No More Learning

that he is carried off to punishment, he is brought under to the power of the devil. Which is thus done in the minds of the wicked on this account; because, even when the opportunity of committing sin is lacking, the suggestions of the desire are not in the least lacking to their minds. And whereas they do always follow the devil in practice, yet do they doubly bind themselves fast to him in thought. And so there is first sin in thought, and afterwards in act. Whence it is said to the daughter of Babylon, Come down and sit in the dust, O Virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the earth. [Is. 47, 1] For whereas dust is always earth, earth is not always dust. What then are we to understand by dust but thoughts, which, while they perseveringly and silently fly up in the mind, blind its eyes? And what is denoted by ‘the earth,’ but an earthly way of acting? And whereas the mind of the lost sinner is first cast down to imagine wicked things, and afterwards to do them, to the daughter of Babylon, who came down from the judgment of interior uprightness, it is rightly said in a wounding sentence, that first she should ‘sit in the dust,’ and afterwards ‘in the earth,’ in that except she had lowered herself in thought, she would never have settled fast in bad practice. It goes on;
Let his fellows dwell in his tabernacle, because he is not.
[xviii]
22. i. e. In his mind apostate angels shall have their haunt by vilest thoughts, they being ‘his fellows,’ who for this reason no longer ‘is,’ because he has departed from the Supreme Essence, and for this is, by a daily augmented declension, as it were tending ‘not to be,’ in that he has once fallen from Him Who truly Is; who moreover is rightly said ‘not to be,’ in that he has lost well- being, though he has not lost natural being. Still, yet further setting forth these thoughts of the bad man with more minuteness, he subjoins, saying,
Let brimstone be scattered upon his habitation.
[xix]
23. What is ‘brimstone’ but the fuel of fire, which, however, so cherishes the fire, that it sends out the very foulest stench. What then do we understand by ‘brimstone,’ but carnal sin, which, while it fills the mind with wicked thoughts like a kind of ill savours, is kindling everlasting fires for it; and whilst it spreads the cloud of its stench in the lost soul, it is as it were providing against it fuel for the flames to come after. For that the ill savour of the flesh is understood by brimstone, the mere history of Holy Writ by itself hears record, which relates that the Lord ‘rained down fire and brimstone upon Sodom. ’ Who, when He had determined to punish her carnal wickednesses, by the very character of the punishment marked out the stain of her guilt: since ‘brimstone’ hath stench, and fire burning; and so, forasmuch as they had been kindled to bad desires in the ill savour of the flesh, it was meet that they should perish by fire and brimstone combined; that by their just punishment they might be taught what they had done in unjust desire. And so this ‘sulphur is scattered upon the habitation’ of the wicked man, as often as the corrupt indulgence of the flesh exercises dominion within him; and whereas bad thoughts unceasingly occupy him, and forbid his bringing forth the fruit of good practice, it is rightly added;
Ver. 16. Let his roots be dried up beneath, and above let his crop be spoiled. [xx]
- 449 -
24. For what do we understand by the title of ‘roots,’ which are set out of sight, and bring forth a shoot into open view, but the thoughts, which, while they are not seen in the heart, produce visible works? And hence by the title of a ‘crop’ there is denoted the same visible practice, which is thus produced from a hidden root. And whereas every bad man first dries up in the imaginings of temptation and afterwards dies off from good deeds, it is rightly said by Bildad, Let his roots be dried up beneath, and above let his crop be spoiled, in that, whereas the wicked man sets his thoughts in things below, and neglects to seek the delights of everlasting greenness, what is this but that he lets his ‘roots be dried beneath? ’ Whose ‘crop too is spoiled above,’ in that all his practice is counted as nothing in the view of the judgment above, even if it seem good in the eyes of man. Thus the ‘roots’ are at the bottom, and the ‘crop’ above, in that we first send out good thoughts here, that we may one day deserve to receive the fruit of our good works in eternal recompensing; but every wicked person when he abandons good thoughts, and pours himself forth upon the things that are without, has ‘his roots dried up below:’ but ‘above his crop is spoiled,’ in that he, who persists barren here, after this life is bidden to no rewards. It goes on;
Ver. 17. Let his remembrance perish from the earth, and let not his name be repeated in the streets.
[xxi] [PROPHETICAL INTERPRETATION]
25. It is deserving of our notice, that Bildad the Shuhite so expresses himself of each one of the wicked, that his words are secretly directed against the head of all the wicked; for the head of the wicked is the devil. And he in his own person having in the last times entered into that vessel of perdition, shall be called ‘Antichrist,’ who will endeavour to spread his name far and wide, which same every individual now likens himself to, when, by the memorial of an earthly name, be strives to extend the gloriousness of his praise, and exults in transitory reputation. Therefore let these words be so understood of each one of the wicked, that they be referred in a particular manner to the head of the wicked himself. Therefore let him say, Let his remembrance perish from the earth, and let not his name be repeated in the streets. For streets [platea from platuv ‘broad’] are called by a Greek term from width, and so Antichrist aims to settle the remembrance of himself upon earth, when he longs, if it were possible, to remain for ever in temporal glory He delights to have ‘his name celebrated in the street,’ whilst he spreads the working of his wickedness far and wide. But whereas this wickedness of his is not permitted to be reared to a height for a long time, let it be said, Let his remembrance perish from the earth, and let not his name be repeated in the street; i. e. that he should both quickly part with the fame of his earthly power, and lose all the pleasures of his name, which he had spread far and wide in the shortlived prosperity of time. It goes on;
Ver. 18. He shall drive him from light into darkness. [xxii]
26. He is led ‘from light to darkness,’ when for honour in the present life, he is condemned to eternal punishments. And hence it is more plainly added,
And translate him out of the world.
For he is ‘translated out of the world,’ when upon the Judge above appearing, he is taken away from this world, in which he wickedly glories; and for this, that when the end of the world breaks in upon him, he is condemned with all his followers, it is rightly subjoined;
- 450 -
Ver. 9. There shall neither be seed of him, nor offspring in his people, nor any remnant in his
parts.
For it is written, that the Lord Jesus shall consume him, with the Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy him with the brightness of His coming. [2 Thess. 2, 8] And so, then, whereas his wickedness is ended together with the settled constitution of the world, there shall be ‘no offspring of him left in his people,’ in that both he himself and his people along with him are equally forced to punishment; and all the wicked, who by his evil advising were born in bad courses, by the brightness of the Lord’s coming are struck with eternal destruction together with that head of theirs. And there is ‘no offspring of him remaining in the world,’ in that the strict Judge ends the iniquities of that one simultaneously with the end of the world. Now that these words are to be understood expressly of Antichrist is shewn, when it is added;
Ver. 20. In his days the last shall be astonied, and horror shall seize on the first. [xxiii]
27. For he will then let himself loose against the righteous with such a measure of iniquity, that even the hearts of the very Elect shall be struck with no small consternation. Whence it is written, Insomuch that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very Elect. [Mat. 24, 24] Which, clearly, is said, not because the Elect shall fall, but because they shall tremble with terrible alarms. Now at that time both the latest Elect and the first Elect are described as maintaining the conflict for righteousness against him, in that both they that shall be found among the Elect at the end of the world, are destined to be laid low in the death of the flesh, and they too who proceeded from the former divisions of the world, i. e. Enoch and Elijah, shall be brought back amongst men, and shall be exposed to the savageness of his cruelty still in their mortal flesh. This one’s forces let loose in such terrible power, ‘the latest are astonied at, and the first do dread,’ in that, though in respect of this, viz. that he is lifted up by a spirit of pride, they despise all his temporal power, yet in respect of this, that they are themselves still in mortal flesh, wherein they are liable to suffer temporal anguish, they dread the very punishments, which they bear with resolution; so that there is in them at one and the same time both constancy derived from virtue, and alarm proceeding from the flesh; in that though they be of the number of the Elect, so that they cannot be overcome by torments, yet from this only that they are men, they fear the very torments, that they overcome. So let it be said, In his days the last shall be astonied, and terror shall seize on the first. In that he shall then shew forth such signs, and do things so cruel and hard hearted, as to force them to astonishment, whom he shall find at the end of the world, and to pierce with the pang of carnal death the first fathers, who are reserved for his extirpation. Therefore whereas he has described many particulars relating to all the wicked, or to the head of the wicked himself, he immediately adds with a general description,
Ver. 21. Surely, such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God.
[xxiv] [MORAL INTERPRETATION]
28. For he had said above; He shall drive him from fight into darkness, and translate him out of the world; and upon subjoining his miseries, he added; Surely, such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God. In that he who is now lifted up from not
- 451 -
knowing God, is then brought to his own ‘dwellings,’ when his own wickedness plunges him into woes; and one day he finds ‘darkness his place,’ who, while he made himself glad here in the counterfeit light of righteousness, was occupying the place of another. For bad men in all that they do in dissimulation, are striving to possess themselves of the righteous man’s name of credit, as of another’s place. But they are then brought to their own place, when they are tormented with everlasting fire, as the desert of their iniquity. For here in all that they do they are ministering to their desire of winning praise, and by the semblance of good works, they are opening wider the bosom of the mind to avarice. So let the wicked man go now, and full blown with complete equipments, let him build his habitations here below, let him spread a name of glory, let him multiply estates, and delight himself in abundant stores, but when he shall be brought to everlasting punishments, then surely he shall know that ‘such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God. ’ Now Bildad said this rightly, but he did not know who it was that he was saying it to. But the heart of a good man is seriously afflicted, when sentences are pronounced against him upon an unfair estimate. Whence blessed Job directly answered, saying; How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?
[xxv] [HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION]
29. The sayings of the holy man, as we have already often said, are to be understood as spoken sometimes in his own person, sometimes in the voice of the Head, and sometimes in a figure of the Church Universal. Now the soul of the righteous is deeply distressed, when those persons launch severe sentences against the good, who have not learned to lead good lives, and by the words of the mouth claim righteousness to themselves, to which in practice they are enemies. Whence to the friends of blessed Job, who, as we have already often said, bear a type of heretics, himself rightly answers, How long will ye vex my soul, and wear me with words? For good men are ‘worn’ with the words of the wicked, when those swell out against them in words of the lips, who lie low either in a corrupt faith, or in bad habits. It goes on;
Lo, these ten times ye confound me.
[xxvi]
30. On enumerating the successive times of the speeches of Job’s friends, we learn that as yet they had spoken but five times. But for this reason, that he had five times heard rebukes from them, and five times himself replied to their rebukes, he says that he had been ten times confounded; because both herein, viz. that he had been causelessly reproached, he suffered deeply, and in this, that he uttered words of instruction to those that gave no ear, he underwent confusion. And so, while in hearing he held his peace, and in speaking was not heard, that person had trouble put upon him, who both in holding his peace submissively, and in speaking to them fruitlessly, experienced pain within his heart; and hence he says above, What shall I do? If I speak, my grief is not assuaged; and though I forbear, it will not depart from me.
[ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
But if we make these words refer to a type of Holy Church, it is well known that it is her great delight to keep the precepts of the Ten Commandments; and the wicked ‘confound her ten times,’ in that by all that they do wrong in their wicked principles, they forsake the precepts of the Ten
- 452 -
Commandments, and cause confusion to the good as often as they set themselves against the words of God in their doings, It goes on;
And ye are not ashamed that ye oppress me.
[xxvii]
31. There are some persons, whom bad principle suddenly springing up invites to the commission of wickedness, yet respect for their fellow-creatures recalls again. And very often from this, viz. that they are made ashamed outwardly, they are brought back into their own interior heart, and pass an inward judgment upon themselves; in that if they are afraid to do what is evil on man’s account, how much more ought they not even to have longed after what is evil, on God’s account, Who sees all things? And in the case of these persons it is brought to pass, that they correct greater evil by inferior good, i. e. interior sin by exterior shame. Again, there are some, who, when once they have brought themselves to contemn God in their hearts, despise the judgments of their fellow-creatures much more, and all the evil that they long after, they do not blush to execute boldly, which persons secret wickedness invites to the commission of sin, and outward shame holds not back; as it is said also of a certain wicked judge, Which feared not God, neither regarded man. [Luke 18, 2] Hence too it is said of certain persons sinning with shameless effrontery; And they have declared their sin as Sodom. [Is. 3, 9] Thus very often there are such persons enemies of Holy Church, persons who are not withheld from committing wicked things, either by the fear of God, or regard of man; and it is well said to these by blessed Job, And ye are not ashamed that ye oppress me; seeing that though it was wrong to have wished bad things, it is worse not to be ashamed of things wrongly desired. It goes on;
Ver. 4. And be it indeed that I have been ignorant, my ignorance remaineth with myself. [xxviii]
32. Heretics have this about them, that they are swoln by the empty pretensions of their
knowledge, and often turn to ridicule the simplicity of those that believe rightly, and account the life of the humble to be of no worth. On the other hand Holy Church, in all that she has really wise in her, keeps low the level of her view in humility, that she be not puffed up by knowledge, nor be made to swell high on the seeking out of things hidden, and venture to dive into points, that are above her powers. For with more profit to herself she is anxious not to know things she is unable
to fathom, rather than boldly to define things she does not know. As it is written; It is not good to eat much honey: so he that is a searcher of majesty, shall be overwhelmed by glory. [Prov. 25, 27] For if the sweetness of honey be taken in greater measure than there is occasion for, from the same source whence the palate is gratified, the life of the eater is destroyed, The ‘searching into majesty’ is also sweet; but he, that seeks to dive into it deeper than the cognizance of human nature admits, finds the mere gloriousness thereof by itself oppress him, in that, like honey takes in excess, it bursts the sense of the searcher which is not capable of holding it. Now that is said to be ‘with’ us, which is for us; and on the other hand that is said not to be with us, that is against us; and so, because his own knowledge puffs out the heart of the heretic, while his perception of his own ignorance abases the faithful, let blessed Job say in his own voice, let him say also in the confession of the Church Universal, And be it indeed that I have been ignorant, my ignorance shall be with me. As if it were said in express words to Heretics; ‘All your knowledge is not with you, since it is against you, so long as it uplifts you in foolish pride; but my ignorance is with me, because it is for
- 453 -
me; since, whereas I do not dare to search into any thing relating to God in pride of heart, I keep myself in the truth in a spirit of humility. ’ And because these very same things that heretics seek to know, they apply perforce to the furtherance of self-elation only, that they may seem learned in contrast to the faithful and humble, it is rightly added;
But ye are set up against me.
[xxix] [HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION]
33. But perhaps we shall consider these words more thoroughly, if we point out how they apply to the friends of blessed Job personally in a special sense. For they, when they saw the righteous man smitten, ought to have turned back into their own deepest interior, and not to have persecuted blessed Job with words of upbraiding, but to have bewailed their own case; seeing that, if he was so stricken, who served as he did, with what vengeance did they deserve to be smitten, who had not served like him? And it is rightly said to them, Ye are set up against me; as if it were said to them in plainer terms; ‘Ye who ought by occasion of my being smitten to have been set up against your own selves,’ this being the order of such setting up on the side of goodness, viz. that we be first set up against ourselves, and afterwards against the wicked. For he that is set up against the good, is blown out in pride. Thus we are set up against ourselves, when, reviewing our own evil deeds, we smite ourselves with the severe avenging of penance, when we do not spare ourselves at all in our sins, and are not biassed by any fond thoughts towards ourselves, who, if we first rigidly follow up our evil things in ourselves, it is likewise fair, that we should be set up against the evil in others too for their good, and that the evil which we punish in ourselves, we should subdue in others too, by charging it home to them.
34. But this sort of setting up the wicked know nothing of, because they leave themselves, and attack the good; they incline themselves towards themselves, in their secret heart, by the softness of fond flattering, and they are set up against the lives of good men by the severity of harshness, whence it is now rightly said to the friends of blessed Job swelling against him under his scourge, Ye are set up against me: i. e. ‘Your own selves, that deserve to be rebuked, ye leave, and me ye rebuke with severe sentences. ’ For he that does not judge himself first, is ignorant what to judge right in another; and if perchance he did know by the hearing what to judge right, yet he is not able to judge rightly the merits of another, who has no rule of judging supplied him by the consciousness of his own innocence. Hence it is that it is said to certain persons dealing deceitfully, when they brought an adulteress to receive punishment; He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. [John 8, 7] For they went for the punishing of others’ sins, and they had left their own behind; and so they are called back to their conscience within them, that they should first correct their own faults, and then reprove those of others. It is hence that, when the tribe of Benjamin was deep sunk in the guilt of carnal sin, all Israel banded together would have avenged that wickedness, yet was once and again itself smitten down in the conflict of war; but on the Lord being consulted whether they should go to take vengeance, it was commanded them. [Judges 20] The People, that went according to the bidding of God’s voice, fell both once and again, and then at length effectually smiting the sinning tribe, almost wholly extirpated it. How is it that it is first kindled to the revenge of sin, and yet afterwards itself brought down; but that those are to be chastised first themselves, by whose means the sins of others are chastised; that they may themselves now come cleansed through vengeance, who are forward to chastise the evil of others? Whence it follows that when the vengeance of God’s inquest is at rest towards us, our own
- 454 -
conscience should reprove its own self, and by its own act lift itself up against self, to sorrows of penance, neither being set up towards the good, and humble towards itself, but unbending towards itself, and bowed low towards all the good. Thus to proud men administering reproof, it is rightly said; Ye are set up against me, and ye charge me with my reproaches. All persons that are set up, account temporal afflictions to be a grievous reproach, and they think every individual to be the more despised by God, in proportion as they see him scourged with the rod of affliction. For they look for nothing in principles, they look for nothing in practices; but whomsoever they see to be stricken in this life, they imagine to be already condemned by God’s sentence; whence it is well said on this occasion by the voice of blessed Job;
And ye charge me with my reproaches.
[xxx]
35. In that they, who knew him to be righteous before his strokes, were now judging him to be unrighteous by the mere fact of his being stricken, and hence it very often happens that Heretics, because they see persons within the bosom of Holy Church suffering affliction; (for it is written of God, And scourgeth every son whom He receiveth [Heb. 12, 6];) fancy that the sorrows of the faithful arise from nothing but sin, and themselves they for this reason conclude to be righteous, because being left in the thoughts of their evil ways, lacking the rod, they have become hardened. It proceeds;
Ver. 6. Know now at least that God hath afflicted me with no just judgment. [xxxi]
36. O, how hard does the voice of the righteous man sound, suffering under the infliction of the rod! Which same, however, not pride, but grief gave vent to! Now he is not righteous, who gives up righteousness under sorrow; and blessed Job, because he had a meek spirit, did not sin even by a hard word. For, if we say that he did err by this voice, we make out that the devil accomplished what he purposed, when he said, Touch his bone and his flesh, and see if he have not blessed Thee to Thy face. [Job 2, 5] Therefore a serious question arises; for if he did not sin in that he says, Know now at least that God has not afflicted me with a just judgment; we agree to God’s having done something unjustly, which it is profane to say; but if he did sin, then the devil made appear concerning him the thing that he promised. And so it must be asserted both that God acted rightly in His dealings with blessed Job, and yet that blessed Job herein, viz. that he says that he ‘was not afflicted by a just judgment of God,’ did not speak an untruth, and that our old enemy in respect of that which he promised of sin in the blessed man did speak an untruth. For sometimes the words of the good are for this reason supposed wrong, because they are not ever considered in their interior signification. Thus blessed Job had turned his eyes to his own life, and he estimated the strokes which he was undergoing, and saw that it was not just that upon such a life such strokes should be dealt. And when he says that he was not afflicted by a just judgment, he spoke that with unreserved voice, which God in His own secresy had said concerning him to his adversary, thou movedst Me against him, to afflict him without cause [v. 3]. For what God expresses, that He ‘had afflicted blessed Job without cause,’ this blessed Job asserts again in the words that he was not ‘afflicted of the Lord by a just judgment? ’ Wherein then did he sin, who was in nothing at odds with the sentence of his Maker?
- 455 -
37. But perhaps some one will say, that for us to speak that good concerning ourselves, which the Judge may have said in secret concerning us, cannot be done without sin. For he whom the Judge praises, it cannot be doubted, is justly praiseworthy; but if he in his own person praises himself, his righteousness is henceforth supposed to be no longer deserving of praise; and this is said rightly, if what the just Judge delivers in impartial sentence, the person in question should venture to say afterwards concerning himself in pride of heart. For if he himself too continuing in a humble frame, when the occasion or his grief brings it out, has uttered good that is true in his own praise, he has not departed from the line of righteousness, in so far as he was not at all at variance with truth.
38. Whence Paul the Apostle also related many brave things of himself for the edification of his disciples, but he did not commit sin by relating these things, in that both by an undeniable attestation, and a humble mind, he did not depart from the pathway of truth; and so let blessed Job, conscious of his own life being just, say that he is not afflicted by a just judgment; neither yet does he sin by that voice, wherein he is not at variance with His Maker, in that he whom God ‘smote without cause,’ himself also asserts that he was not ‘afflicted by a just judgment. ’ But again there arises another question, which I remember has been already solved in the beginning of this work, viz. whereas Almighty God does nothing without cause, why does He bear witness that He had afflicted blessed Job without cause? For our just Creator by those many strokes inflicted upon blessed Job did not aim to do away with evil qualities in him, but to increase his merits; and so that was just, which He did in the heightening of his good deserts; but it did not seem equitable, because it was thought to be the punishing of instances of sin. Now blessed Job believed that sins of his doing were obliterated by those scourges, not that his merits were added to, and therefore he calls it ‘not a just judgment,’ because he tests his life side by side with the scourges: thus, if the life and the scourges be weighed in the scales, that was not equal dealing, which blessed Job, as I have said, supposed to be done to him in the wrathfulness of severity; but if the mercifulness of the Judge be looked to, seeing that by the punishment of the just man the merits of his life are heightened, it was an equal or rather a merciful judgment: therefore at once Job spoke what was true, so long as he balanced his life with the stroke; and God did not afflict Job with an unjust judgment, in that he heightened his merits by the stroke; and the devil did not achieve what he promised; seeing that blessed Job, amidst words which sound hard, was neither removed from a true sentence nor a humble mind. But perhaps we shall understand these words of blessed Job less well, if we are not acquainted with the sentence of the Judge; Who, when He was delivering sentence between the two parties, says to the friends of Job; Ye have not spoken of Me the thing that is right, as My servant Job hath. [Job 42, 7] Who then is there so foolish [ABCD ‘tam. ’] in mind as to own that blessed Job had been guilty in his way of speaking, when he is declared to have spoken rightly by the very voice of the Judge itself? Which same voice, indeed, if we refer to the person of Holy Church, we not unsuitably apply it to her weak members, which while, in the season of her persecution, they weigh both her merits and her scourges, forasmuch as they see that the unjust thrive, and the just perish, have no notion that this is just. Now it is well added by the voice of the blessed man,
And compassed me with his scourges.
[xxxii]
39. For it is one thing to be smitten, and another thing to be ‘compassed with scourges. ’ Thus, we are smitten with scourges, when even in our sorrows we have a consolation derived from other
- 456 -
sources; for when affliction lies so heavy on us that the spirit can no longer take breath by consolation from anyone thing; we are now no longer smitten only, but even ‘compassed with scourges,’ in that we are every way surrounded by the rod of affliction. Thus Paul had been compassed with scourges, when he said, Without were fightings, within were fears. [2 Cor. 7, 5] He had been compassed with scourges, when he said, In perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness [2 Cor. 11, 26], with the other particulars, which he so enumerates, as to shew that he no where had rest. But when Holy Church is ‘compassed with the scourges’ of her tribulation, all the weak in her are brought down in the fall of littleness of mind, so that they now suppose themselves disregarded, in proportion as they see that they are the more slowly heard with effect. And it is rightly added yet further likewise in a figure of them by the voice of the holy man,
Ver. 7. Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard; I cry aloud, but there is no one to Judge.
[xxxiii]
40. Almighty God, knowing what has in it efficacy to prove our good, shuts His ears to hear the voice of persons mourning, that He may add to their advantage, that their life may be purified by punishment, that the tranquillity of rest which can no where be found here, may be sought for elsewhere. But there are some of the faithful even that know nothing of this grace of Providential ordering, in whose person too it is now said; Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard; I cry aloud, but there is no one to judge; for it is said, ‘there is no one to judge,’ when He veils His eyes to judge, in that beside Him ‘there is not any to judge’ our cause against our adversary. Nor yet is this very thing void of judgment, viz. that judgment is delayed; seeing that at the very time that blessed Job said this, both the merits of the holy man and the punishment of his adversary were increased: so then this very deferring of judgment is the act of a judge. But what God settles justly within is one thing, and what the soul bruised by scourges without seeks after is another. Whence he still further adds of that sinking under scourges,
Ver. 8. He hath fenced up my way, that I cannot pass: and He hath set darkness in my paths. [xxxiv]
41. He saw his ‘way fenced up’ with strokes, when anxiously desiring to pass into a state of security, he was not able to escape the scourges, and whereas he saw himself smitten, and yet did not find in himself a life worthy of such smiting, as it were ‘in the paths’ of the heart he met with ‘the darkness’ of his own ignorance, in that he could not fathom the cause wherefore he was so scourged. And this is not unfitly applied to the weak members of Holy Church too, when from this which they remember to have done wickedly, they are made backward in good practice as well, and, frightened by their own weakness, do not venture to attempt strong acts of goodness to match them. For they fear to begin great acts of goodness, who call to mind that they are infirm in their ways; and whereas they very often do not know the very good, which they should choose, they, as it were, shrink from the ‘darkness placed in their paths.
’ For the mind often becomes so doubtful of its own doings, as not to know at all which is the virtue and which the fault. Thus he ‘finds darkness in his path,’ who in those things which he desires to do, is ignorant what he ought to choose. Therefore seeing that there is sin often from infirmity, and sometimes from ignorance, it is said in the person of the members that go weakly, He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass. While in the person of those who see not clear as to the very good work itself which they should
- 457 -
choose, it is added; and He hath set darkness in my paths. For it is punishment of sin, to see the good which we ought to do, and yet not to have the power to fulfil it; and again it is in still worse punishment of sin, not even to see what we ought to do; and hence against both of these it is said by the voice of the Psalmist, The Lord is my Light and my Salvation; whom then shall I fear? [Ps. 27, 1] For against the darkness of ignorance the Lord is a ‘Light;’ against weakness ‘Salvation,’ whilst He both shews what ought to be desired for the doing it, and supplies the powers, that what He shews may be fulfilled. It goes on;
Ver. 9. He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
[xxxv] [ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
42. That all this suits the person of the blessed man set in the midst of tribulation, there can be no doubt; but, since the words of the historical account are plain, they do not require explaining after the letter, therefore they have to be traced out in their mystical senses. Thus he says, He hath stripped me of my glory. For the glory of each individual is his righteousness. Now just as a garment protects from the cold, so does righteousness defend from death; hence righteousness is not improperly likened to a garment, where it is said by the Prophet; Let Thy priests be clothed with righteousness. [Ps. 132, 9] But seeing that in the season of her tribulation this garment of righteousness, which covers her in the sight of God, is lost to Holy Church in her members that go weakly, let it be rightly said; He hath stripped me of my glory, i. e. righteousness has been taken away from the weak, whereas it could never possibly have been taken away from them, if it had been infixed in them from the ground of the heart, but for this reason it was possible to be taken away from them, because it was attached to them outwardly, like a garment. Wherein the question offers itself, how they could be called members of Holy Church, who were capable of losing the righteousness which they seemed to maintain. But it is necessary for us to know, that very often righteousness is lost for a while by her weakly members, but when they are afterwards brought back to penitence in the acknowledgment of their fault, they attach themselves to that very righteousness which they had lost more strongly than was supposed credible. And it is yet further added thereby, and taken the crown from my head. As the head is the first part of the body, so the leading part of the interior man is the mind. Now the crown is the reward of victory, which is set from Above, in order that he that has contended should be rewarded; and so because many persons, under the pressure of adversities, do not hold out in the contest, in these Holy Church as it were ‘loses a crown from her head:’ for ‘a crown on the head’ is the reward from Above in the mind; there are a great many who whilst they are pressed with adversities, neglect to take thought of the rewards above, and cannot reach to the completion of victory; in such, then, ‘the crown is taken from the head,’ in that the heavenly and spiritual reward is taken away from the aim of the mind, that they should henceforth go after the externally peaceful, nor look out for the eternal rewards, which they used to have at heart.
43. Or otherwise, ‘the head’ of the faithful is not inappropriately taken to mean the priests, in that they are the first part of the Lord’s members; and hence it is expressed by the Prophet, that ‘the head and the tail’ are rooted out, in which same place both by the title of the ‘head’ we have the priests denoted, and by the designation of the ‘tail’ the reprobate prophet. Therefore ‘the crown is taken from the head,’ when even they abandon the heavenly rewards, who seemed to have the lead in this body of the Church; and it generally happens that, when the leaders fall, the army, that
- 458 -
followed, is the wider worsted; and hence directly after the ills to the greater ones, going on about the manifold undoing of the Church, he added;
Ver. 10. He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone; and He hath removed mine hope like as with a tree torn away.
[xxxvi]
44. The Church is, as it were, ‘destroyed on every side,’ and undone in her weak members, when those very ones that seemed strong, are brought to ruin; when ‘the crown is taken away from the head,’ i. e. when the rewards of eternity are neglected even by those set at the head; and it is well added concerning weak ones falling, And mine hope hath He removed like as with a tree torn away; for a tree is pushed by the wind that it falls, and with him whom threats so terrify, as to make him go headlong into unrighteousness, what else is it, but that a tree met with a blast of the wind, and lost the standing of its uprightness? For he has, as it were, lost hope by the wind, who, subdued by the threats and persuasions of the wicked, has parted with those eternal rewards, which he looked forward to; and because it very often happens that a person, from fear of punishment, gives over righteousness, it is brought to pass by God’s decreeing it, that even in giving up righteousness he does not get quit of the punishments, which he was afraid of, and that he who did not fear at all the destruction of the soul, meets even with the ills of the flesh, which he apprehended. Hence it is yet further added;
Ver. 11. He hath also kindled His wrath against me, and He counteth me unto Him as one of His enemies.
[xxxvii]
45. For we have, been taught by the excellent Preacher attesting it, that ‘God is faithful, Who will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it. ’ [1 Cor. 10, 13] Moreover the Lord says by the Prophet, For I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with a cruel chastisement. [Jer. 30, 14] He then that is so stricken that his powers are overcome by that striking, the Lord no longer now smites him as a son in the course of discipline, but as an enemy in indignation. Thus when the strokes exceed the power of our patience, it is very much to be feared, lest, our sins demanding it, we are now no longer stricken as sons by a Father, but as enemies by the Lord; and whereas it very often comes to pass that evil spirits too press home many things to the hearts of the afflicted, and amidst the scourges which strike them outwardly, infuse bad thoughts into their hearts, after the wrath of the Lord it is rightly added;
Ver. 12. His robbers come together, and make themselves a way through me.
[xxxviii]
46. For ‘his robbers’ are evil spirits, who busy themselves in hunting out the deaths of men; and these ‘make themselves a way’ in the hearts of the afflicted, when, amidst the adversities that are undergone outwardly, they do not cease to infuse bad thoughts likewise; of whom it is yet further added;
And encamp round about my tabernacle.
- 459 -
[HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION]
For they ‘encamp round about our tabernacle,’ when they encircle the mind on every side with their temptings; which by most wicked prompting they persuade one while to mourn for things temporal, at another time to despair of things eternal, now to go headlong into impatience, and to cast words of blasphemy against God. Yet these words, as we have already said before, agree with blessed Job even taken historically; who, whilst he heaped before his eyes the ills he was enduring, judged himself to be not like a son that must be corrected, but as an enemy stricken with affliction. Through whom even ‘His robbers made themselves a way,’ in that the evil spirits obtained against him the leave to smite. ‘Round about whose tabernacle they encamped,’ in that after his substance and his children were taken away, they bruised his whole body too with wounds. But it is very extraordinary, why, when he spoke of the ‘robbers,’ he added His, clearly with a view to shew that these same robbers belonged to God; on which point, if we make a distinction between the power and the will of evil spirits, it is made evident, why they are called ‘God’s robbers;’ for evil spirits incessantly pant to do us mischief; but while they have a bad will derived from themselves, they have not the power of doing mischief, except the Supreme Will vouchsafes them permission; and while of themselves indeed they long to hurt us unjustly, yet by Almighty God they are not suffered to hurt anyone saving justly; and so whereas the will is unjust in them and the power just, they are at once called ‘robbers,’ and ‘God’s robbers,’ that it should come from themselves, that they aim to bring down evil things unjustly, and from God that the things so desired they do not consummate saving justly; but because, as we have often said already, the holy man set in the midst of the pain of punishment, one while speaks in his own accents, at another time in the accents of the Church, at another time of our Redeemer, and very frequently so describes his own circumstances, that in a figure he delivers those that belong to the Holy Church and to our Redeemer, concern for historical fact being for a little space put aside, let us shew in these things, which he subjoins, how he accords with the accents of our Redeemer, It goes on;
Ver. 13, 14. He hath put my brethren far from me; and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me. My kinsfolk, have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.
[xxxix] [ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
47. We shall shew this the better, if we bring forward the testimony of John, who says, He came unto His own, and His own received Him not [John 1, 11]; for His ‘brethren were put far from Him,’ and His ‘acquaintance were estranged’ from Him, Whom the Hebrews that held the Law were taught to prophesy, and never knew to acknowledge when present; whence it is rightly said: My kinsfolk have failed me, and my familiar friends have forgotten me. For the Jews; ‘kinsfolk’ in the flesh, ‘acquaintance’ by the teaching of the Law, as it were forgot Him, Whom they had foretold, in that Him they both sung of in the words of the Law, as destined to be made Incarnate, and when made Incarnate denied Him by the words of unbelief. It proceeds;
Ver. 15. They that dwell in my house, and my maids, count me for a stranger. [xl]
48. The inmates of God’s house were the Priests, whose race [origo] once set apart in the service of God, was henceforth by office continued in that state. But the ‘maids’ are not improperly taken for the souls of the Levites, servants to the hidden parts of the tabernacle as it were by a more
- 460 -
familiar service to the interior of the bedchamber. Therefore let him say of the Priests, serving with sedulous care, let him say of the Levites attending on the interior of the house of God. They that dwell in my house, and my maids, have counted me for a stranger; in that the Incarnate Lord, Whom they had for long foretold in the words of the Law, they refused to acknowledge and to reverence. And he yet more plainly shews that He was not known by their wicked will, when he adds;
And I was as it were an alien in their sight.
[xli]
49. For our Redeemer whereas He was not recognised by the Synagogue, was rendered ‘as it were an alien’ in His own house, Which the Prophet plainly witnesses, saying, Wherefore shalt thou be as a settler in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry? [Jer. 14, 8] For whereas He was not heard as the Lord, He was taken not as the owner but for ‘a settler of the land;’ and He only ‘turned aside to tarry as a wayfaring man,’ in that He carried off but few out of Judaea, and going on to the calling of the Gentiles finished the journey He had begun; and so ‘He was an alien’ in their sight, in that while they thought only of the things they could see, they were unable to perceive in the Lord the things they could not see; for whilst they contemn the flesh that was to be seen, they never reached to the unseen Majesty; therefore let it be rightly said; And I was as it were an alien in their sight. Concerning which people it is yet further fitly added;
Ver. 16. I called my servant, and he gave me no answer.
[xlii]
50. For what was the Jewish people but a ‘servant,’ which never obeyed the Lord with the love of a son, but the fear of a slave? Contrariwise it is said to us by Paul, For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father. [Rom. 8, 15] And so this ‘servant’ the Lord ‘called,’ in that by benefits vouchsafed, as by voices given out, He strove to bring it to Himself; but it ‘answered not,’ in that it was indifferent to render back deeds corresponding to His gifts. For God ‘calls’ us, when He presents us with His gifts; and we ‘answer’ to this calling, when we serve Him worthily according to the benefits we have been vouchsafed; therefore because He prevented the people with so many benefits, let him say, I called my servant, and because even after such numberless benefits, it contemned Him, let him add; and he gave me no answer. It goes on;
I entreated him with my own mouth.
[xliii]
51. As though he said more plainly; ‘I, the Same that before My Incarnation had given it in charge so many precepts to be practised, by the mouths of the Prophets, coming to it Incarnate, entreated it with my own mouth. ’ And hence Matthew, when he was telling of precepts being delivered by Him on the Mount, says, And He opened His mouth, and taught. [Matt. 5, 2] As if he said in plain speech; ‘Then He opened His own mouth, Who before had opened the mouths of the Prophets;’ it is hence too that it is said of Him by the Spouse longing for His presence, Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth [Cant. 1, 2]; since for all the precepts which she learnt by His preaching, Holy Church, as it were, received so many ‘kisses of his mouth. ’ Now it is well said, I entreated; in that
- 461 -
being exhibited in the flesh, whilst He spoke the precepts of life with humility, He, as it were, besought His servant filled with pride that he would come; and hence it is fitly added;
My wife shuddered at my breath.
[xliv]
52. What does the ‘wife’ of the Lord mean save the Synagogue, subject to Him in the Covenant of the Law with a carnal perception? Now the breath is from the flesh, and the unbelieving people understood the incarnation of the Lord in a carnal manner; in that it took Him for mere man; and so His ‘wife shuddered at His breath,’ in that the Synagogue was afraid to take Him for God, Whom it saw to be man; and when it heard the words from His mouth by bodily utterance, it refused to perceive in Him the mysteries of the Divine Nature, and would not believe Him to be Creator, Whom it saw to be created; and so the carnal ‘wife shuddered at the breath’ of the carnal body, in that being given over to carnal senses, it did not take knowledge of the mystery of the Incarnation. It goes on;
I entreated the children of mine own womb.
[xlv]
53. In God, Who is not circumscribed by the figure of a body, the members of the body, i. e. the hand, the eye, the womb, are named in such a way, that by the designation of the members, the effects of His Power are represented. As He is said to have eyes, in that He sees all things; He is described as having hands, in that He works all things. Now in the womb the offspring is conceived, which is brought forth in this life; what then are we to take the ‘womb’ of God for, but His counsel, wherein before time we were conceived by predestination, that being created in time we might be brought into the world? And so God, Who abides before time, ‘besought the children of His womb;’ in that those, whom He created with power by His Divine nature, coming Incarnate He besought with humility; but because in that same flesh, wherein He appeared, He was contemned in their estimation, it is subjoined;
Ver. 18. The foolish too despised me.
[xlvi]
54. The wise falling away from faith in the truth, there is an addition rightly made concerning ‘fools’ as well; in that when the Pharisees and the Lawyers despised the Lord, the rabble of the people too followed the example of their incredulousness, which herein, that it saw Him a man, slighted the announcements of the Redeemer of the world. For often by the title of fools, are denoted those who are poor among the common people; whence too it is said by Jeremiah, Therefore I said, perchance these are poor, and foolish ones, that know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God. [Jer. 5, 4] But leaving the rich and wise of the world, our Redeemer came to seek the poor and foolish, whence it is now said, as if for the heightening of grief, The foolish despised me. As if it were expressed in plain speech; ‘Even those very persons despised Me, for whose healing I took to Me the foolishness of preaching. ’ As it is written, For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. [1 Cor. 1, 21] For the ‘Word’ is ‘the Wisdom of God,’ but ‘the foolishness’ of this ‘Wisdom,’ the Flesh of the Word is called; that whereas the carnal severally
- 462 -
could not by craft of the flesh attain to the wisdom of God, by the foolishness of preaching, i. e. by the incarnation of the Word, they might be healed. Therefore he says, The foolish too despised me. As if it were expressed in plain words; ‘Even by those very persons I was despised, for whose sake I was not afraid to be counted foolish. ’ And whereas the Jewish multitude, when it saw the miracles of our Redeemer, honoured Him for His miracles, saying, This is the Christ [John 7, 41. 12. ]; but when it beheld the infirmities of His human nature, it disdained to account Him the Creator, saying, Nay, but He deceiveth the people; it is rightly subjoined;
And when I departed from them, they spake against me.
[xlvii]
55. For the Lord as it were drew near to the hearts of people, when He displayed miracles to them; and He as it were ‘departed from them,’ when He shewed them no signs; but they spake against the Lord so ‘departing,’ when they refused to yield their faith to Him thus resting from miracles; but what wonder that He met with such treatment from the common folk, when those very persons, who appeared to be teachers of the Law, who gave it out that He was to be made Incarnate in the words of Prophecy, both beheld Him made Incarnate, and yet were parted from Him by the disjoining of unbelief? Concerning whom it is added;
Ver. 19. They that were once my counsellors abhorred me, and he whom I loved most turned away from me.
[xlviii]
56. It is plain to all people, that God does not stand in need of counsellors, Who to man’s very counsellors themselves too vouchsafes the counsel of wisdom. Of whom moreover it is written, Who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been His counsellor? [Hom. xi. 34. from Is. 40, 13] but as when bread or clothing is bestowed on one that lacks them, the Lord bears witness that He Himself has received them; so when right counsel is given to one that is ignorant of it, He Himself receives it, of Whom that man is a member, who is so instructed; for all we, that are of the number of the faithful, are members of our Redeemer; and as He Himself is fed in our persons by the pitying of liberality, so He is Himself aided in our persons by the counselling of instruction; and so the scribes and doctors of the Law Who used to instruct the people with respect to life, what else were they but ‘counsellors’ of the Redeemer, Who was to come? Who, nevertheless, when they beheld the Lord become Incarnate, separated numbers from faith in Him by their counsels, though before they had seemed to teach numbers by the words of the Prophets to believe the mystery of His Incarnation; and because with God he is more in His love, who draws the greatest number to the love of Him, it is further added of that same order of the doctors of the Law and the Pharisees; and he whom I loved most, turned away from me. For that very order, through the prompting of unbelief was turned aside from faith in the truth, which before, while serving in the labours of preaching, was most beloved, which same not only to the extent of not believing the Lord, but even of persecuting Him as well, the rabble of the common people followed, and was kindled with the firebrands of cruelty to the very deed of His Passion; in which very Passion too the hearts of the disciples were troubled; whence also it is here added;
Ver. 20. My bone cleaveth to my skin, through my flesh being wasted.
[xlix]
- 463 -
57. By ‘bone’ we have strength, and by flesh weakness of the body denoted; therefore, whereas Christ and the Church are one person, what is signified by the ‘bone’ but the Lord Himself? what by the ‘flesh’ save the disciples, who in the hour of His Passion were weakly disposed? but by the ‘skin,’ which in the body remains more outward than the flesh, what is represented but those holy women, who with the view to furnish the stays of the body, served the Lord by outward offices of ministration? for when His disciples, though not yet firm, were preaching faith to the people, the flesh kept close to its bone; and when the holy women prepared the outward things that were necessary, they as it were like ‘a skin’ remained on the body outwards; but when it came to the hour of the Cross, exceeding great fear, caused by the persecution of the Jews, took possession of His disciples: they severally fled, the women ‘stuck close,’ and so, the ‘flesh,’ as it were, ‘being consumed,’ ‘the bone of the Lord clave to its skin,’ in that His strength, when the disciples fled in the hour of the Passion, had the women close beside it. Peter indeed stood for some time, but yet afterwards being affrighted he denied Him. John too stood, to whom at the very time of the Cross it was said, Behold thy mother. [John 19, 27] But he could not persevere; since it is also written concerning him [a], And there followed Him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body, and the young men laid hold of him. And he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked; [Mark 14, 51. 52. ] who although afterwards, to hear the words of his Redeemer, he returned at the hour of the Cross, yet first he was affrighted and fled; but the women are related not only not to have been afraid nor to have fled, but even to have stood fast even to the sepulchre; and so let him say, My bone cleaveth to my skin, through the flesh being wasted; i. e. ‘they that ought to have attached themselves closer to My strength, in the season of My Passion were consumed with dread; and those whom I set to external ministrations, in My Passion I found attached themselves faithfully to Me without fear. ’ And here it is plainly implied that these words are delivered in mystery, in that it follows;
And the lips only are left about my teeth.
[l]
58. For what do we have ‘about our teeth,’ but ‘lips,’ even if we suffer no scourges of affliction? but what is signified by ‘the lips’ but talk, what by ‘teeth’ but the holy Apostles? who are with this intention set in this body of the Church, that they may bite at the life of the carnal by correction, and break it in pieces from the hardness of its obstinacy; and hence it is said to that first of the Apostles, as being set, as a tooth in His Body, Kill, and eat. [Acts 10, 13] But because, at the time of His Passion, these ‘teeth’ from fear of death lost the biting of correction, lost the assurance of strength, lost the efficiency of practice of every sort, so that two of them as they walked, after His death and resurrection, talked by the way and said, But we trusted that it should have been he which should have redeemed Israel; [Luke 24, 21] it is rightly said here, And the lips only are left about my teeth. They were still conversing about Him, but now they no longer at all believed in Him; and so ‘the lips only remained about His teeth,’ in that they had parted with the efficiency of good practice, and only retained words of converse about Him. They had lost the bite of correction, and possessed the mooting of speech. Therefore, ‘the lips only were left about the teeth,’ in that to talk about Him indeed they knew still, but to preach Him now, or to bite the bad ways of unbelievers, they were afraid. Therefore these particulars being finished, which he spoke in the voice of the Head, blessed Job is brought back to his own words, saying;
- 464 -
Ver. 21. Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched
me.
[li] [HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION]
59. The mind of godly men is used to have this peculiar to itself, that when it suffers unjust treatment at the hands of enemies, it is not so much moved to wrath as to prayer; that if the wickedness of those persons could be made to subside to a calm, they would choose rather to beseech than to be wroth; whence it is rightly said in this place, Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me. Observe, those by whom he sees that he is ever being treated with insults, he calls ‘friends,’ in that to godly minds the very things that seem contrary are made favourable; for any that are wicked are either converted by the sweetness of the good so as to turn back, and by this alone they are friends, viz. that they are made good, or they persevere in their wickedness, and herein also even against their will they are ‘friends,’ in that, if there be any transgressions of the good, by their persecutions they purge them away even unknowingly. Observe too, that with these things which are done with God in secret, the words of the blessed man openly spoken are quite of a piece. Thus he had been smitten by Satan, yet he did not ascribe his being smitten to Satan, but he calls himself ‘touched by the hand of God,’ as Satan himself too had said; But put forth thine hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and see if he bless Thee not to Thy face. [c. 2, 5] For the holy man knew that in that very thing which Satan had done towards him with an evil will, he derived his power not from himself, but from the Lord. It goes on;
Ver. 22. Why do ye persecute me as God; and are filled with my flesh?
[lii]
60. It is not at variance with the style of piety that he tells that he is persecuted by God. For there is a good persecutor; as when the Lord says of Himself by the lips of the Prophet, Him that privily slandereth his neighbour, him did I persecute. [Ps. 101, 5] But when any Saint is suffered to be stricken, he knows that he is undergoing persecution, sent against evil he has been guilty of, from the interior ordering. Now the savage minds of the persecutors, when they desire the power to smite, are inflamed against the life of the good not with the ardour of purifying, but with the firebrands of envy; and they do that indeed, which Almighty God allows to be done; in that while there is one cause with God transacted too by their agency, yet there is not one will maintained in that cause, since whilst Almighty God, in loving, is enforcing purification, the wickedness of the unjust is exercising malice in raging. This then that is said, Why do ye persecute me as God? he spoke with reference to the external smiting, not to the interior intention, in that though they execute that externally which God ordained to be done, yet in their doing it they do not seek that which God does, viz. that good men should be purified by means of affliction. Which too may likewise be understood in another sense also. For Almighty God chastens the evil qualities of others so much the more justly in proportion as He has no whit of evil qualities in Himself; but men when they strike others in the course of discipline, ought so to chasten the frailty of another, that they should at the same time have learnt the habit to recall their eyes to their own frailty, so as to consider from themselves how they ought to spare in smiting others, seeing that they are not unaware that they themselves too are worthy of stripes. And so it is said in this case, Why do ye persecute me as God? As if it were expressed in plain words; ‘Ye do so afflict me on the grounds
- 465 -
of my frailties, as if ye yourselves after the manner of God owned nought of infirmity:’ whence it is to be considered, that if perchance there be persons that need sharpness of correction, hard correction is then to be used to them by us, when the hand of God ceases from using the rod; but when strokes from above are upon them, from us there is now due no longer correction but consolation, lest, while in their grief we join our reproach, we put smiting to smiting.
61. Now it is well added, And are filled with my flesh? The mind which hungers for the punishing of a neighbour, surely seeks to be ‘filled with the flesh’ of another. Moreover it is necessary to be known, that those also who feed on the slander of another’s life, are as surely ‘filled with the flesh’ of another. Whence it is said by Solomon; Be not in the feastings of winebibbers; nor eat with those, who bring together flesh to eat. [Prov. 23, 20] For to ‘bring together flesh to eat,’ is, in the parlance of disparagement to tell by turns the bad qualities of neighbours; concerning whose punishment it is directly added there, they that are given to cups, and that give a contribution, shall be consumed, and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. They are ‘given to cups’ who make themselves drunk [se debriant] with slander of another’s life; but to ‘give a contribution [symbolum],’ is in the same way that each individual is used to contribute provisions for his share to be eaten, so in the parlance of slander to contribute words. But ‘they that are given to cups and that give a contribution shall be consumed,’ in that as it is written, Every slanderer shall be rooted out [Ben. Ed. refers to Prov. 15, 5 perhaps Ps. 101, 5]; but ‘drowsiness shall cover a man with rags,’ in that his death finds him an object of contempt and empty of all good works, whom the sickly habit [languor] of detraction took possession of here for the raking out the misdemeanours of another man’s life. But all those hardships which blessed Job undergoes it is not meet should be let pass in silence, and that the obscurity of ignorance should cover them from man’s knowledge; for so many may be edified for the preserving of patience, as they who, by grace from above replenishing them, may be made acquainted with the achievements of his patience. And hence the same blessed Job would have the strokes which he feels carried into an example, in that he immediately adds, saying;
Ver. 23, 24. O that my words were now written!