exterior usefulness. While by the bones the strong are represented, in that in them the whole jointing of her body is cemented. And therefore because either being invited by bribes, or distressed by persecutions, many weak persons in her fall from the standing of faith, and themselves after they have fallen persecute her, what is it but that she suffers a ‘blackness of her skin,’ that in those very ones she should afterwards appear foul, in whom she before shewed fair. For whilst they who had been before accustomed to manage outward things aright, afterwards rage against the Elect of God, as it were ‘the skin’ of the Church has lost the hue of foregoing righteousness, in that it has come to the blackness of iniquity. Which Jeremiah also bewails under the likeness of the principal metal, saying, How is the gold become dim; how is the fine colour changed? [Lam. 4, 1] The froward, therefore, when they go forth from her sacraments, very often take a place of honour amongst the children of perdition, so that the very persons should rage against Holy Church with authority, who as it were in knowing despise this Church more cruelly. And hence when he said, My skin is black, he added, upon me; because those whom she before had as it were white as to the beautifulness of righteousness, she afterwards carries ‘black’ the worse. But when ‘the skin’ is turned to ‘blackness,’ the strong that are in her are consumed with jealousy of the faith. And hence he fitly subjoins; And my bones are dried up with heat. For in this way in the time before too that strongest bone of Holy Church, Paul, burned with a certain dryness of weariness, when he said to some persons on their falling; Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not? [2 Cor. 11, 29] And so ‘the skin is made black, and the bones are dried up with heat;’ because while the weak leap forth to iniquity, all the strong are tortured with the fire of their zeal. It goes on;
Ver. 31. My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep. [xli]
78. Whereas the organ gives its sounds by means of pipes, and the harp by chords; it may be that by the ‘harp’ right practising is denoted, and by the ‘organ’ holy preaching. For by the pipes of an organ we not unsuitably understand the mouths of persons preaching, and by the chords of the harps the bent of those living aright. Which whilst it is stretched to another life by the afflicting of the flesh, it is as if the thin drawn chord in the harp sounded in the admiration of those beholding. For the chord is dried that it may give a suitable note on the harp; because holy men also chasten their body, and subject it to service, and are stretched from things below to those above. Moreover it is to be considered that the chord in the harp, if it be strung too little, does not sound, if too much, it sounds harsh; because doubtless the virtue of abstinence is altogether nothing if a man does not
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tame his body as much as he is able; or it is very ill ordered if he wears it down more than he is able. For by abstinence the imperfections of the flesh are to be done away, and not the flesh, and every one ought to rule himself with such great control, that both the flesh may not carry itself high for sin, and yet that it may be upheld in practice for the carrying out of righteousness. It is a satisfaction herein to look at the great preacher, with what great skill of preceptorship the souls of believers like chords strung on the harp, one set by stretching the more, he draws fine, another by loosening from their stretch he preserves. For to some he says; Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness. [Rom. 13, 13] And again he says; Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth. [Col. 3, 5] And yet to the most beloved preacher he writes, saying, Drink no longer water, but use a little wine, for thy stomach’s sake, and for thine often infirmities. [1 Tim. 5, 23] Thus those chords by drawing thin he stretches, lest by not being stretched they altogether give no sound. But this chord he abates of its stretching, lest whilst it is stretched more, the less it should sound.
79. But whether it be the holy preachers in the Church, or the simpleminded and temperate generally, as far as they are vouchsafed powers, they render to their neighbours in her the song of goodly exhortation. For both the wise sort severally keep discreetly on the watch to the fruit of preaching, and that they may draw others to life they ply themselves with a sound of mighty persuading; and they that appear to be of slower wit within her, by the mere merit of their lives, to the extent that they see that they are able, take upon them authority of exhortation towards others, and cease not to draw to the heavenly Country those whom they are able. But Holy Church being borne down by the last persecutions, when she sees her words to be set at nought by the children of perdition, shapes the goodness of her love to lamentations alone, because surely she bewails those whom she is not able by exhorting to draw. Let her say then, My harp also is turned to mourning, and mine organ into the voice of them that weep. As though she avowed in plain words, saying, ‘In the season of my peace, indeed, by some I preached little things after the manner of a harp, whilst by others things great and sounding after the manner of an organ; but now ‘my harp is turned into mourning and mine organ into the voice of them that weep,’ because whilst I see myself to be despised I mourn over those who hear not the song of preaching. ’ Such things is Holy Church to do by certain persons in the end, these things has she already done by certain in her beginnings. For the first martyr Stephen endeavoured by preaching to benefit the Jews that persecuted him, which persons when he saw, notwithstanding, after the words of preaching to have flocked together to throwing stones, he prayed with his knees set fast, saying, Lord Jesus, lay not this sin to their charge. [Acts. 7, 60] How then was it to him who for long had told things both small and great, but that the melody of his ‘harp and of his organ’ was already mute, and they were ‘turned into mourning,’ because those whom he had not drawn in preaching, he wept for in loving? Which same Holy Church ceases not daily to do, because she already sees that the word of preaching is almost every where become mute. For some close their mouths from speaking, others scorn to hear right things. But the mind of the Elect whilst it sees the song of preaching to be stilled, returns groaning and in silence to lamentations. Therefore let her say, My harp is turned into mourning, and mine organ into the voice of them that weep, because every elect person in proportion as the voice of holy preaching has been stilled, so much the more sorely does he bewail the woes of the Church.
Thus far blessed Job has described the evils that he underwent; but from this place he begins to relate with more particularity the good things that he did. Now the words of grief we have run through by an historical and allegorical explanation: but the deeds of virtuous qualities we in great
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measure hold according to the text of the history alone, lest if we draw these to the exploring of mysteries, we should perchance appear to be making void the verity of the deed.
BOOK XXI.
The thirty-first chapter of the Book of Job is explained to verse twenty-four, exclusive, and chastity, humility, and mercifulness being first commended, many particulars are especially taught relative to the avoiding of the occasion of sin.
[i]
1. The sense of Sacred Revelation requires to be weighed with so exact a balancing between the text and the mystery, that the scale of either side being adjusted, this latter [‘hune,’ which seems to agree with ‘intellectus’ referred to ‘mysterium. ’] neither the weight of over-curious scrutinizing should sink down, nor again the deadness of unconcern leave void. For many sentences thereof are pregnant with such a conception of allegories, that any one who strives to hold them after the history alone, is deprived of the knowledge of them by his indifference. But there are some that are so made subordinate to external precepts, that if a man desires to penetrate them with greater particularity, within indeed he finds nothing, whilst even that too which they tell of without, he hides from himself.
2. Whence it is well said also in historical relation by a method of representing; And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the almond and plane-trees, and pilled them in strakes, and when the bark was off, where they were
stripped, the white appeared, and the parts that were whole remained green; and after this manner the colour was made variegated. [Gen. 30, 37-39] When it is further added, And he set them in the gutters in the watering-troughs, that when the flocks came to drink they should have the rods before their eyes, and should conceive in looking on them. And the flocks when they conceived looked on the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, spotted, and speckled. For what is it to set before the eyes of the cattle ‘rods of green poplar, and of the almond and plane-trees,’ but through the course Holy Scripture to furnish for an example to the people the lives and sentences of the Ancient Fathers, which same because by the testing of reason they are in a right line, are styled ‘rods. ’ From which he ‘peels the bark’ in part, that in those which are stripped the inward whiteness may appear, and in part he keeps the bark, that just as they were outwardly, they should remain in greenness. And the colour of the rods is made pied, whereas the bark is in part stripped off, in part retained. Since before the eyes of our reflection the sentences of the foregoing Fathers are placed, like pied rods, in which whereas we very often avoid the sense of the letter, we are as it were withdrawing the bark, and whereas we very often follow the meaning of the letter, we as it were preserve the bark. And when from those same the bark of the letter is removed, the interior whiteness of the allegory is brought to view, and when the bark is left, the green grown examples of the outward meaning are shewn. Which Jacob did well to ‘set in the watering-troughs,’ because our Redeemer set them in the books of the Sacred Lore by which we are inwardly watered. ‘The rams mix with the sheep looking at these,’ because our reasoning spirits when they are fixed in the earnest minding of those mingle themselves with the several particular actings, that they should begot such a progeny of works as they see examples of precepts going before in words, and the progeny of
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good practice may have a different colour, because both sometimes, the bark of the letter being removed, it sees what is within with acuteness, and sometimes, the covering of the history being preserved, it moulds itself well in the outward.
3. For because the Divine sentences require sometimes to be explored internally, and sometimes to be viewed externally, it is said by Solomon also, He that strongly presseth the udder for the drawing forth milk squeezeth out butter, and he that wringeth [‘emungit,’ al. ‘emulget. ’] violently draweth out blood. For we ‘press the udder strongly,’ when we weigh with minute understanding the word of Sacred Revelation, by which way of ‘pressing whilst we seek ‘milk,’ we find ‘butter,’ because whilst we seek to be fed with but a little insight, we are anointed with the abundance of interior richness. Which, nevertheless, we ought neither to do too much nor at all times, lest while milk is sought for from the udder there should follow blood. For very often persons whilst they sift the words of Sacred Revelation more than they ought, fall into a carnal apprehension. For ‘he draws forth blood, who wringeth violently. ’ Since that is rendered carnal which is perceived by an over-great sifting of the spirit. Whence it is requisite that the deeds of blessed Job, which he for this reason relates amidst the words of upbraiding friends, that his afflicted soul might not fall away in despair, we should examine into according to the weight of the history, lest if the mind explain these in a spiritual sense above what is necessary, from the udder of his words there be blood answering us instead of milk. But if he does sometimes relate some things mystical in the relation of his works, it is necessary that the mind with quickened speed return to these considerations, whereunto as is given to be understood the very order of the person speaking itself bids that mind. For the holy man, after he had told the things that had been inflicted on him by the scourge of God, now by enumerating in order his own virtues makes it known what sort of person he was before the scourge, so constructing the history of his life, as to insert therein a something very rare which might be understood in an allegorical way, that both in a large proportion they should be historical facts that he records, and yet occasionally, by means of these same, he should rise up to a spiritual meaning. Thus with what strength he had bound up his exterior conduct from all falling by the training of inward safe-keeping, he tells, saying,
Ver. 1. I made a covenant with mine eyes that I should not even think upon a maid. [ii]
[HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION]
4. Whereas the soul is invisible, it is in no degree affected by the delightfulness of things corporeal, except that, being closely attached to the body, it has the senses of that body as a kind of opening for going forth. For seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching, are a kind of ways of the mind, by which it should come forth without, and go a lusting after the things that are without the limits of its substance. For by these senses of the body as by a kind of windows the soul takes a view of the several exterior objects, and on viewing longs after them. For hence Jeremiah saith; For death is come up through our windows, and is entered into our palaces; [Jer. 9, 21] for ‘death comes up by the windows and enters into the palace,’ when concupiscence coming through the senses of the body enters the dwelling-place of the mind. Contrary whereunto that which we have often already said touching the righteous is spoken by Isaiah; Who are they that fly as clouds, and as the doves at their windows? [Is. 60, 8] For the righteous are said to fly as clouds, because they are lifted up from the defilements of earth, and they are ‘as doves at their windows,’ because
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through the senses of the body they do not regard the several objects without with the bent of rapacity, and carnal concupiscence does not carry those persons off without. But he who through those windows of the body heedlessly looks without, very often falls even against his will into the delightfulness of sin, and being fast bound by desires, he begins to will what he willed not. For the precipitate soul, whilst it does not forecast beforehand, that it should not incautiously see what it might lust after, begins afterwards with blinded eyes to desire the thing that it saw. And hence the mind of the Prophet, which being uplifted was often admitted to interior mysteries, because he beheld the wife of another without heed, being darkened afterwards joined her to him without right. But the holy man, who as a kind of judge of greatest equity is set over the senses granted him in the body, as over subject officers, sees offences before they come, and closes the windows of the body as against a plotting enemy, saying, I made a covenant with mine eyes that I should not even think upon a maid. For that he might preserve the thoughts of the heart with chastity, he ‘made a covenant with his eyes,’ lest he should first see without caution what he might afterwards love against his will. For it is very greatly that the flesh drags downwards, and the image of a shape once bound on the heart by means of the eye is with difficulty unloosed by the hand of great struggling. So then that we may not deal with things lascivious in thought we have need to take precaution because it is not befitting to look at what is not lawful to be lusted after. For that the mind may be preserved pure in thought, the eyes must be forced away from the wantonness of their pleasure, like a kind of ravishing unto sin. For neither would Eve have touched the forbidden free, except she had looked on it first without taking heed; since it is written, And the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree delightful to look upon, and she took of the fruit thereof and did eat. [Gen. 3, 6] Hence, therefore, it is to be estimated with, what great control we who are living a mortal life ought to restrain our sight towards forbidden objects; if the very mother of the living came to death through means of the eyes. Hence too under the voice of Judaea, who, whereas by seeing she coveted external things, parted with interior blessings, the Prophet says; Mine eye hath robbed mine heart. [Lam. 3, 51] For by lusting after things visible, she lost the invisible virtues. She, then, who lost the interior fruits by the exterior sight, did by the eye of the body endure the ‘robbing of the heart. ’ Hence by ourselves, for safely keeping purity of heart, there ought also to be preserved the disciplining of the exterior senses. For with whatever degree of excellency the mind may be enriched, with whatever amount of gravity it may be invigorated, yet the carnal senses ring outwardly with a something childish, and except they were restrained by the weight of interior gravity, and as it were by a sort of manly energy, they drag the soul unstrung to things loose and light.
5. Let us then see in what manner blessed Job kept in by a manly [‘juvenili. ’] vigour of wisdom all that the flesh might breathe of in him of loose and childish. For he says, I made a covenant with mine eyes, and because he quenched not only the doing but also the thinking of lust in himself, going on he added; that I should not even think on a maid. For he knew that lust has need to be checked in the heart, he knew by the gift of the Holy Spirit that our Redeemer on His coming would go beyond the precepts of the Law, and put away from His Elect not only lustful indulgence of the flesh, but also of the heart, saying, It hath been written, Thou shall not commit adultery? But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart. [Matt. 5, 27. 28. ] For by Moses lust perpetrated, buy by the Author of purity lust imagined, is condemned. For hence it is that the first Pastor of the Church says to the disciples; Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope perfectly in the grace that is offered to you. [1 Pet.
1, 13] For to ‘gird up the loins’ of the flesh is to withhold lust from
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accomplishment, but ‘to gird up the loins of the mind,’ is to restrain it from the imagining thereof as well. Hence it is that the Angel who addresses John is described as being ‘girt above the paps with a golden girdle. ’ [Rev. 1, 13] For because the purity of the New Testament puts restraint upon lust of the heart likewise, the Angel who appeared therein, came ‘girt’ in the breast. Whom a golden girdle rightly binds, because whoever is a citizen of the country Above does not now forsake impurity from dread of punishment, but from the love of charity. Now the wickedness of lust is committed either in thought or deed. For our crafty enemy when he is driven away from the carrying out of the deed, makes it his business to defile by secret thought. Hence too it is said to the serpent by the Lord, Thou shall creep on the breast and belly. That is, ‘the serpent creeps with his belly,’ when the gliding enemy by the human members subject to him calls lust into exercise even to the fulfilling of the deed; but ‘the serpent creeps with the breast,’ when those whom he cannot pollute in the deed of lust, he does pollute in the thought. Thus one man now perpetrates lust in act of doing, to this man the serpent creeps by the belly. But another man entertains it in the mind as to be committed, and to him the serpent ‘creeps by the breast. ’ But because through the thought we are brought to the fulfilling deeds, the serpent is rightly described first as ‘creeping upon the breast,’ and afterwards ‘upon the belly. ’ Hence blessed Job because he maintained discipline even in the thought, by a single guarding mastered both ‘the breast and belly of the serpent,’ saying, I made a covenant with mine eyes, that I should not even, think on a maid. Which same purity of heart whoever does not aim at acquiring, what else does he but drive away from himself the Author of that purity? whence blessed Job too directly adds;
Ver. 2. For what portion would God have in me from above, and what inheritance would the Almighty have from on high?
[iii]
6. As though he said in plain words; ‘If I defile, my mind in thought, I can never be the ‘inheritance’ of Him, Who is the Author of purity. ’ For the rest are no good things at all, if to the eyes of the secret Judge they be not approved by the testimony of chastity. For all the virtues lift themselves up in the sight of the Creator by reciprocal aid, that because one virtue without another is either none at all or the very least one, they should be mutually supported by their alliance together. For if either humility forsake chastity, or chastity abandon humility, before the Author of humility and chastity, what does either a proud chastity, or a polluted humility avail to benefit us? And so that the holy man might obtain to be owned by his Maker in the remaining particulars of good, keeping purity of the heart, let him say, I made a covenant with mine eyes, that I should not even think on a maid. For what portion would God have in me from above, and what inheritance would the Almighty have from on high? As though he made the confession in plain words, saying, The Creator of the things on high refuses to own me for his possession, if in His sight my mind rots in the lowest desires.
7. But herein it should be known that that is one thing which the mind meets with from the tempting of the flesh, and another thing, when by consent it is tied and bound with gratifications. For very often it is struck by wrong thinking and resists, but very often when it conceives any thing wrong, it revolves this within itself even in the way of desire. And certainly impure thought never in the least defiles the mind when it strikes it, but when it subdues the same to itself by the taking delight. Thus it is hence the great Preacher says, There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. [1 Cor. 10, 13] For that is ‘temptation common to man,’ by which we are very
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often reached in the thought of the heart even against our will, because this, viz. that even things forbidden sometimes occur to the mind, this assuredly we have in our own selves derived from the burthen of human nature as subject to corruption. But henceforth it is devilish and not ‘human’ temptation, when to that which the corruptibility of the flesh prompts, the mind attaches itself by the consent. Hence again he says, Let not sin reign in your mortal body. [Rom. 6, 12] For he forbad not that sin should ‘be’ in our mortal body, but that it should ‘reign in our mortal body. ’ Because in flesh subject to corruption it may not ‘reign,’ but cannot help but ‘be. ’ For this very thing to be tempted touching sin, is sin to it, which same because so long as we live, we are not perfectly and altogether without, holy preaching seeing that it could not wholly banish the same, took away from it its ‘reign’ from the dwelling-place of our heart, that the unlawful longing, though it very often secretly insinuate itself as a thief in our good thoughts, at all events should not, if it should even win an entrance, exercise dominion. Accordingly the holy man in saying, I made a covenant with mine eyes, that I should not even think upon a maid, would not at all be understood, that sin did not touch his mind in thought, but that it never mastered him by the consent. For he defends his soul as the most entire possession of God against the adversary’s making a prey of it, who directly subjoins, For what portion would God have in me from above, or what inheritance would the Almighty have from on high? As though he said in plain words; ‘In my mortal flesh indeed I am subject to the constitution of corruption; but wherein do I serve the Maker, if to Him I do not defend my mind whole and entire from the consent to sin? It goes on;
Ver. 3. Is not destruction to the wicked? and estrangement to the workers of iniquity? [iv]
8. The speedy comforting of the good is the end of the wicked had regard to. For while by the destruction of those they see the evil that they escape, they account as light whatever of adversity they undergo in this life. So then let the lost sinners now go, and satisfy the desires of their gratifications; in the sentence of their end they are destined to feel that in living badly they were in love with death. But let the Elect be chastened with a temporary infliction of the rod, that strokes may reform from their wickedness those whom fatherly pitifulness keeps for an inheritance. For now the righteous man is scourged und corrected by the rod of discipline, because he is being prepared for the Father’s estate of inheritance. But the unjust man is let go in his own pleasures, because temporal good things are supplied to him in the same degree that eternal ones are denied him. The unjust man, whilst running to a deserved death, enjoys pleasures unrestrained; inasmuch as the very steers too that are destined to be slaughtered are left in free pastures. But on the other hand the righteous man is restrained from the pleasantness of transitory gratification, because doubtless the steer too which is assigned to life for the purpose of labour, is held under the yoke. To the Elect, earthly good in this life is denied; because sick persons too, to whom there is a hope of their living, never have allowed them by the physician every thing they long for. But to the lost sinners the good things are granted, which they long after in this life, because to the sick too who are despaired of there is nothing denied that they desire. So then let the righteous weigh well, what are the evils that await the wicked, and never envy their happiness which runs past. For what is there that they should admire about the joys of those, when both themselves are by a rough road making their way to the Country of Salvation, and those as it were through pleasant meadows to the pit? Therefore let the holy man say, Is not destruction to the wicked? and estrangement to the workers of iniquity? Which same term of estrangement [‘alienatio. ’] would have sounded harder, if the interpreter had retained it in the parlance of his own tongue. For what with us is called
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‘estrangement’ is among the Hebrews termed ‘anathema. ’ And so there will then be ‘estrangement’ to the wicked, when they see that they are an ‘anathema’ to the inheritance of the Strict Judge, because here they set Him at nought by wicked practices. So then let the wicked flourish, strange to the flowering of the Eternal Inheritance. But let the righteous look to themselves with discreet attention, and in all their actions be in dread for that they are seen by the Lord. Whence it is fitly added directly;
Ver. 4. Doth not He see my ways, and count all my steps?
[v]
9. What does he tell of by the title of ‘ways’ but ways of acting? Thus it is hence said by Jeremiah; Make your ways and your doings good. [Jer. 7, 3] But what do we understand by the name of ‘steps,’ but either the motions of men’s minds or the advancements of merits? By which ‘steps’ indeed Truth calls us to Itself, saying, Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden. [Matt. 11, 28] For the Lord bids us ‘come to Him’ not surely by the steps of the body, but by the advances of the heart. For he Himself says, The hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. [John 4, 21] And a little after, the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father also seeketh such to worship Him. [ver. 23] Thus he implies that the steps are in the heart, when He both bids us that we should come, and yet declares that it is not at all by the motion of the body that we pass to other things. Now the Lord so ‘views the ways’ of each one, and so ‘counts all his steps,’ that by His Judgment not even the minutest thoughts or the very slightest words, which have become insignificant in our eyes from use, remain unexamined into. Thus hence He says, Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Boca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. [Matt. 5, 22] ‘Raca’ in the Hebrew speech is a word of interjection, which indeed shews the temper of one who is angry, but does not give forth a full word of anger. Thus anger without utterance is first blamed, then anger with utterance, but not yet shaped by a complete word, and at last also when it is said, Thou fool, anger is reproved, which, along with excess of the voice, is fulfilled by the perfecting of speech as well. And it is to be noted that He tells that by anger he is ‘in danger of the judgment;’ by a voice of anger, which is ‘Raca,’ ‘in danger of the council,’ and by a word of the voice, which is ‘Thou fool,’ in danger of hell fire. For by the steps of offence, the order of the sentence increased, because in ‘the judgment’ the case is still under examination, but in the council the sentence of the case is now determining, while ‘in the fire of hell’ the sentence, which proceeds from the council, is fulfilled. And therefore because of human actions ‘the Lord counts up the steps’ with exact scrutiny, anger without the voice is made over ‘to the judgment,’ but anger in the voice ‘to the council,’ and anger in speech and voice to ‘the fire of hell. ’ This exactness of His scanning the Prophet had beheld, when he said, O most strong, Great One, Mighty Lord of hosts is Thy Name, Great in counsel, and Mighty in work, for Thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of Adam; to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his devices. [Jer. 32, 18. 19. ]
10. Thus the Lord scans those ways with exact scrutiny, that in each one of us He should neither pass over those good points that there are for Him to recompense, nor leave without rebuke the evil things, that are doubtless displeasing to Him. For hence it is that the Angel of the Church of Pergamos He at once commends in some things, and in some rebukes, saying, I know thy works and
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where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast My Name, and hast not denied My faith. [Apoc. 2, 13. 14. ] And a little while after; But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam. Hence it is said to the Angel of the Church of Thyatira, I know thy works, and thy charity, and faith, and service, and thy patience; and thy last works to be more than the first. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee; because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce My servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. [ver. 19. 20. ] Observe how He records good things, nor yet lets go without penance evil things, that require to be cut off, surely because He so views the ways of each, and so takes account of their steps, ‘counting them up,’ that by exact counting He thoroughly estimates both how far each one is advancing to what is good, or how far, by deviating to what is evil, he may contravene his advances. For the increase of merits which is heightened by the aims of a good life, is very often held back by a mixture of evil, and the good which the mind builds up by practising it overthrows by committing other things. Whence holy men tie themselves up with greater nicety in the thought of the heart in proportion as they see that they are more searchingly scanned by the Judge Above. For they sift the mind through and through, they seek to find if they have done wrong in aught, that they may be rendered the more unblameable to the Judge, in proportion as daily and without ceasing they blame their own selves. Not, however, that they already derive from this circumstance the delights of security, because they see that they are beheld by Him, Who beholds in them those things as well, which they are not themselves able to see in themselves. And indeed blessed Job among those of old lime maintained the life of perfectness, but because by the spirit of prophecy the stretch of his eye breaks forth to the Advent of the Redeemer, in that Redeemer’s precepts he for himself reflects how many things belonging to perfection he is short of. Whence he also adds;
Ver. 5, 6. If I have walked in vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit, let Him weigh me in an even balance, and let God know mine integrity.
[vi]
[MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION]
11. ‘God to know’ is said for His making us to know by a customary mode of our speech, who speak of ‘a happy day,’ by which it happens that we are made happy. For hence it is the Lord saith to Abraham, Now I know that thou fearest God. [Gen. 22, 12] For it is not that the Creator of the periods of time learnt any thing from time, but His knowing is His affording the knowledge to us by the instant of each particular case emerging. But who is there represented by the name of ‘balances,’ saving the Mediator between God and man? in Whom all our merits are weighed with an even scale, and in Whose precepts we find what we have short in our own life. Now we are weighed in these balances as often as we are incited after the examples of His life. Thus it is hence that it is written; Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example, that ye should follow His steps, Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth; Who when He was reviled, reviled not again, when He suffered, He threatened not. [1 Pet. 2, 21-23] Hence it is said by Paul, Let us run with patience the race that is set before us: looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, Who for the glory set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame. [Heb. 12, 1. 2. ] Accordingly to this end the Lord appeared in the flesh, that the life of man he might by dealing admonitions arouse, by giving examples kindle, by suffering death redeem, by rising again renew. And so whereas blessed Job finds in himself nothing justly deserving to he blamed, he extends the eyes of the mind to the life of the Redeemer, which surpasses all things, that he may learn by that
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how much he comes short, where he says, If I have walked in vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit; let Him weigh me in an even balance, and let God know my simpleness. As though he said in plain speech; ‘If I have ever done aught lightly, if ever mischievously, may the Mediator between God and man appear, that in His life I may read whether I myself am really and truly simple. ’ For as we have said, he who had surpassed the men of his own times, sought for the Mediator between God and man, that by being weighed in Him he might find out whether he truly maintained a life of simplicity. Therefore let him say, Let Him weigh me in an even balance, and let God know my simpleness, which means, ‘let Him cause me to know. ’ As though he made open confession, saying, ‘As far as to the measure of man’s life, I see now no points in myself deserving to be found fault with, but except the Mediator between God and man appear accompanied with the precepts of an exacter life, I discover not how much I am at variance with true simplicity. ’ Now the right order is observed if the foot be said first to have ‘hasted on in vanity,’ and afterwards ‘in deceit. ’ For ‘vanity’ bears relation to levity, but ‘deceit’ to wickedness. And there are often persons, who are brought afterwards to things mischievous, because they do not in the first instance avoid what is light. It goes on;
Ver. 7. If my step hath turned out of the way. [vii]
12. So many times does ‘the step go out of the way,’ as our thought quits the way of the right, by the consenting of wandering. Now we as it were set as many ‘steps out of the way,’ as we are parted by bad desires from the delightfulness of the heavenly life. For as we have before stated, being still borne down by the load of corruptible flesh, we are not able to live in such a manner as that not any enjoyment of sin should be able to strike us. But it is one thing for the mind to be touched against its will, and another to be killed whilst consenting. But holy men guard themselves with more watchful solicitude in proportion as they take shame for being assaulted by the misdirected motions even of passing gratification. And hence it is yet further added;
And if mine eye hath followed mine heart.
[viii]
[HISTORICAL/MORAL INTERPRETATION]
13. See again how by the keeping of inward vigour he returns to the training of the outward members, that if the heart should perchance covet aught forbidden, the eye being kept down by the tutorage of discipline may refuse to look at it. For as it often happens that temptation is derived through the eyes, so sometimes being conceived inwardly it forces the eyes to do service to it outwardly. Thus very often an object is regarded by a mind in a state of innocence, but by that mere look the mind is pierced through by the sword of concupiscence. For it was not (as we have already remarked for the sake of illustration) that David in this way looked of purpose on the wife of Uriah, because he had entertained the desire of her; but rather he lusted after her for this cause, because he beheld her without caution. But it happens by an inquest of right recompensing, that he who employs the external eye carelessly, is not unjustly blinded in the interior eye. Now oftentimes concupiscence rules in the interior, and the mind being seduced, after the manner of a despotism requires the senses of the body to drudge to its occasions, and obliges the eyes to serve its pleasures, and so to say opens the window of light to the dark of blindness. Hence holy men, when they feel themselves to be assailed by a wrong enjoyment, by the tutorage of discipline they
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withhold the very eyes themselves by which the likeness of the shape is introduced into the mind, lest the sight acting the pander should do the bidding of unhallowed thought. Which same if it ever be forborne to be guarded with nice particularity, uncleanness of thought presently passes into execution. Hence too it is directly added;
And if any blot hath cleaved to my hands.
[ix]
14. Thus the holy man, knowing well that very often wrong thought comes into the mind through the eyes, said a little above; I made a covenant with mine eyes that I would not even think on a maid. Reflecting likewise that sometimes it springs up in the mind, while on its springing up so the eyes wickedly do service to it, he says, If mine eye hath followed mine heart. As though he said in plain speech, ‘Neither did I wish to see in general things I might long after, nor in looking did I ever follow after the things that I longed for. ’ So then let him say, If mine eye hath followed mine heart. Because even if his mind as being human ever did conceive aught unlawful, his eyes, bound down by the tutoring of higher discipline, it would not should follow it in things forbidden, and drudge to its service. Let us consider our own consciences with reference to these points, and what height this man was of let us see from the sunkenness of our own breast. See, if he did occasionally imagine things unlawful, because he speedily dispatched them within the depths of the heart with the sword of holy vigour, he suffered them not to reach so far as to deeds. Hence as we have set down before, he thereupon adds; And if any blot hath cleaved to my hands. For when does a blot cleave to the hands, i. e. sin to the actions, which sin the censorship of discipline did not suffer to make progress in thought? For neither is sin permitted to issue into act, if it be despatched inwardly where it has its birth. But if there is not a speedy resisting of temptation springing up in the heart, it is strengthened by that very delay by which it is fed, and coming forth without in deeds, it is with difficulty able to be overcome, because the very mistress of the members, the mind within, it holds a captive. Now because the holy man had brought forward all the particulars conditionally, if had ever been guilty of these, he binds himself with a sentence of malediction, saying;
Ver. 8. Then let me sow, and let another eat; let my offspring be rooted out. [x]
[ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
15. After the manner of Sacred Revelation we call it to ‘sow’ to preach the words of life. Thus it is hence the Prophet says, Blessed are ye that sow upon all waters. [Is. 32, 20] For the preachers of Holy Church he saw to ‘sow upon all waters’ because they bestowed the words of life, like grains of heavenly bread, upon all peoples far and wide. But to ‘eat’ is to be filled to the full with good works. Hence Truth saith by Itself; My meat is to do the will of Him That sent Me. [John 4, 34] So then, if the things that he gave forth, he forbore to do, he says; Then let me sow, and another eat. As though he said in plain words; ‘What my mouth utters let not me but another man put in practice. ’ For the preacher who in his ways is at variance with his own words, sows going hungry what another may eat; because he is not himself fed by His own seed, when by wrong conduct he is made void of the rightness of his word. And because it very often happens that the disciples hear what is good to no purpose, when by the life of the master it is destroyed by the example of actions, it in rightly subjoined; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.
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16. For ‘the offspring’ of the teacher is ‘rooted out,’ when he who is born by the word, is killed by the example, because him whom the heeding tongue begets, heedlessness of the life kills. For neither should we pass over with an insensible mind, that in Solomon the woman killed in sleeping the child, whom she was used to suckle being awake; [1 Kings 3, 19] in this way, because masters awake indeed in knowledge, but asleep in life, upon their hearers, whom they nourish by the watches of preaching, whilst they neglect to do the things that they say, through the sleep of insensibility inflict death, and by neglecting overlay those whom they appeared to be feeding with the milk of words. Hence generally whilst they live themselves in a blameable way, they are at once unable to have disciples of a praiseworthy life, and endeavour to draw over the disciples of others to themselves, that so, whilst they shew themselves to have good followers, in the judgments of men they may excuse the evil things that they do, and as it were by the life of those under them cover their deathdealing negligence. Whence in that place the woman, because she had killed her own, sought for another’s child. Yet the sword of Solomon discovered the true mother, because surely what man’s fruit may live or what man’s die, the wrath of the Strict Judge in the final Judgment brings to light. Where this too is to be regarded with a discreet eye, that the child is first bidden to be divided whilst living, in order that afterwards it may be restored to the mother only, because in this life the disciples’ life is in a manner allowed to be divided, whereas it is sometimes the case that from that life one man is permitted to have merit with God, and another man to have praise with men.
17. But the feigned mother did not fear for him to be put to death, whom she did not bear; because masters that are presumptuous and unacquainted with charity, if they are not able to win the fullest character of praise from the disciples of others, hunt down their life with cruelty. For being set on fire with the firebrand of envy, they are not minded for those to live to others whom they see that they cannot themselves possess. Whence in that place the bad woman cries out, Let it be neither mine nor thine. [ib. v. 26] For as we said, those whom they do not see to be at their command for temporal glory, they grudge should live to others through truth. But the true mother is at pains that her child may at least be with a stranger woman and live, because genuine masters yield it that by their disciples others indeed should have the praise of preceptorship, if, this notwithstanding, those same disciples do not lose wholeness of life.