To ‘bring forth foliage on the stock being cut down’ is, when the just man is put an end to in the body, by the mere example of his
suffering
to raise up the hearts of many, and out of a right faith to shew forth the greenness of truth.
St Gregory - Moralia - Job
Observe, that whereas the holy man finds not that he has ever sinned in his manhood [juventute], he dreads the sins of his youth [adolescentiae].
Now it is necessary to know, that as in the body, so are there advances of age in the mind also.
Thus the first age of man is infancy, when, though he lives in innocence, he cannot speak [h] the innocence which is in him; and then follows boyhood, in which he has henceforth the power of speaking what he wishes; to which youth succeeds, which we know is the first age in active life, which is followed by manhood, i.
e.
that which is suited to hardihood; and afterwards old age, which from mere time even is now fellow to maturity of mind.
Therefore, as we have called the first age fit for good actions ‘youth,’ and as the righteous when they are far advanced in perfect maturity of mind, sometimes recall to recollection the beginning of their deeds, and blame themselves for their first commencement in an equal degree as they have advanced deeper in gravity of mind, because they find that they were once void of discretion, in proportion as they afterwards more thoroughly attain possession of the stronghold of discretion, it is rightly that now, in the words of the holy man, the sins of his youth are dreaded.
But if this is to be held after the bare letter, we ought from this consideration to infer how grievous the sins of grown men and the aged are, if the just so greatly fear even that which they did wrong in the years of weakness. It goes on;
Ver. 27. Thou puttest my foot also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly into all my paths; Thou markest the prints of my feet.
[xlvii]
63. God ‘set man’s foot in the stocks,’ in that he bound fast his wickedness with the strong sentence of His severity. And He ‘looketh narrowly into all his paths,’ in that He judges with minute exactness all the several particulars that belong to him. For a ‘path’ is usually narrower than a ‘way;’ but as by ‘ways’ we understand actions, so by ‘paths’ we not unjustly understand the mere thoughts of them. So God ‘looketh narrowly into all our paths,’ in that in all our several actions He takes account of the thoughts of the heart too; and He ‘marketh the prints of our feet,’ in that He examineth the intentions [i] of our works, how far they are placed aright, lest that which is done a good work, be not done with a right object. But it is possible that by the prints of the feet the several things done badly may be understood. For a foot in the body is a print in the way. And very commonly, when we do some things wrong, whereas our brethren see it, we are setting them a bad example, and our foot being as it were turned out of the way, we leave to those that follow our footsteps all awry, while by our own deeds we lead the way for other men’s consciences to stumble. But it is very hard for man to keep on his guard, that he never presume to do evil, that in his good actions he be not unsteady in the intention, and amidst upright deeds let no wrong purpose deceive him. Yet all these particulars Almighty God minutely examines, and weighs each one of
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them in judgment. But when can man, bound about as he is by the frailty of the flesh, have power to rise up against all of them with exact particularity, and to maintain the line of uprightness with the thought of the heart unmoved? Hence it is properly added;
Ver. 28. Who am as a rotten thing to be consumed, and as a garment that is moth eaten.
[xlviii]
64. For as a garment is eaten by the moth sprung out of itself, so man containeth rottenness in himself, whereby he consumeth, and that which he is, is that whereby he consumeth that he should not be. Which may be taken in another sense also, if it be said in the voice of man when tempted; And I as a rotten thing am to consume, as a garment that is moth eaten. For man ‘as a rotten thing consumeth,’ in that he is wasted by the corruption of his flesh. And because impure temptation springs up to him from no other source than from himself, like a moth, temptation consumes the flesh, as a garment from which it issues. For man contains in himself the occasion whence he is tempted. Therefore as it were ‘the moth consumeth the garment,’ whilst it proceeded from that very same garment. However, we ought to bear in mind that the moth digs its way through the garment without any sound, and it very often happens that thought pierces the mind in such a way, that the mind itself is not sensible of it, until after it has been pierced by its sting. Therefore it is well said that man ‘consumeth like a garment that is moth eaten,’ for sometimes we do not know the wounds of temptation, unless after we be pierced thereby within our souls. Which same frailty of ours the holy man yet further considering justly adds;
Chap. xiv. 1. Man that is born of a woman liveth a short time, and is full of many miseries.
65. In Sacred Writ ‘woman’ is taken either for the sex, or else for ‘frailty. ’ For the ‘sex,’ as where it is written, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law [Gal. 4, 4]. But for frailty, as where it is said by the Wise Man, Better is the iniquity of a man than a woman doing well. [Ecclus. 42, 14] For ‘a man’ is the term for every strongminded and discreet person, but ‘a woman’ is understood of the weak or indiscreet mind. And it often happens that even the discreet person suddenly falls into a fault, and that another weak and indiscreet man exhibits good practice. But he that is weak and indiscreet is sometimes lifted up the more on the score of what he has done well, and falls the worse into sin; but the discreet person even from that which he sees that he has done amiss, takes occasion to recall himself with closer application to the rule of strictness, and advances the further in righteousness from the same act, whereby he seemed to have fallen from righteousness for a time. In which respect it is rightly said, Better is the iniquity of a man than a woman doing well; in that sometimes the very fault of the strong becomes occasion of virtue, and the virtue of the weak occasion of sin. In this place then by the name of ‘a woman,’ what else but ‘frailty’ is denoted, when it is said, Man that is born of a woman? As if it were said in plainer words, ‘What strength shall he have in himself, who was born in frailty? ’
66. Liveth a short time, and is full of many miseries. Observe by the holy man’s words we have the punishment of man briefly set forth, in that he is at once stinted in life and filled out in misery. For if we consider with exactness all that is done here, it is punishment and misery. For to minister to the corruption of the flesh by itself in things necessary and permitted is misery, in such measure that clothing should be sought out against cold, food against hunger, coolness against heat. That the health of the body is kept only with great care, that even when kept it is lost, when lost it is recovered not without great difficulty, and yet after being restored is always in risk; what else is
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this than the misery of the life of mortality? That we love our friends, mistrusting lest they may be offended with us; that we dread our enemies, and truly are not secure touching those whom we dread; that we often talk to our enemies as confidentially as to friends, and often take the sincere words of our friends, and those, perhaps, that love us very much, as the words of enemies; and that we, who wish never either to be deceived or to deceive, err the more by our caution; what, then, is all this but the misery of man’s life? That after the heavenly country has been lost, banished man is delighted with his exile, that he is weighed down with cares, and yet shuts his eyes to considering how great the burthen is, in that he is full of a multitude of thoughts; that he is deprived of the interior light, and yet in this life wishes to prolong his state of blindness; what else is this but misery, the offspring of our punishment? Yet though he desire to stay here for long, still he is driven on by the mere current of his mortal life to depart out of it. Hence the holy man lightly adds; Ver. 2. He cometh forth like a flower, and is crushed: he fleeth also as a shadow, and never continueth in the same state.
[l]
67. For, ‘as a flower, he cometh forth,’ in that he shews fair in the flesh; but he is ‘crushed,’ in that he is reduced to corruption. For what are men, as born in the world, but a kind of flowers in a field? Let us stretch our interior eyes over the breadth of the present world, and, lo, it is filled as it were with as many flowers as there are human beings. So life in this flesh is the flower in grass. Hence it is well said by the Psalmist, As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. [Ps. 103, 15] Isaiah too saith, All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof is as the flower of the field. [Is. 40, 6] For man cometh forth like a flower from concealment, and of a sudden shews himself in open day, and in a moment is by death withdrawn from open view into concealment again. The greenness of the flesh exhibits us to view, but the dryness of dust withdraws us from men’s eyes. Like a flower we appeared, who were not; like a ‘flower’ we wither, who appeared only in time.
68. And whereas man is daily being driven into death moment by moment, it is rightly added, He fleeth also as a shadow, and never continueth in the same state. But as the sun is unceasingly going through his course, and never stays himself in a state of stedfastness, why is the course of man’s life likened to ‘a shadow’ rather than to the ‘sun,’ excepting that, when he parted with the love of the Creator, he lost the heat of the heart, and remained in the coldness of his iniquity alone? Since according to the voice of Truth, Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. [Matt. 24, 2] He, then, who hath not warmth of the heart in the love of God, and yet keepeth not the life, which he loves, assuredly he ‘fleeth like a shadow. ’ Hence it is well written concerning him, that he hath followed a shadow. [Ecclus. 34, 2] Now it is well said, and never continueth in the same state. For whereas infancy is going on to childhood, childhood to youth, youth to manhood, and manhood to old age, and old age to death, in the course of the present life he is forced by the very steps of his increase upon those of decrease, and is ever wasting from the very cause whence he thinks himself to be gaining ground in the space of his life. For we cannot have a fixed stay here, whither we are come only to pass on; and this very circumstance of our living is to be daily passing out of life. Which same flight the first man could not have known before the transgression, seeing that times passed, himself standing. But after he transgressed, he placed himself on a kind of slide of a temporal condition, and because he ate the forbidden fruit, he found at once the failure of his stay. Which liability to change man suffers, not only without, but
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also within him, when he strives to arise to better works. For by the weight of its changeableness the mind is always being driven forwards to some other thing than it is, and, except it be kept in its stay by stringent discipline in self-keeping, it is always sliding back into worse. For that mind which deserted Him, Who ever standeth, lost the stay in which she might have continued.
Henceforth now when he strives after better things, he has as it were to strain against the force of the stream. But when he relaxes in his bent to ascend, without effort he is carried back to the lowest point. Thus whereas in ascent there is effort, in descent rest from effort, the Lord warns us that we have to enter by a narrow gate, saying, Strive to enter in at the strait gate [Luke 13, 24]; for when about to mention ‘the entering in of the narrow gate,’ He premised, Strive, since unless there be an ardent striving [k] of the heart,’ the water of the world is not surmounted, whereby the soul is ever being borne down to the lowest place. And so whereas man ‘springeth up like a flower and is cut down, and fleeth also as a shadow, and never continueth in his place,’ let us hear what he further subjoins in this train of reflection. It goes on;
Ver. 3. And dost Thou deign to open Thine eyes upon such an one, and to bring him into judgment with Thee?
[li]
69. For he surveyed above both the power of Almighty God and his own frailty; he brought before his view himself and God, he considered Who would come into judgment, and with whom. He saw on the one side man, on the other side his Creator, i. e. dust and God; and he lightly exclaims, Dost Thou deign to open Thine eyes upon such an one? With Almighty God, to open the eyes is to execute His judgments, to look whom to smite. For as it were with eyes closed He does not wish to look at him, whom He does not wish to smite. Hence it is immediately added also about the judgment itself, To bring him into judgment with Thee? But whereas he had viewed God coming to judgment, he again takes a view of his own frailty. He sees that he cannot be clean of himself, who, that he might be able to be, came forth out of uncleanness. And he adds,
Ver. 4. Who can make clean a thing conceived of unclean seed? Is it not Thou, Who only Art? [lii]
70. He That alone is clean in Himself can cleanse the unclean thing. For man, who lives in a corruptible flesh, has the uncleannesses of temptation engrained in him, seeing that he derived them from his birth. For his very conception, for the sake of fleshly gratification, is uncleanness. Hence the Psalmist saith, Behold, I was shapen in wickedness, and in sin hath my mother conceived me. [Ps. 51, 7] Hence it is therefore that he is very often tempted even against his will. Hence it is that he is subject to impurities in imagination, even though he strive against them by reason, because being conceived in uncleanness, whilst he follows after cleanness, he is striving to get the better of that which he is. But whoever has mastered the motions of secret temptation, and overcome uncleanness of thought, must never ascribe his cleanness to himself, in that none can make clean a thing conceived of unclean seed, save He Who alone is clean in Himself. Let him, then, that has already reached in mind the place of cleanness, cast his eye upon the way of his conception, which he came by, and thence satisfy himself, that in his own power he has no cleanness of life, the beginning of whose existence was made in uncleanness. But the meaning here may be that blessed Job, regarding the Incarnation of the Redeemer, saw that That Man only in the world was not
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conceived of unclean seed, Who so came into the world from the Virgin’s womb, that He had nothing derived from unclean conception. For He did not proceed from the man and the woman, but from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. He only then proved truly clean in His Flesh, Who was incapable of being affected by the gratification of the flesh, seeing that it was not by the gratification of the flesh that He came hither.
BOOK XII.
Wherein after the fourteenth chapter of the Book of Job has been explained, beginning at the fifth verse, the fifteenth chapter entire is explained for the most part in a moral sense.
[i] [LITERAL INTERPRETATION]
IT is the practice of the righteous, to think of the present life, how transitory it is, so much the more heedfully in proportion as they are taught more earnestly to take thought of the eternal blessings of the heavenly Country; for by those things, which they see lasting within, they more exactly mark the flight of things passing away without. Whence blessed Job, when he had delivered a sentence on the transition of man’s time, saying, Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live; and again, He seeth also as a shadow, and never continueth in the same state; further adds of the shortness of his life;
Ver. 5. The days of man are short, the number of his months is with Thee.
1. For he sees that that as it were is not with us, which runs by with such great rapidity, but seeing that even things passing away stand with Almighty God, he declares that ‘the number of our months is with Him. ’ Or, indeed, by the ‘days,’ the shortness of time is denoted, but by the ‘months’ the spaces of the days are multiplied. Thus to ourselves ‘the days are short;’ but seeing that our life is further extended afterwards, ‘the number of our months’ is recorded ‘to be with God. ’ Hence also it is said by Solomon, Length of days is in her right hand. [Prov. 3, 16] It goes on;
Thou hast appointed his bounds, that he cannot pass.
[ii]
2. Of the things that happen to men in this world, none come to pass without the secret counsel of Almighty God; for God, foreseeing all things that should follow, before the ages of the world decreed how they should be ordered in the ages of the world. Since it is already appointed to man both to what extent the prosperity of the world shall attend him, or in what degree adversity shall fall upon him, that His Elect neither unbounded prosperity may exalt, nor overmuch adversity sink them too low; moreover it is appointed in this very life of mortality how long he shall live with the conditions of time. For although Almighty God added fifteen years to the life of King Hezekiah, yet at that moment that he suffered him to die, He foresaw he would die. Wherein a question presents itself, viz. how it is that it should be said to him by the Prophet, Set thine house in order for thou shalt die, and not live? [2 Kings 20, 1] For he, to whom sentence of death was declared, immediately upon his tears had life added to him. Now, the Lord said by the Prophet at what time he in himself deserved to die, but by the bountifulness of mercy, He kept him for the undergoing
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death at that time, which He Himself foreknew before the ages began. Nor even therefore was the Prophet deceptive, because he made known the time of death, at which that man deserved to die, nor were the appointments of the Lord rent and torn, forasmuch as this also, that the years of life should be added to by the bountifulness of God, was foreordained before the ages began; and the period of life, which was added contrary to expectation without, was inwardly appointed without increase upon foreknowledge; and so it is well said, Thou hast appointed his bounds which he cannot pass.
[MORAL INTERPRETATION]
3. Which may also be taken according to the spirit, in that we sometimes endeavour to advance in virtuous attainments, and some gifts we are vouchsafed, but being kept off from some, we lie prone in things below. For there is no man who masters that degree of goodness which he desires, in that Almighty God, Who discerneth the inward parts, sets bounds to the very spiritual attainments themselves; that by reason of that which man tries to master, and is unable, he may not exalt himself in those things, in which he has the power. Whence too that great Preacher, that had been carried up into the third heaven, and penetrated the secrets of Paradise, after that revelation, was not left the power to be at rest, and without temptation; but whereas Almighty God has ‘appointed man his bounds, which he cannot pass,’ he both exalted him to know things on high, and set him down again to be subject to weak things, that he looking at the measure of his compass, whilst he endeavoured to lay hold on security, and could not, that he might not be carried out of himself in pride, might be forced in humility ever to return back within his own bounds. It proceeds;
Ver. 6. Turn from him a little while, that he may rest, till his longed for day come, as an hireling’s. [iii]
4. In this place, Turn from him, means, ‘remove from him the force of the stroke,’ for who can rest when He turns away from him, when He Himself alone is rest, and the further off a man is from Him, he is also rendered void of rest in proportion? Thus it is in such sort said, Turn from him, that you should understand, ‘from smiting;’ for it is fitly added, till his longed for day come as an hireling’s. In proportion as an hireling is far from the end of his work, so is he far from the recompense of his wages. Thus every holy man being set in this life, whilst he sees that he is far from departing out of the present life, laments that he is far from the eternal bliss. What then is it to say, Turn from him a little while, that he may rest; but, ‘withdraw now the strokes of the present life, and shew the blessings of eternal rest? ’ Whence too it is added concerning that rest itself; till his longed for day come, as an hireling’s; for then the longed for day as of an hireling comes to man, when he receives eternal rest in compensation for his labour. But as far as relates to the aspect of the present life, how despicable is the race of man, so full of miseries, blessed Job yet further tells, and describes how greatly the very things without sense seem to surpass him, when he says;
Ver. 7-10. For there is a hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will be green again; and that the tender branches thereof will sprout forth. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth foliage as when it was planted. But man, when he is dead, and stripped, and consumed, where is he?
[iv] [MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION]
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5. Now because this is self-evident according to the letter, we must refer the sense to the things of the interior, and search how they are to be made out after the spiritual signification. Thus in Holy Scripture by the name of ‘tree’ we have represented sometimes the Cross, sometimes the righteous man, or even the unrighteous man, and sometimes the Wisdom of God Incarnate. Thus the Cross is denoted by ‘the tree,’ when it is said, Let us put the tree into his bread [Jer. 11, 19, V. ]; for to ‘put the tree into the bread’ is to apply the Cross to the Body of our Lord. Again by the title of ‘the tree’ we have the just man, or even the unjust man, set forth, as the Lord saith by the Prophet, I the Lord have brought down the high tree, and exalted the low tree. [Ez. 17, 24] Forasmuch as according to the word of the self-same Truth, Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted [Luke 14, 11]: Solomon also saith, If the tree fall towards the South, or toward the North, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be. [Ecc. 11, 3] For in the day of their death the just man does ‘fall to the South,’ and the unjust ‘to the North,’ in that both the just man in favour of the Spirit is brought to joy, and the sinner, together with the apostate Angel, who said, I will sit also upon the mount of the testimony, in the sides of the North [Is. 14, 13], is cast away in his frozen heart. Again, the Wisdom of God Incarnate is represented by ‘the Tree,’ as where it is written thereon, She is a tree of life to them that lay hold on Her. [Prov. 3, 18] And as She Herself says, If they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry? [Luke 23, 31] And so in this place whereas a tree is preferred before man, what is man taken for but every carnal person? and what is denoted by the title of ‘the tree,’ but the life of the righteous? For there is a hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will be green again. For when in a death of painful endurance the just man is hard bestead for the truth, in the greenness of everlasting life he is recovered again; and he who here proved green by faith, there becomes green in actual sight [speciem]. ‘And his branches shoot,’ in that it is most often the case that by the sufferings of the just man, all faithful persons are redoubled in the love of the heavenly country, and they receive the greenness of the spiritual life, while they are glad that he did courageously here in God’s behalf. It goes on;
Ver. 8, 9. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the dust; yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth leaves as when it was first planted.
[v]
6. What is ‘the root’ of the righteous, but holy preaching, since it is that he springs out of, and that he holds on in? and what is meant by the name of ‘the earth’ or of ‘dust,’ but the sinner? to whom it is said by the voice of the Creator, Earth thou art, and unto earth shalt thou return [m] [Gen. 3, 19]. Or, indeed, as our Translation reads, Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. [so V. ] Thus ‘the root of the righteous waxes old in the earth, and his stock dies in the dust,’ in that in the hearts of the wicked his preaching is despised, and thought dried of all goodness, and ‘his stock dies in the dust,’ in that amidst the hands of the persecutors his body is bereft of life; for according to the words of Wisdom, In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die, and their departure is taken for misery. [Wisd. 3, 2] But this one, whose ‘root waxed old in the earth, and whose trunk died in the dust,’ through the smell of water, buddeth; in that through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, by the example of his conduct he causes the budding of virtue in the hearts of the Elect. For by the designation of water sometimes the watering of the Holy Spirit is used to be understood, as where it is written, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. [John 7, 37] But whosoever drinketh of the water that shall give him, shall never thirst. [John 4, 14] It follows; And bring forth foliage
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as when it was first planted.
To ‘bring forth foliage on the stock being cut down’ is, when the just man is put an end to in the body, by the mere example of his suffering to raise up the hearts of many, and out of a right faith to shew forth the greenness of truth. And it is well said, As when it was first planted. All that is done by the righteous here is a second planting; in that clearly the first planting does not consist in the practice of the good, but in the foreknowledge of the Creator; and whereas all that the Elect do, as it is first seen and settled interiorly, so afterwards is executed outwardly, it is well said, And bring forth foliage as when it was first planted, i. e. it shews its greenness in the executing of practice, such as it had before in the foreknowledge of the Creator.
7. The ‘root of the righteous’ may also be taken for the very nature itself of a human being, by virtue whereof he subsists, which same root waxes old in the earth, when the natural frame of flesh comes to nought being reduced to dust, whose ‘stock dies in the dust,’ in that the body dismantled of its own form and fashion crumbles to nought; but at the ‘scent of water it buds,’ in that through the coming of the Holy Spirit it rises again; and it will bring forth boughs as when it was first planted, in that it returns to that form, which it was created to receive, if, when he was set in Paradise, he had refused to sin.
[PROPHETICAL INTERPRETATION]
8. Which perhaps may also be taken of the Lord Himself, Who is the Head of all the good; for according to that which we have said before, whereas He saith of Himself, For if they have done these things in a green tree, what shall be done in a dry? [Luke 23, 31] He said that Himself was the green tree, and we the dry tree, forasmuch as He contained in His own Person the power of the Divine Nature, but we that are mere men are called a dry tree. And so ‘there is hope of a tree if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,’ in that even if He was able to be put to death by His Passion, yet by the glory of His Resurrection, He came to the greenness of life again; ‘His branches shoot,’ in that the faithful being multiplied by His Resurrection grew out far and wide; His root as it were waxed old in the earth, in that the preaching of Him was to the unbelief of the Jews a despicable thing; ‘and His stock dried in the dust,’ in that in the heart of those that persecuted Him, which was uplifted by the wind of their unbelief, He was held as an object of scorn and contempt, in that He was capable of being put to death in the flesh; but ‘at the scent of water He budded,’ in that through the power of God His Flesh after demise returned to life, according to that which is written, Whom God hath raised from the dead. [Acts 3, 15] For in that God is a Trinity, the Holy Trinity, i. e. the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, raised up to life the extinct Flesh of the Only-Begotten Son. And ‘It brought forth foliage as when It was first planted,’ in that the feebleness of the Apostles, which in the season of His death was afraid and denied, and by denying turned dry, by the glory of His Resurrection was again quickened in faith. In comparison with which Tree what is every man but dust? Hence it is added;
Ver. 10. But when man is dead, and stripped, and consumed, where, I pray, is he? [vi]
9. There is no man without sin, save Him Who came not into this world by sin; and whereas all we are tied fast in the bonds of guilt, we die by the mere loss of righteousness. Of the robe of innocence given us aforetime in Paradise, we are stripped naked, and we are yet further consumed by the subsequent dissolution of the flesh. Thus man being a sinner dies in guilt, is stripped bare of
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righteousness, is consumed in punishment. This nakedness of his erring son the Father vouchsafed to cover, who said, on his returning to him, Bring forth quickly the first robe. For ‘the first robe’ is the robe of innocence, which man being created aright received, but being persuaded wrongly by the serpent forfeited. Against this same nakedness it is said, Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked. For we ‘keep our garments,’ when we keep the precepts of innocency in our hearts, that whereas guilt strips us naked to the Judge, penance should cover us returning to the innocence we had forfeited. And it is well said, Where, I pray, is he? in that the sinner, man, refused to stand there where he was created; while here, where he fell, he is forbidden to stay for long. Willingly he forfeited his country, unwillingly he is driven forth from his exile, which he delights in. Where then is he, who is not in His love, where only it is truly to be? It proceeds;
Ver. 11, 12. As if the waters fail from the sea, and the river being emptied drieth up: so man lieth down, and riseth not.
[vii]
10. The mind of man is the sea, and the thoughts of his mind, as it were, a wave of the sea; which sometimes swell in anger, are made calm by grace, and from hatred run out in bitterness; but when man dieth, ‘the waters of the sea fail,’ in that according to the words of the Psalmist, In that very day his thoughts perish. [Ps. 146, 4] And again it is written concerning the dying soul, Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy shall perish together. [Eccl. 9, 6] Thus ‘the river being emptied drieth up,’ in that, when the soul is withdrawn, the body remains empty. For the lifeless body is as it were the empty channel of a river, wherein it is to be marked with an attentive eye that the present life, i. e. the time while the soul stays in the body, is likened to the sea and to a river, for the water of the sea is bitter, of a river sweet. And because we that are living here are at one time under the influence of certain bitternesses, and at another time are seen to be serene and gentle with sweetness, the course of the present life is set forth by the similitude of the sea and a river.
11. But herein that seems to be exceedingly hard which is added, So man lieth down, and riseth not. Wherefore do we so toil and labour, if we are not straining after the recompense of the Resurrection? And how is it said, and riseth not, when it is written: We shall all rise again, but we shall not all be changed? [1 Cor. 15, 51 Vulg. ] And again, If in this life only we have hope of life in Christ, we are of all men most miserable [ver. 19]: and when ‘Truth’ says by Itself, All that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. [John 5, 28. 29. ] But the sentence subjoined points out what distinction there is concealed in the sentence preceding. For it is added;
Till the heavens be no more they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
[viii]
12. For it is plain that they shall not rise again, that is, till the heavens be no more, in that except the end of the world come, the race of mankind shall not wake to life from the sleep of death. Not, then, that he shall not rise again at all, but that before the crumbling of the heavens the human race shall not rise again, is what he teaches. Moreover it is a thing to be marked, why after he had called man dead above, below he designates him not dead, but sleeping, and tells that he shall never rise
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again from his sleep until the heaven be crumbled in pieces, which is no otherwise than that it is plainly given us to understand, that by the likeness of the tree quickened afresh to life, he designates man a dead sinner, i. e. extinct from the life of righteousness; but when he speaks of the death of the flesh, he preferred to call this not death but sleep, teaching us surely the hope of the Resurrection; in that as a man quickly awakes out of sleep, so shall he rise in a moment at the nod of his Creator from the death of the body. For the name of death is horribly feared by weak minds, but the title of sleep is not feared. Hence Paul in charging his disciples saith, But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not as men without hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring again with Him. [1 Thess. 4, 13. 14. ] How is it that the great Preacher calls the death of the Lord death, but the death of the servants of the Lord he names not death, but sleep; but that, having regard to the weak hearts of his hearers, he mixes the medicine of his preaching with wonderful art, and Him, Whom they knew to have risen already, he does not doubt to teach them was dead, while those, who had not as yet risen again, that he might teach the hope of the Resurrection, he calls not dead, but sleeping? For he did not fear to call Him dead Whom his hearers knew to have already risen, and He was afraid to call those dead, whose rising again they scarcely believed. Thus blessed Job, seeing that he does not doubt of those that are dead in the flesh waking again to life, calls them sleeping rather than dead. It goes on;
Ver. 13. O that Thou wouldest defend me in hell! [ix]
13. That before the coming of the Mediator between God and man, every person, though he might have been of a pure and approved life, descended to the prisons of hell, there can be no doubt; in that man, who fell by his own act, was unable by his own act to return to the rest of Paradise, except that He should come, Who by the mystery of His Incarnation should open the way into that same Paradise. For hence after the sin of the first man it is recorded, that a flaming sword was placed at the entrance of Paradise [Gen. 3, 24], which is also called ‘moveable,’ [versatilis, V. ] in that the time should come one day, that it might even be removed. Nor yet do we maintain that the souls of the righteous did so go down into hell, that they were imprisoned in places of punishment; but it is to be believed that there are higher regions in hell and that there are lower regions apart, so that both the
righteous might be at rest in the upper regions, and the unrighteous be tormented in the lower ones. Hence the Psalmist, by reason of the grace of God preventing him, says, Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. [Ps. 86, 13] Thus blessed Job before the coming of the Mediator, knowing of his going down into hell, implores the protecting hand of his Maker there, in order that he might be a stranger to the places of punishment; where, while he is brought to enjoy rest, he might be kept hidden from punishment. Hence he subjoins;
That thou wouldest keep me secret, until Thy wrath quite [pertransiit, V. ] pass by. [x]
14. For the wrath of Almighty God does herein execute the force of its severity every day, that those who live unworthily it swallows up in most worthy punishments. Which wrath now indeed ‘passes by,’ but at the end it ‘quite passes by,’ in that now it is executed, but at the end of the world
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it is finally consummated. Yet this wrath as to the souls of the righteous ‘quite passed by’ on the coming of our Redeemer, in that those the Mediator between God and man brought back from the prisons of hell to the joys of Paradise, when He did Himself go down there in pity. And on this subject it is necessary to be known, that the term ‘wrath’ does not suit the Divine Being, in that no disquieting influence disorders the simple nature of God. Whence it is said to Him, But Thou, Ruler of power, judgest with tranquillity, and orderest us with exceeding great regard. [Wisd. 12, 18] But because the souls of the righteous were one day to be set free by the coming of the Mediator from the regions of hell, though not the places of punishment, this too the righteous man foresees, and beseeching adds;
And appoint me a set time, when Thou shouldest remember me.
[xi]
15. But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law, to redeem them that were under the Law. [Gal. 4, 4. 5. ] Thus the man of the Lord foreseeing this redemption, wherein many of the Gentile world as well were destined to be set free, as he himself says; Though these things Thou dost hide in Thine heart, yet I know that Thou dost remember all things; [Job 10, 13] prays for a time for the remembering of him, to be appointed him with Almighty God. For it is hence that the Lord saith in the Gospel, And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things unto Me [John 12, 32], i. e. ‘all things Elect;’ for neither did the Lord, when He returned from hell, draw the Elect and the lost together, but He bore off all those things from thence, which He did foreknow would have attached themselves to Him. Hence He also says by the Prophet Hosea, I will be thy death, O death; I will be the biting of thee, O hell. [Hos. 13, 14] Now what we put to death, we do our best that it should not be at all, and of that which we bite, a part we take away, and a part we leave. Therefore whereas the Lord wholly destroyed death in His Elect members, He proved Himself the ‘Death of death;’ but whereas He took a part from hell, and left a part, He did not wholly destroy but did ‘bite hell. ’ Therefore He says, I will be thy Death, O death; i. e. ‘in Mine Elect, I utterly destroy thee. —I will he the biting of thee, O hell; in that in taking those away, I pierce thee in part. ’ And so let blessed Job, knowing of this coming of our Redeemer to hell, pray for what he foresaw in the future, and let him say, And that Thou shouldest appoint me a set time wherein Thou wouldest remember me. It goes on;
Ver. 14. Thinkest thou that a dead man shall live again? [xii]
16. It is common with righteous men, in that which they themselves feel to be sure and well grounded, to urge something as if in doubting, so as to put the words of the weak into their own lips; and again by a strong sentence they gainsay utterly him that halts in doubtfulness, that by that which they are seen to put forth doubtfully, they may in some degree condescend to the weak, and hereby, that they deliver a sure sentence, they may draw the doubtful minds of the weak to firm ground. Which whilst they do, they are following the pattern of our Head. For our Lord, when He was near to His passion, took up the voice of those that were weak in Himself, saying, O My Father, if it be Possible; let this cup pass from Me; [Matt. 26, 39] and that He might remove their fear, He took it in Himself. And again shewing by obedience the force of strength, He saith, Nevertheless, not as I wilt, but as Thou wilt. That so when that thing threatens us which we would not have take place, we should so in weakness pray that it may not, as that in strength we may be
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ready for the will of our Creator to be done, even in opposition to our own will. After this pattern, then, the words of weakness are sometimes proper to be adopted by the strong, that by their strong preachings afterwards the hearts of the weak may be more acceptably strengthened. Hence blessed Job when he uttered words as of one in doubt, saying, Thinkest thou that a dead man shall live again? presently added the sentence of his sure belief, whereby he saith,
All the days that I now serve militant will I wait, till my change come.
[xiii]
17. He that waits for his change with such ardent longing, shews how great his certainty was of the Resurrection, and he makes it appear how greatly he looks down upon the course of the present life, who designates it a ‘service militant. ’ For in the militant state there is the going on continually to an end, day by day the finishing of the conclusion is expected. Thus he despises the course of this life, and looks for the settling of fixedness, who hereby, that he is serving subject to changeableness, is in haste to attain to his change. For to the just man in this life the very load of his corruption is burthensome. Because watchings exhaust with weariness, sleep is sought, that the labour and harassing effect of watchings may be moderated: but sometimes even sleep kills. Hunger wastes the body, and that its craving may be banished, victuals are sought after: but frequently even the very victuals oppress, which had been sought in order to banish the oppression of debility. And so the load of corruption is a heavy burthen, which except it were so heavy, Paul would never have said, For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him Who hath subjected the same in hope. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. [Rom. 8, 20—22] So let the holy man, longing for the state of incorruption, say, All the days that I now serve militant will I wait till my change come. In which same change what it is that takes place, he adds;
Ver. 15. Thou shalt call me, and I will answer Thee. [xiv]
18. We are said to answer anyone, when we do works in turn answerable to his deeds. Thus in that change the Lord ‘calls,’ and man ‘answers,’ in that, before the brightness of The Incorrupt, man is shewn forth incorrupt after corruption. For now so long as we are subject to corruption, we do not in any wise ‘answer’ our Creator, seeing that whereas corruption is far from incorruption, there is no similarity suitable to our answering. But of that change it is written, When He shall appear, we shall be like Him: for we shall see Him as He is. [1 John 3, 2] Then therefore we shall truly ‘answer God,’ Who ‘calleth,’ when at the bidding of the Supreme Incorruption we shall arise incorruptible; and because the creature is not able to earn this by itself, but it is brought to pass by the gift of Almighty God alone, that it should be changed to that exceeding glory of incorruption, it is rightly subjoined;
Thou wilt stretch forth Thy right hand to the work of Thine hands.
[xv]
19. As if he said in plain words; ‘For this reason Thy corruptible creature is able to hold fast unto incorruption, because he is lifted up by the hands of Thy power, and is kept by the grace of Thy
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regard, that he should hold fast. ’ For the human creature by this alone, that it is a creature, has it inherent in itself to sink down below itself, but man has obtained it from his Creator, that he should both be caught above himself by contemplation, and held fast in himself by incorruption. And so that the creature may not fall away beneath himself, but hold on in incorruption, he is lifted to the stedfastness of immutability by the right hand of His Maker. Moreover it may be that by the title of ‘the Right Hand’ the Son may be designated; in that, All things were made by Him. [John 1, 3] Thus Almighty God ‘stretched out His Right Hand to the work of His hands,’ because, that He might lift on high the human race, become refuse and grovelling in the lowest things, He sent the Only-Begotten One, made Incarnate for this end. By Whose Incarnation it has been vouchsafed to us that we, who fall into incorruption of our own will, should one time be enabled to answer God when He calls us in the glory of incorruption. Wherein who can estimate the bountifulness of Divine Mercy, that He should bring man after sin to such a height of glory? God takes account of the bad things we do, yet by the grace of His lovingkindness He remits them to us in mercy. And hence it is added;
Ver. 16. For now Thou numberest my steps, but Thou sparest my sins.
[xvi]
20. God ‘numbers our steps,’ when He marks each one of our several deeds for the recompensing them. For what is denoted by the steps, but each particular act of ours? Thus Almighty God both ‘numbers our steps’ and ‘spares our sins,’ in that He at once surveys our actions with exactness, and yet remits them in mercy to those that repent, Who both sees obduracy in those that sin, and yet softens it into penitence by preventing grace. Thus He ‘numbers sins,’ in that He turns us ourselves to bewail the several things which we have done. And He remits them in mercy, in that whilst we our own selves punish them, He Himself never judges them in the last reckoning, as Paul testifies, who saith, For if we should judge ourselves, we should not be judged. [1 Cor. 11, 31] Hence it is further added;
Ver. 17. Thou hast sealed up as it were in a bag my transgressions; but Thou hast healed mine iniquity.
[xvii]
21. Our ‘transgressions are sealed up as it were in a bag,’ in that that thing which we ourselves do in outward act, except we wash away by penance in the mean while, is kept in the secresy of God’s judgments under a kind of hiding, that one day it may also come forth out of the bag of secresy into the publicity of the Judgment. Hence it is said by Moses too; Is not this laid up in store with Me, and sealed up among My treasures? In the day of vengeance I will repay them. [Deut. 32, 34] But when for the evil things that we have done, we are bruised with the stroke of discipline, and lament the same by penance, He ‘sealeth up,’ and ‘healeth’ our iniquity, in that He neither leaves things unpunished here, nor reserves them to be punished in the Judgment. Thus He ‘seals transgressions,’ in that He marks them with exactness here, to chastise them with the rod, but He ‘heals’ them, in that He wholly remits them in the stroke. Hence the iniquity of that persecutor of Him, whom He laid prostrate on the ground, He did also by sealing heal, seeing that He said concerning him to Ananias; He is a chosen vessel unto Me to bear My Name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for My Name’s sake. [Acts 9, 15] For to that man, whom on account of past transgressions He still
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threatens with future sufferings, what he had done wrong, surely He kept sealed in the heart; but as surely in so sealing He had healed his transgressions, in that He called him ‘a chosen vessel. ’ Or, surely, ‘our transgressions are sealed in a bag,’ when the evil things we have been guilty of, we reflect on continually with a heedful heart. For what is the heart of man, but God’s ‘bag? ’ wherein whilst we earnestly look to see how much we transgress, we carry our sins as it were ‘sealed up in God’s bag. ’ Did not David keep his sin ‘sealed up in a bag,’ when he said, For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. [Ps. 51, 3] And because the faults, which we are made acquainted with in reviewing and repeating, the pitiful Creator remits to us, after the ‘transgressions being sealed in a bag,’ it is rightly subjoined, But Thou hast healed mine iniquity: as if he said in plain speech, ‘What things Thou dost now seal, so that I in repenting should see, doubtless Thou doest it, that in the retribution they should never be seen. ’ It follows;
Ver. 18, 19. And surely the mountain falling slippeth away, and the rock is removed out of his place. The waters wear the stones, and by washing little by little the earth is consumed, and so Thou wilt in a like way destroy man.
[xviii] [MORAL INTERPRETATION]
22. This is very often the case, that upon rocks falling, a piece of rock is removed to other places; that waters wear stones, and little by little the ground is wasted by the washings of the flood: but we have need to make out with great diligence that which is brought in; and man Thou wilt in a like way destroy. For what is that, that to a mountain falling, a rock removed, a stone worn hollow, and ground consumed by the washing of the flood, the ruin of man is likened, but this, which we are plainly given to understand, that there are two sorts of temptations, one sort, which passes in the mind even of the good man by sudden accident, that he should be so tempted of a sudden, that by the unexpectedness of the event it should make him reel, and bring him to the ground, and that he does not see his falling, until after he has fallen; while there is another which comes by little and little into the mind, and by gentle suggestions corrupts the resisting soul, and not by its excessiveness but by its importunity wastes all the powers of righteousness therein? And so, whereas there is one sort of temptation, which by a sudden assault very often brings the good down to the ground, let it be said, And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place, i. e. the holy mind, whose place was righteousness, is by a sudden impulse removed into sin. Again, because there is another sort of temptation, which infuses itself gently into the heart of man, and wears and wastes all the hardness of its resolution, let it be said, The waters wear the stones; in this way, viz. that the unremitted and soft flatteries of lust suck away the hardness of the soul, and the slow and penetrating evil habit corrodes the hard and forcible purpose of the mind. Hence it is added, And by washing the ground is consumed little by little. For as when water flows in, ‘the ground is consumed little by little,’ so when bad habit creeps on [n] by gentle degrees, even the strong mind is engulphed. Hence it is well added, And Thou wilt in a like way destroy man, i. e. in this way, that when Thou by a righteous appointment sufferest temptation of a sudden to get the dominion over the mind of him, who is seen to have his stand on high, Thou causes; ‘the mountain to fall and slip away,’ and when the will is changed to evil, it is as if ‘the rock were removed to a new place,’ but whilst Thou lettest a gentle and fine yet unremitting temptation prevail over the minds of those, who are accounted strong, ‘the waters in a manner wear the stones, and by washing, the ground is consumed little by little,’ in that the hardness of the mind being subdued by gentle suggesting is made soft.
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23.
But if this is to be held after the bare letter, we ought from this consideration to infer how grievous the sins of grown men and the aged are, if the just so greatly fear even that which they did wrong in the years of weakness. It goes on;
Ver. 27. Thou puttest my foot also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly into all my paths; Thou markest the prints of my feet.
[xlvii]
63. God ‘set man’s foot in the stocks,’ in that he bound fast his wickedness with the strong sentence of His severity. And He ‘looketh narrowly into all his paths,’ in that He judges with minute exactness all the several particulars that belong to him. For a ‘path’ is usually narrower than a ‘way;’ but as by ‘ways’ we understand actions, so by ‘paths’ we not unjustly understand the mere thoughts of them. So God ‘looketh narrowly into all our paths,’ in that in all our several actions He takes account of the thoughts of the heart too; and He ‘marketh the prints of our feet,’ in that He examineth the intentions [i] of our works, how far they are placed aright, lest that which is done a good work, be not done with a right object. But it is possible that by the prints of the feet the several things done badly may be understood. For a foot in the body is a print in the way. And very commonly, when we do some things wrong, whereas our brethren see it, we are setting them a bad example, and our foot being as it were turned out of the way, we leave to those that follow our footsteps all awry, while by our own deeds we lead the way for other men’s consciences to stumble. But it is very hard for man to keep on his guard, that he never presume to do evil, that in his good actions he be not unsteady in the intention, and amidst upright deeds let no wrong purpose deceive him. Yet all these particulars Almighty God minutely examines, and weighs each one of
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them in judgment. But when can man, bound about as he is by the frailty of the flesh, have power to rise up against all of them with exact particularity, and to maintain the line of uprightness with the thought of the heart unmoved? Hence it is properly added;
Ver. 28. Who am as a rotten thing to be consumed, and as a garment that is moth eaten.
[xlviii]
64. For as a garment is eaten by the moth sprung out of itself, so man containeth rottenness in himself, whereby he consumeth, and that which he is, is that whereby he consumeth that he should not be. Which may be taken in another sense also, if it be said in the voice of man when tempted; And I as a rotten thing am to consume, as a garment that is moth eaten. For man ‘as a rotten thing consumeth,’ in that he is wasted by the corruption of his flesh. And because impure temptation springs up to him from no other source than from himself, like a moth, temptation consumes the flesh, as a garment from which it issues. For man contains in himself the occasion whence he is tempted. Therefore as it were ‘the moth consumeth the garment,’ whilst it proceeded from that very same garment. However, we ought to bear in mind that the moth digs its way through the garment without any sound, and it very often happens that thought pierces the mind in such a way, that the mind itself is not sensible of it, until after it has been pierced by its sting. Therefore it is well said that man ‘consumeth like a garment that is moth eaten,’ for sometimes we do not know the wounds of temptation, unless after we be pierced thereby within our souls. Which same frailty of ours the holy man yet further considering justly adds;
Chap. xiv. 1. Man that is born of a woman liveth a short time, and is full of many miseries.
65. In Sacred Writ ‘woman’ is taken either for the sex, or else for ‘frailty. ’ For the ‘sex,’ as where it is written, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law [Gal. 4, 4]. But for frailty, as where it is said by the Wise Man, Better is the iniquity of a man than a woman doing well. [Ecclus. 42, 14] For ‘a man’ is the term for every strongminded and discreet person, but ‘a woman’ is understood of the weak or indiscreet mind. And it often happens that even the discreet person suddenly falls into a fault, and that another weak and indiscreet man exhibits good practice. But he that is weak and indiscreet is sometimes lifted up the more on the score of what he has done well, and falls the worse into sin; but the discreet person even from that which he sees that he has done amiss, takes occasion to recall himself with closer application to the rule of strictness, and advances the further in righteousness from the same act, whereby he seemed to have fallen from righteousness for a time. In which respect it is rightly said, Better is the iniquity of a man than a woman doing well; in that sometimes the very fault of the strong becomes occasion of virtue, and the virtue of the weak occasion of sin. In this place then by the name of ‘a woman,’ what else but ‘frailty’ is denoted, when it is said, Man that is born of a woman? As if it were said in plainer words, ‘What strength shall he have in himself, who was born in frailty? ’
66. Liveth a short time, and is full of many miseries. Observe by the holy man’s words we have the punishment of man briefly set forth, in that he is at once stinted in life and filled out in misery. For if we consider with exactness all that is done here, it is punishment and misery. For to minister to the corruption of the flesh by itself in things necessary and permitted is misery, in such measure that clothing should be sought out against cold, food against hunger, coolness against heat. That the health of the body is kept only with great care, that even when kept it is lost, when lost it is recovered not without great difficulty, and yet after being restored is always in risk; what else is
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this than the misery of the life of mortality? That we love our friends, mistrusting lest they may be offended with us; that we dread our enemies, and truly are not secure touching those whom we dread; that we often talk to our enemies as confidentially as to friends, and often take the sincere words of our friends, and those, perhaps, that love us very much, as the words of enemies; and that we, who wish never either to be deceived or to deceive, err the more by our caution; what, then, is all this but the misery of man’s life? That after the heavenly country has been lost, banished man is delighted with his exile, that he is weighed down with cares, and yet shuts his eyes to considering how great the burthen is, in that he is full of a multitude of thoughts; that he is deprived of the interior light, and yet in this life wishes to prolong his state of blindness; what else is this but misery, the offspring of our punishment? Yet though he desire to stay here for long, still he is driven on by the mere current of his mortal life to depart out of it. Hence the holy man lightly adds; Ver. 2. He cometh forth like a flower, and is crushed: he fleeth also as a shadow, and never continueth in the same state.
[l]
67. For, ‘as a flower, he cometh forth,’ in that he shews fair in the flesh; but he is ‘crushed,’ in that he is reduced to corruption. For what are men, as born in the world, but a kind of flowers in a field? Let us stretch our interior eyes over the breadth of the present world, and, lo, it is filled as it were with as many flowers as there are human beings. So life in this flesh is the flower in grass. Hence it is well said by the Psalmist, As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. [Ps. 103, 15] Isaiah too saith, All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof is as the flower of the field. [Is. 40, 6] For man cometh forth like a flower from concealment, and of a sudden shews himself in open day, and in a moment is by death withdrawn from open view into concealment again. The greenness of the flesh exhibits us to view, but the dryness of dust withdraws us from men’s eyes. Like a flower we appeared, who were not; like a ‘flower’ we wither, who appeared only in time.
68. And whereas man is daily being driven into death moment by moment, it is rightly added, He fleeth also as a shadow, and never continueth in the same state. But as the sun is unceasingly going through his course, and never stays himself in a state of stedfastness, why is the course of man’s life likened to ‘a shadow’ rather than to the ‘sun,’ excepting that, when he parted with the love of the Creator, he lost the heat of the heart, and remained in the coldness of his iniquity alone? Since according to the voice of Truth, Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. [Matt. 24, 2] He, then, who hath not warmth of the heart in the love of God, and yet keepeth not the life, which he loves, assuredly he ‘fleeth like a shadow. ’ Hence it is well written concerning him, that he hath followed a shadow. [Ecclus. 34, 2] Now it is well said, and never continueth in the same state. For whereas infancy is going on to childhood, childhood to youth, youth to manhood, and manhood to old age, and old age to death, in the course of the present life he is forced by the very steps of his increase upon those of decrease, and is ever wasting from the very cause whence he thinks himself to be gaining ground in the space of his life. For we cannot have a fixed stay here, whither we are come only to pass on; and this very circumstance of our living is to be daily passing out of life. Which same flight the first man could not have known before the transgression, seeing that times passed, himself standing. But after he transgressed, he placed himself on a kind of slide of a temporal condition, and because he ate the forbidden fruit, he found at once the failure of his stay. Which liability to change man suffers, not only without, but
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also within him, when he strives to arise to better works. For by the weight of its changeableness the mind is always being driven forwards to some other thing than it is, and, except it be kept in its stay by stringent discipline in self-keeping, it is always sliding back into worse. For that mind which deserted Him, Who ever standeth, lost the stay in which she might have continued.
Henceforth now when he strives after better things, he has as it were to strain against the force of the stream. But when he relaxes in his bent to ascend, without effort he is carried back to the lowest point. Thus whereas in ascent there is effort, in descent rest from effort, the Lord warns us that we have to enter by a narrow gate, saying, Strive to enter in at the strait gate [Luke 13, 24]; for when about to mention ‘the entering in of the narrow gate,’ He premised, Strive, since unless there be an ardent striving [k] of the heart,’ the water of the world is not surmounted, whereby the soul is ever being borne down to the lowest place. And so whereas man ‘springeth up like a flower and is cut down, and fleeth also as a shadow, and never continueth in his place,’ let us hear what he further subjoins in this train of reflection. It goes on;
Ver. 3. And dost Thou deign to open Thine eyes upon such an one, and to bring him into judgment with Thee?
[li]
69. For he surveyed above both the power of Almighty God and his own frailty; he brought before his view himself and God, he considered Who would come into judgment, and with whom. He saw on the one side man, on the other side his Creator, i. e. dust and God; and he lightly exclaims, Dost Thou deign to open Thine eyes upon such an one? With Almighty God, to open the eyes is to execute His judgments, to look whom to smite. For as it were with eyes closed He does not wish to look at him, whom He does not wish to smite. Hence it is immediately added also about the judgment itself, To bring him into judgment with Thee? But whereas he had viewed God coming to judgment, he again takes a view of his own frailty. He sees that he cannot be clean of himself, who, that he might be able to be, came forth out of uncleanness. And he adds,
Ver. 4. Who can make clean a thing conceived of unclean seed? Is it not Thou, Who only Art? [lii]
70. He That alone is clean in Himself can cleanse the unclean thing. For man, who lives in a corruptible flesh, has the uncleannesses of temptation engrained in him, seeing that he derived them from his birth. For his very conception, for the sake of fleshly gratification, is uncleanness. Hence the Psalmist saith, Behold, I was shapen in wickedness, and in sin hath my mother conceived me. [Ps. 51, 7] Hence it is therefore that he is very often tempted even against his will. Hence it is that he is subject to impurities in imagination, even though he strive against them by reason, because being conceived in uncleanness, whilst he follows after cleanness, he is striving to get the better of that which he is. But whoever has mastered the motions of secret temptation, and overcome uncleanness of thought, must never ascribe his cleanness to himself, in that none can make clean a thing conceived of unclean seed, save He Who alone is clean in Himself. Let him, then, that has already reached in mind the place of cleanness, cast his eye upon the way of his conception, which he came by, and thence satisfy himself, that in his own power he has no cleanness of life, the beginning of whose existence was made in uncleanness. But the meaning here may be that blessed Job, regarding the Incarnation of the Redeemer, saw that That Man only in the world was not
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conceived of unclean seed, Who so came into the world from the Virgin’s womb, that He had nothing derived from unclean conception. For He did not proceed from the man and the woman, but from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. He only then proved truly clean in His Flesh, Who was incapable of being affected by the gratification of the flesh, seeing that it was not by the gratification of the flesh that He came hither.
BOOK XII.
Wherein after the fourteenth chapter of the Book of Job has been explained, beginning at the fifth verse, the fifteenth chapter entire is explained for the most part in a moral sense.
[i] [LITERAL INTERPRETATION]
IT is the practice of the righteous, to think of the present life, how transitory it is, so much the more heedfully in proportion as they are taught more earnestly to take thought of the eternal blessings of the heavenly Country; for by those things, which they see lasting within, they more exactly mark the flight of things passing away without. Whence blessed Job, when he had delivered a sentence on the transition of man’s time, saying, Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live; and again, He seeth also as a shadow, and never continueth in the same state; further adds of the shortness of his life;
Ver. 5. The days of man are short, the number of his months is with Thee.
1. For he sees that that as it were is not with us, which runs by with such great rapidity, but seeing that even things passing away stand with Almighty God, he declares that ‘the number of our months is with Him. ’ Or, indeed, by the ‘days,’ the shortness of time is denoted, but by the ‘months’ the spaces of the days are multiplied. Thus to ourselves ‘the days are short;’ but seeing that our life is further extended afterwards, ‘the number of our months’ is recorded ‘to be with God. ’ Hence also it is said by Solomon, Length of days is in her right hand. [Prov. 3, 16] It goes on;
Thou hast appointed his bounds, that he cannot pass.
[ii]
2. Of the things that happen to men in this world, none come to pass without the secret counsel of Almighty God; for God, foreseeing all things that should follow, before the ages of the world decreed how they should be ordered in the ages of the world. Since it is already appointed to man both to what extent the prosperity of the world shall attend him, or in what degree adversity shall fall upon him, that His Elect neither unbounded prosperity may exalt, nor overmuch adversity sink them too low; moreover it is appointed in this very life of mortality how long he shall live with the conditions of time. For although Almighty God added fifteen years to the life of King Hezekiah, yet at that moment that he suffered him to die, He foresaw he would die. Wherein a question presents itself, viz. how it is that it should be said to him by the Prophet, Set thine house in order for thou shalt die, and not live? [2 Kings 20, 1] For he, to whom sentence of death was declared, immediately upon his tears had life added to him. Now, the Lord said by the Prophet at what time he in himself deserved to die, but by the bountifulness of mercy, He kept him for the undergoing
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death at that time, which He Himself foreknew before the ages began. Nor even therefore was the Prophet deceptive, because he made known the time of death, at which that man deserved to die, nor were the appointments of the Lord rent and torn, forasmuch as this also, that the years of life should be added to by the bountifulness of God, was foreordained before the ages began; and the period of life, which was added contrary to expectation without, was inwardly appointed without increase upon foreknowledge; and so it is well said, Thou hast appointed his bounds which he cannot pass.
[MORAL INTERPRETATION]
3. Which may also be taken according to the spirit, in that we sometimes endeavour to advance in virtuous attainments, and some gifts we are vouchsafed, but being kept off from some, we lie prone in things below. For there is no man who masters that degree of goodness which he desires, in that Almighty God, Who discerneth the inward parts, sets bounds to the very spiritual attainments themselves; that by reason of that which man tries to master, and is unable, he may not exalt himself in those things, in which he has the power. Whence too that great Preacher, that had been carried up into the third heaven, and penetrated the secrets of Paradise, after that revelation, was not left the power to be at rest, and without temptation; but whereas Almighty God has ‘appointed man his bounds, which he cannot pass,’ he both exalted him to know things on high, and set him down again to be subject to weak things, that he looking at the measure of his compass, whilst he endeavoured to lay hold on security, and could not, that he might not be carried out of himself in pride, might be forced in humility ever to return back within his own bounds. It proceeds;
Ver. 6. Turn from him a little while, that he may rest, till his longed for day come, as an hireling’s. [iii]
4. In this place, Turn from him, means, ‘remove from him the force of the stroke,’ for who can rest when He turns away from him, when He Himself alone is rest, and the further off a man is from Him, he is also rendered void of rest in proportion? Thus it is in such sort said, Turn from him, that you should understand, ‘from smiting;’ for it is fitly added, till his longed for day come as an hireling’s. In proportion as an hireling is far from the end of his work, so is he far from the recompense of his wages. Thus every holy man being set in this life, whilst he sees that he is far from departing out of the present life, laments that he is far from the eternal bliss. What then is it to say, Turn from him a little while, that he may rest; but, ‘withdraw now the strokes of the present life, and shew the blessings of eternal rest? ’ Whence too it is added concerning that rest itself; till his longed for day come, as an hireling’s; for then the longed for day as of an hireling comes to man, when he receives eternal rest in compensation for his labour. But as far as relates to the aspect of the present life, how despicable is the race of man, so full of miseries, blessed Job yet further tells, and describes how greatly the very things without sense seem to surpass him, when he says;
Ver. 7-10. For there is a hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will be green again; and that the tender branches thereof will sprout forth. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth foliage as when it was planted. But man, when he is dead, and stripped, and consumed, where is he?
[iv] [MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION]
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5. Now because this is self-evident according to the letter, we must refer the sense to the things of the interior, and search how they are to be made out after the spiritual signification. Thus in Holy Scripture by the name of ‘tree’ we have represented sometimes the Cross, sometimes the righteous man, or even the unrighteous man, and sometimes the Wisdom of God Incarnate. Thus the Cross is denoted by ‘the tree,’ when it is said, Let us put the tree into his bread [Jer. 11, 19, V. ]; for to ‘put the tree into the bread’ is to apply the Cross to the Body of our Lord. Again by the title of ‘the tree’ we have the just man, or even the unjust man, set forth, as the Lord saith by the Prophet, I the Lord have brought down the high tree, and exalted the low tree. [Ez. 17, 24] Forasmuch as according to the word of the self-same Truth, Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted [Luke 14, 11]: Solomon also saith, If the tree fall towards the South, or toward the North, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be. [Ecc. 11, 3] For in the day of their death the just man does ‘fall to the South,’ and the unjust ‘to the North,’ in that both the just man in favour of the Spirit is brought to joy, and the sinner, together with the apostate Angel, who said, I will sit also upon the mount of the testimony, in the sides of the North [Is. 14, 13], is cast away in his frozen heart. Again, the Wisdom of God Incarnate is represented by ‘the Tree,’ as where it is written thereon, She is a tree of life to them that lay hold on Her. [Prov. 3, 18] And as She Herself says, If they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry? [Luke 23, 31] And so in this place whereas a tree is preferred before man, what is man taken for but every carnal person? and what is denoted by the title of ‘the tree,’ but the life of the righteous? For there is a hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will be green again. For when in a death of painful endurance the just man is hard bestead for the truth, in the greenness of everlasting life he is recovered again; and he who here proved green by faith, there becomes green in actual sight [speciem]. ‘And his branches shoot,’ in that it is most often the case that by the sufferings of the just man, all faithful persons are redoubled in the love of the heavenly country, and they receive the greenness of the spiritual life, while they are glad that he did courageously here in God’s behalf. It goes on;
Ver. 8, 9. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the dust; yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth leaves as when it was first planted.
[v]
6. What is ‘the root’ of the righteous, but holy preaching, since it is that he springs out of, and that he holds on in? and what is meant by the name of ‘the earth’ or of ‘dust,’ but the sinner? to whom it is said by the voice of the Creator, Earth thou art, and unto earth shalt thou return [m] [Gen. 3, 19]. Or, indeed, as our Translation reads, Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. [so V. ] Thus ‘the root of the righteous waxes old in the earth, and his stock dies in the dust,’ in that in the hearts of the wicked his preaching is despised, and thought dried of all goodness, and ‘his stock dies in the dust,’ in that amidst the hands of the persecutors his body is bereft of life; for according to the words of Wisdom, In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die, and their departure is taken for misery. [Wisd. 3, 2] But this one, whose ‘root waxed old in the earth, and whose trunk died in the dust,’ through the smell of water, buddeth; in that through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, by the example of his conduct he causes the budding of virtue in the hearts of the Elect. For by the designation of water sometimes the watering of the Holy Spirit is used to be understood, as where it is written, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. [John 7, 37] But whosoever drinketh of the water that shall give him, shall never thirst. [John 4, 14] It follows; And bring forth foliage
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as when it was first planted.
To ‘bring forth foliage on the stock being cut down’ is, when the just man is put an end to in the body, by the mere example of his suffering to raise up the hearts of many, and out of a right faith to shew forth the greenness of truth. And it is well said, As when it was first planted. All that is done by the righteous here is a second planting; in that clearly the first planting does not consist in the practice of the good, but in the foreknowledge of the Creator; and whereas all that the Elect do, as it is first seen and settled interiorly, so afterwards is executed outwardly, it is well said, And bring forth foliage as when it was first planted, i. e. it shews its greenness in the executing of practice, such as it had before in the foreknowledge of the Creator.
7. The ‘root of the righteous’ may also be taken for the very nature itself of a human being, by virtue whereof he subsists, which same root waxes old in the earth, when the natural frame of flesh comes to nought being reduced to dust, whose ‘stock dies in the dust,’ in that the body dismantled of its own form and fashion crumbles to nought; but at the ‘scent of water it buds,’ in that through the coming of the Holy Spirit it rises again; and it will bring forth boughs as when it was first planted, in that it returns to that form, which it was created to receive, if, when he was set in Paradise, he had refused to sin.
[PROPHETICAL INTERPRETATION]
8. Which perhaps may also be taken of the Lord Himself, Who is the Head of all the good; for according to that which we have said before, whereas He saith of Himself, For if they have done these things in a green tree, what shall be done in a dry? [Luke 23, 31] He said that Himself was the green tree, and we the dry tree, forasmuch as He contained in His own Person the power of the Divine Nature, but we that are mere men are called a dry tree. And so ‘there is hope of a tree if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,’ in that even if He was able to be put to death by His Passion, yet by the glory of His Resurrection, He came to the greenness of life again; ‘His branches shoot,’ in that the faithful being multiplied by His Resurrection grew out far and wide; His root as it were waxed old in the earth, in that the preaching of Him was to the unbelief of the Jews a despicable thing; ‘and His stock dried in the dust,’ in that in the heart of those that persecuted Him, which was uplifted by the wind of their unbelief, He was held as an object of scorn and contempt, in that He was capable of being put to death in the flesh; but ‘at the scent of water He budded,’ in that through the power of God His Flesh after demise returned to life, according to that which is written, Whom God hath raised from the dead. [Acts 3, 15] For in that God is a Trinity, the Holy Trinity, i. e. the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, raised up to life the extinct Flesh of the Only-Begotten Son. And ‘It brought forth foliage as when It was first planted,’ in that the feebleness of the Apostles, which in the season of His death was afraid and denied, and by denying turned dry, by the glory of His Resurrection was again quickened in faith. In comparison with which Tree what is every man but dust? Hence it is added;
Ver. 10. But when man is dead, and stripped, and consumed, where, I pray, is he? [vi]
9. There is no man without sin, save Him Who came not into this world by sin; and whereas all we are tied fast in the bonds of guilt, we die by the mere loss of righteousness. Of the robe of innocence given us aforetime in Paradise, we are stripped naked, and we are yet further consumed by the subsequent dissolution of the flesh. Thus man being a sinner dies in guilt, is stripped bare of
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righteousness, is consumed in punishment. This nakedness of his erring son the Father vouchsafed to cover, who said, on his returning to him, Bring forth quickly the first robe. For ‘the first robe’ is the robe of innocence, which man being created aright received, but being persuaded wrongly by the serpent forfeited. Against this same nakedness it is said, Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked. For we ‘keep our garments,’ when we keep the precepts of innocency in our hearts, that whereas guilt strips us naked to the Judge, penance should cover us returning to the innocence we had forfeited. And it is well said, Where, I pray, is he? in that the sinner, man, refused to stand there where he was created; while here, where he fell, he is forbidden to stay for long. Willingly he forfeited his country, unwillingly he is driven forth from his exile, which he delights in. Where then is he, who is not in His love, where only it is truly to be? It proceeds;
Ver. 11, 12. As if the waters fail from the sea, and the river being emptied drieth up: so man lieth down, and riseth not.
[vii]
10. The mind of man is the sea, and the thoughts of his mind, as it were, a wave of the sea; which sometimes swell in anger, are made calm by grace, and from hatred run out in bitterness; but when man dieth, ‘the waters of the sea fail,’ in that according to the words of the Psalmist, In that very day his thoughts perish. [Ps. 146, 4] And again it is written concerning the dying soul, Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy shall perish together. [Eccl. 9, 6] Thus ‘the river being emptied drieth up,’ in that, when the soul is withdrawn, the body remains empty. For the lifeless body is as it were the empty channel of a river, wherein it is to be marked with an attentive eye that the present life, i. e. the time while the soul stays in the body, is likened to the sea and to a river, for the water of the sea is bitter, of a river sweet. And because we that are living here are at one time under the influence of certain bitternesses, and at another time are seen to be serene and gentle with sweetness, the course of the present life is set forth by the similitude of the sea and a river.
11. But herein that seems to be exceedingly hard which is added, So man lieth down, and riseth not. Wherefore do we so toil and labour, if we are not straining after the recompense of the Resurrection? And how is it said, and riseth not, when it is written: We shall all rise again, but we shall not all be changed? [1 Cor. 15, 51 Vulg. ] And again, If in this life only we have hope of life in Christ, we are of all men most miserable [ver. 19]: and when ‘Truth’ says by Itself, All that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. [John 5, 28. 29. ] But the sentence subjoined points out what distinction there is concealed in the sentence preceding. For it is added;
Till the heavens be no more they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
[viii]
12. For it is plain that they shall not rise again, that is, till the heavens be no more, in that except the end of the world come, the race of mankind shall not wake to life from the sleep of death. Not, then, that he shall not rise again at all, but that before the crumbling of the heavens the human race shall not rise again, is what he teaches. Moreover it is a thing to be marked, why after he had called man dead above, below he designates him not dead, but sleeping, and tells that he shall never rise
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again from his sleep until the heaven be crumbled in pieces, which is no otherwise than that it is plainly given us to understand, that by the likeness of the tree quickened afresh to life, he designates man a dead sinner, i. e. extinct from the life of righteousness; but when he speaks of the death of the flesh, he preferred to call this not death but sleep, teaching us surely the hope of the Resurrection; in that as a man quickly awakes out of sleep, so shall he rise in a moment at the nod of his Creator from the death of the body. For the name of death is horribly feared by weak minds, but the title of sleep is not feared. Hence Paul in charging his disciples saith, But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not as men without hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring again with Him. [1 Thess. 4, 13. 14. ] How is it that the great Preacher calls the death of the Lord death, but the death of the servants of the Lord he names not death, but sleep; but that, having regard to the weak hearts of his hearers, he mixes the medicine of his preaching with wonderful art, and Him, Whom they knew to have risen already, he does not doubt to teach them was dead, while those, who had not as yet risen again, that he might teach the hope of the Resurrection, he calls not dead, but sleeping? For he did not fear to call Him dead Whom his hearers knew to have already risen, and He was afraid to call those dead, whose rising again they scarcely believed. Thus blessed Job, seeing that he does not doubt of those that are dead in the flesh waking again to life, calls them sleeping rather than dead. It goes on;
Ver. 13. O that Thou wouldest defend me in hell! [ix]
13. That before the coming of the Mediator between God and man, every person, though he might have been of a pure and approved life, descended to the prisons of hell, there can be no doubt; in that man, who fell by his own act, was unable by his own act to return to the rest of Paradise, except that He should come, Who by the mystery of His Incarnation should open the way into that same Paradise. For hence after the sin of the first man it is recorded, that a flaming sword was placed at the entrance of Paradise [Gen. 3, 24], which is also called ‘moveable,’ [versatilis, V. ] in that the time should come one day, that it might even be removed. Nor yet do we maintain that the souls of the righteous did so go down into hell, that they were imprisoned in places of punishment; but it is to be believed that there are higher regions in hell and that there are lower regions apart, so that both the
righteous might be at rest in the upper regions, and the unrighteous be tormented in the lower ones. Hence the Psalmist, by reason of the grace of God preventing him, says, Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. [Ps. 86, 13] Thus blessed Job before the coming of the Mediator, knowing of his going down into hell, implores the protecting hand of his Maker there, in order that he might be a stranger to the places of punishment; where, while he is brought to enjoy rest, he might be kept hidden from punishment. Hence he subjoins;
That thou wouldest keep me secret, until Thy wrath quite [pertransiit, V. ] pass by. [x]
14. For the wrath of Almighty God does herein execute the force of its severity every day, that those who live unworthily it swallows up in most worthy punishments. Which wrath now indeed ‘passes by,’ but at the end it ‘quite passes by,’ in that now it is executed, but at the end of the world
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it is finally consummated. Yet this wrath as to the souls of the righteous ‘quite passed by’ on the coming of our Redeemer, in that those the Mediator between God and man brought back from the prisons of hell to the joys of Paradise, when He did Himself go down there in pity. And on this subject it is necessary to be known, that the term ‘wrath’ does not suit the Divine Being, in that no disquieting influence disorders the simple nature of God. Whence it is said to Him, But Thou, Ruler of power, judgest with tranquillity, and orderest us with exceeding great regard. [Wisd. 12, 18] But because the souls of the righteous were one day to be set free by the coming of the Mediator from the regions of hell, though not the places of punishment, this too the righteous man foresees, and beseeching adds;
And appoint me a set time, when Thou shouldest remember me.
[xi]
15. But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law, to redeem them that were under the Law. [Gal. 4, 4. 5. ] Thus the man of the Lord foreseeing this redemption, wherein many of the Gentile world as well were destined to be set free, as he himself says; Though these things Thou dost hide in Thine heart, yet I know that Thou dost remember all things; [Job 10, 13] prays for a time for the remembering of him, to be appointed him with Almighty God. For it is hence that the Lord saith in the Gospel, And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things unto Me [John 12, 32], i. e. ‘all things Elect;’ for neither did the Lord, when He returned from hell, draw the Elect and the lost together, but He bore off all those things from thence, which He did foreknow would have attached themselves to Him. Hence He also says by the Prophet Hosea, I will be thy death, O death; I will be the biting of thee, O hell. [Hos. 13, 14] Now what we put to death, we do our best that it should not be at all, and of that which we bite, a part we take away, and a part we leave. Therefore whereas the Lord wholly destroyed death in His Elect members, He proved Himself the ‘Death of death;’ but whereas He took a part from hell, and left a part, He did not wholly destroy but did ‘bite hell. ’ Therefore He says, I will be thy Death, O death; i. e. ‘in Mine Elect, I utterly destroy thee. —I will he the biting of thee, O hell; in that in taking those away, I pierce thee in part. ’ And so let blessed Job, knowing of this coming of our Redeemer to hell, pray for what he foresaw in the future, and let him say, And that Thou shouldest appoint me a set time wherein Thou wouldest remember me. It goes on;
Ver. 14. Thinkest thou that a dead man shall live again? [xii]
16. It is common with righteous men, in that which they themselves feel to be sure and well grounded, to urge something as if in doubting, so as to put the words of the weak into their own lips; and again by a strong sentence they gainsay utterly him that halts in doubtfulness, that by that which they are seen to put forth doubtfully, they may in some degree condescend to the weak, and hereby, that they deliver a sure sentence, they may draw the doubtful minds of the weak to firm ground. Which whilst they do, they are following the pattern of our Head. For our Lord, when He was near to His passion, took up the voice of those that were weak in Himself, saying, O My Father, if it be Possible; let this cup pass from Me; [Matt. 26, 39] and that He might remove their fear, He took it in Himself. And again shewing by obedience the force of strength, He saith, Nevertheless, not as I wilt, but as Thou wilt. That so when that thing threatens us which we would not have take place, we should so in weakness pray that it may not, as that in strength we may be
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ready for the will of our Creator to be done, even in opposition to our own will. After this pattern, then, the words of weakness are sometimes proper to be adopted by the strong, that by their strong preachings afterwards the hearts of the weak may be more acceptably strengthened. Hence blessed Job when he uttered words as of one in doubt, saying, Thinkest thou that a dead man shall live again? presently added the sentence of his sure belief, whereby he saith,
All the days that I now serve militant will I wait, till my change come.
[xiii]
17. He that waits for his change with such ardent longing, shews how great his certainty was of the Resurrection, and he makes it appear how greatly he looks down upon the course of the present life, who designates it a ‘service militant. ’ For in the militant state there is the going on continually to an end, day by day the finishing of the conclusion is expected. Thus he despises the course of this life, and looks for the settling of fixedness, who hereby, that he is serving subject to changeableness, is in haste to attain to his change. For to the just man in this life the very load of his corruption is burthensome. Because watchings exhaust with weariness, sleep is sought, that the labour and harassing effect of watchings may be moderated: but sometimes even sleep kills. Hunger wastes the body, and that its craving may be banished, victuals are sought after: but frequently even the very victuals oppress, which had been sought in order to banish the oppression of debility. And so the load of corruption is a heavy burthen, which except it were so heavy, Paul would never have said, For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him Who hath subjected the same in hope. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. [Rom. 8, 20—22] So let the holy man, longing for the state of incorruption, say, All the days that I now serve militant will I wait till my change come. In which same change what it is that takes place, he adds;
Ver. 15. Thou shalt call me, and I will answer Thee. [xiv]
18. We are said to answer anyone, when we do works in turn answerable to his deeds. Thus in that change the Lord ‘calls,’ and man ‘answers,’ in that, before the brightness of The Incorrupt, man is shewn forth incorrupt after corruption. For now so long as we are subject to corruption, we do not in any wise ‘answer’ our Creator, seeing that whereas corruption is far from incorruption, there is no similarity suitable to our answering. But of that change it is written, When He shall appear, we shall be like Him: for we shall see Him as He is. [1 John 3, 2] Then therefore we shall truly ‘answer God,’ Who ‘calleth,’ when at the bidding of the Supreme Incorruption we shall arise incorruptible; and because the creature is not able to earn this by itself, but it is brought to pass by the gift of Almighty God alone, that it should be changed to that exceeding glory of incorruption, it is rightly subjoined;
Thou wilt stretch forth Thy right hand to the work of Thine hands.
[xv]
19. As if he said in plain words; ‘For this reason Thy corruptible creature is able to hold fast unto incorruption, because he is lifted up by the hands of Thy power, and is kept by the grace of Thy
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regard, that he should hold fast. ’ For the human creature by this alone, that it is a creature, has it inherent in itself to sink down below itself, but man has obtained it from his Creator, that he should both be caught above himself by contemplation, and held fast in himself by incorruption. And so that the creature may not fall away beneath himself, but hold on in incorruption, he is lifted to the stedfastness of immutability by the right hand of His Maker. Moreover it may be that by the title of ‘the Right Hand’ the Son may be designated; in that, All things were made by Him. [John 1, 3] Thus Almighty God ‘stretched out His Right Hand to the work of His hands,’ because, that He might lift on high the human race, become refuse and grovelling in the lowest things, He sent the Only-Begotten One, made Incarnate for this end. By Whose Incarnation it has been vouchsafed to us that we, who fall into incorruption of our own will, should one time be enabled to answer God when He calls us in the glory of incorruption. Wherein who can estimate the bountifulness of Divine Mercy, that He should bring man after sin to such a height of glory? God takes account of the bad things we do, yet by the grace of His lovingkindness He remits them to us in mercy. And hence it is added;
Ver. 16. For now Thou numberest my steps, but Thou sparest my sins.
[xvi]
20. God ‘numbers our steps,’ when He marks each one of our several deeds for the recompensing them. For what is denoted by the steps, but each particular act of ours? Thus Almighty God both ‘numbers our steps’ and ‘spares our sins,’ in that He at once surveys our actions with exactness, and yet remits them in mercy to those that repent, Who both sees obduracy in those that sin, and yet softens it into penitence by preventing grace. Thus He ‘numbers sins,’ in that He turns us ourselves to bewail the several things which we have done. And He remits them in mercy, in that whilst we our own selves punish them, He Himself never judges them in the last reckoning, as Paul testifies, who saith, For if we should judge ourselves, we should not be judged. [1 Cor. 11, 31] Hence it is further added;
Ver. 17. Thou hast sealed up as it were in a bag my transgressions; but Thou hast healed mine iniquity.
[xvii]
21. Our ‘transgressions are sealed up as it were in a bag,’ in that that thing which we ourselves do in outward act, except we wash away by penance in the mean while, is kept in the secresy of God’s judgments under a kind of hiding, that one day it may also come forth out of the bag of secresy into the publicity of the Judgment. Hence it is said by Moses too; Is not this laid up in store with Me, and sealed up among My treasures? In the day of vengeance I will repay them. [Deut. 32, 34] But when for the evil things that we have done, we are bruised with the stroke of discipline, and lament the same by penance, He ‘sealeth up,’ and ‘healeth’ our iniquity, in that He neither leaves things unpunished here, nor reserves them to be punished in the Judgment. Thus He ‘seals transgressions,’ in that He marks them with exactness here, to chastise them with the rod, but He ‘heals’ them, in that He wholly remits them in the stroke. Hence the iniquity of that persecutor of Him, whom He laid prostrate on the ground, He did also by sealing heal, seeing that He said concerning him to Ananias; He is a chosen vessel unto Me to bear My Name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for My Name’s sake. [Acts 9, 15] For to that man, whom on account of past transgressions He still
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threatens with future sufferings, what he had done wrong, surely He kept sealed in the heart; but as surely in so sealing He had healed his transgressions, in that He called him ‘a chosen vessel. ’ Or, surely, ‘our transgressions are sealed in a bag,’ when the evil things we have been guilty of, we reflect on continually with a heedful heart. For what is the heart of man, but God’s ‘bag? ’ wherein whilst we earnestly look to see how much we transgress, we carry our sins as it were ‘sealed up in God’s bag. ’ Did not David keep his sin ‘sealed up in a bag,’ when he said, For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. [Ps. 51, 3] And because the faults, which we are made acquainted with in reviewing and repeating, the pitiful Creator remits to us, after the ‘transgressions being sealed in a bag,’ it is rightly subjoined, But Thou hast healed mine iniquity: as if he said in plain speech, ‘What things Thou dost now seal, so that I in repenting should see, doubtless Thou doest it, that in the retribution they should never be seen. ’ It follows;
Ver. 18, 19. And surely the mountain falling slippeth away, and the rock is removed out of his place. The waters wear the stones, and by washing little by little the earth is consumed, and so Thou wilt in a like way destroy man.
[xviii] [MORAL INTERPRETATION]
22. This is very often the case, that upon rocks falling, a piece of rock is removed to other places; that waters wear stones, and little by little the ground is wasted by the washings of the flood: but we have need to make out with great diligence that which is brought in; and man Thou wilt in a like way destroy. For what is that, that to a mountain falling, a rock removed, a stone worn hollow, and ground consumed by the washing of the flood, the ruin of man is likened, but this, which we are plainly given to understand, that there are two sorts of temptations, one sort, which passes in the mind even of the good man by sudden accident, that he should be so tempted of a sudden, that by the unexpectedness of the event it should make him reel, and bring him to the ground, and that he does not see his falling, until after he has fallen; while there is another which comes by little and little into the mind, and by gentle suggestions corrupts the resisting soul, and not by its excessiveness but by its importunity wastes all the powers of righteousness therein? And so, whereas there is one sort of temptation, which by a sudden assault very often brings the good down to the ground, let it be said, And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place, i. e. the holy mind, whose place was righteousness, is by a sudden impulse removed into sin. Again, because there is another sort of temptation, which infuses itself gently into the heart of man, and wears and wastes all the hardness of its resolution, let it be said, The waters wear the stones; in this way, viz. that the unremitted and soft flatteries of lust suck away the hardness of the soul, and the slow and penetrating evil habit corrodes the hard and forcible purpose of the mind. Hence it is added, And by washing the ground is consumed little by little. For as when water flows in, ‘the ground is consumed little by little,’ so when bad habit creeps on [n] by gentle degrees, even the strong mind is engulphed. Hence it is well added, And Thou wilt in a like way destroy man, i. e. in this way, that when Thou by a righteous appointment sufferest temptation of a sudden to get the dominion over the mind of him, who is seen to have his stand on high, Thou causes; ‘the mountain to fall and slip away,’ and when the will is changed to evil, it is as if ‘the rock were removed to a new place,’ but whilst Thou lettest a gentle and fine yet unremitting temptation prevail over the minds of those, who are accounted strong, ‘the waters in a manner wear the stones, and by washing, the ground is consumed little by little,’ in that the hardness of the mind being subdued by gentle suggesting is made soft.
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23.
