He that has vowed vows, but is unable from weakness to pay the same, has it dealt to him in
punishment
of sin, that whilst willing good, the having the power should be taken away from him.
St Gregory - Moralia - Job
Or in another way, because when Holy Church receives persons coming to her from heretics, it is plain without a doubt that she stands up against their former error.
Thus there are some that are so attached to virginity of the flesh, that they condemn marriage, and there are some who so extol abstinence, that they abhor those that take necessary nourishment.
Concerning whom it is said by Paul, Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain, from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe.
[1 Tim.
4, 5] Those persons then seeing she recalls from the carnal bias of their superstitious belief, when heretics see such living otherwise than they taught them, they bear witness that to the way of acting which they before maintained, their ‘arms are broken’ by Holy Church.
And hence in this period of discipline, if any piece of misfortune chance to befall her, they suppose that it has come in meet retribution for her sins.
For it is added;
Ver. 10. Therefore snares are round about thee; and sudden fear troubleth thee.
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[vii]
11. That man ‘sudden fear doth trouble,’ who neglects to consider what there is hanging over his head from the severity of the Judge, when He comes. Therefore, whereas heretics look upon the faithful people as borne down by sins of misbelief, they make it a charge that ‘snares are round about them. ’ And because they believe that it does not foresee the future, they suppose this people under the smiting to be ‘troubled with sudden fear;’ which persons adding yet further insult subjoin, Ver. 11. And thou thoughtest [V. And thoughtest thou? ] thou wouldest not see darkness; and that thou wouldest not be borne down with the force of overflowing waters.
As if he said in plain speech; ‘Thou didst promise thyself security of peace in hope, and therefore thou wast glad for thine assurance as for the light, nor ever thoughtest for thyself to be oppressed with tribulation. But see, whilst thou art afflicted with evils coming upon thee, whether what thou maintainest be right, the very darkness of trouble which weighs upon thee makes plain; which same troubles Eliphaz compares to ‘overflowing waters,’ in that whilst one set rushes in over another, as in swoln waters waves follow waves. It goes on,
Ver. 12-14. Dost thou bethink thee that God is in the height of heaven, and high above the height of the stars? And thou sayest, How doth God know? and, He judgeth as in the dark. Thick clouds are a covering to Him, that He seeth not our matters; and He walketh in the circuit of heaven.
[viii]
12. There are very many so dull that they cannot dread aught, saving what they see in a bodily form. Whence it is brought to pass that they do not fear God, in that they cannot see Him. But heretics because they think themselves wise utter words of insult against Catholics, and imagine that He is not feared by them, because they are unable to see Him in a bodily shape, so that as it were from deadness of perception they think that their Maker, because He is higher than heaven and exalted above the tops of the stars, is not able to see from a distance, and that because between ourselves and the seat of heaven the regions of the air are interposed, He, ‘as it were buried in a cloud passes judgment out of the darkness,’ and intent upon things above, the less considers those below, and whilst He holds together the binges of heaven by encircling them, doth not see into the interior parts. But who that was out of his right mind even, could suspect such things of God. Who indeed, whereas He is always Omnipotent, so minds all things that He is present to each one individually, and so present to each that His Presence is never wanting to all together. For though He forsakes persons when they sin, yet to those very persons He is present in respect of judgment, to whom He is seen to be wanting in respect of aidance. Therefore He so encircles what is without that He yet fills what is within, so fills what is within that He yet encircles what is without, so rules the heights above that He does not quit the depths below, is in such sort present to the parts beneath that He does not depart from those above, is so concealed in His own appearance that nevertheless He is known in His working, so known in His work that yet He cannot be comprehended by the calculation of the person knowing Him; He is in such a way present that yet He cannot be seen, in such a way impossible to be seen that yet His very own judgments bear witness to His Presence, so yields Himself to be understood by us that yet the very ray of the perception of Himself He overclouds to us, and again so holds us in by the darkness of ignorance that notwithstanding He shines into our minds with the rays of His brightness, so that at once by being lifted up it may see something, and made to recoil may tremble all over, and because such as He is it is impossible to
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see Him, may yet know Him by seeing Him some little. But all this heretics do not reckon Holy Church to be acquainted with, because by a foolish judgment they suppose that they alone are wise. In a type of whom it is yet further added;
Ver. 15. Wouldest thou mark the old way, which wicked men have trodden?
[ix] [LITERAL INTERPRETATION]
13. As the ‘way’ of our Redeemer is humility, so the way of the world is pride. And so wicked men tread the way of the world, in that by the desires of this world they walk in self-exaltation. Of which same wicked persons it is yet further added;
Ver. 16. Which were taken away before their time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood.
[x]
14. Whereas the period of our life is assuredly foreordained for us in the foreknowledge of God, it is a very important question on what principle it is said now, that the wicked are withdrawn from the present world ‘before their time. ’ For Almighty God though He often change His sentence, yet His counsel never. At that time, then, is every man ‘taken away’ from this life, at which by Divine power he is foreknown to be before all times. But it is necessary to be known, that Almighty God in creating and disposing of us, according to the deserts of each one also appoints his bounds too, so that either that bad man should live a short time, lest he do mischief to numbers doing right; or that this good man should last longer in life, that he may prove a helper of good practice to numbers; or again that the bad man should be detained longer in life, to add yet more to his wicked deeds, purified by the testing whereof the righteous may live a truer life; or that the good man should be withdrawn more speedily, lest if he were to live long here, wickedness should spoil his innocence. Yet it is to be borne in mind, that it is the loving-kindness of God, to vouchsafe to sinners space for repentance. But because the times vouchsafed they do not turn to the fruits of penance, but to the service of iniquity, what by the mercifulness of God they might have obtained, they let go out of their hands. Although Almighty God foreknows that time of each individual for death, at which his life is brought to an end; nor could any one ever have died at any time, saving at that actual time when he does die. For if to Hezekiah fifteen years are related to have been added for life, the time of his life was increased from that end, indeed, in which of himself he deserved to die; for God’s providence foreknew his time at that point whereat He afterwards withdrew him out of the present life. This then being so, what does it mean that it is said, that the wicked were cut down before their time, but that all they that love the present life, promise to themselves longer periods of that life? But when death coming on withdraws them from the present life, the spaces of their life, which they were wont as it were in imagination to draw out to themselves longer, it cuts asunder. Of whom it is rightly said, whose foundation was overflown with a flood.
15. For the wicked while they neglect in heart to go on to the things of eternity, and do not observe that all things present are fleeting, fix their heart on the love of the present life, and as it were therein construct for themselves the foundation of a long abode, because by desire they are established in earthly things. Thus Cain is described the first to have constructed a city upon earth, who thereby is plainly proved an alien, in that the same set a foundation upon earth, who was alien to the stedfastness of the eternal world; for being a stranger to the things above, he has settled his foundation in things beneath, who has placed the settling of his heart in earthly delight. And hence,
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in the stock of that man, Enoch, which is by interpretation ‘dedication,’ is born the first. But in the offspring of the Elect Enoch is described to have been the seventh, in this way, because the sons of perdition by building dedicate themselves in this life which comes first, but the Elect await the dedication of their building up in the end of time, i. e. the seventh number. For one may see great numbers minding temporal things alone, seeking after honours, open-mouthed after the compassing of good things, look out for nothing after this life. What then do these but ‘dedicate themselves’ in the first generation? One may see the Elect seeking nothing of present glory, gladly bearing want, undergoing the ills of this life with a composed mind, that they may be crowned at the end. And so to the Elect Enoch is born in the seventh generation, in that the dedication of their joy they look for in the glory of the last retribution. [Gen. 5, 21] And whereas by the daily lapse of time the mortal state in the present life itself runs to an end, and destroys the dedication of the children of perdition by removing those very children of perdition, it is rightly said of the wicked, Whose foundation was overflown with a flood; i. e. the mere course of changeableness overthrows in them the settlement of wicked rearing. It goes on;
Ver. 17. Which said unto God, Depart from us. [xi]
16. That this too blessed Job had said, who can doubt? But what we have unfolded in his words, on account of wearying the reader, we forbear to repeat. [Job 21, 14] It goes on;
And as though the Almighty could do nothing, so reckoned concerning Him.
In this part likewise the wording, and not the statement, is changed. For what was expressed by blessed Job; What is the Almighty that we should serve Him? [Job 21, 15] is expressed by Eliphaz, And as though the Almighty could do nothing, so reckoned concerning Him. It goes on;
Ver. 18. Yet He has filled their houses with good things.
[xii]
17. The Lord ‘filleth the houses of the wicked with good things,’ in that even to the unthankful He refuses not His gifts, that either they may blush at the loving-kindness of their Creator and be brought back to goodness, or altogether despising to return thereto, may from the same cause be there worse punished, that here they rendered an evil return for God’s more bounteous good, so that severer woes should there chastise those whose wickedness here not even gifts overcame. It goes on;
But let their sentence be far from me.
This too was expressed by blessed Job. For he says, Whose counsel be far from me. [Job 21, 16] Though ‘sentence’ may be taken for one thing and ‘counsel’ for another; for ‘sentence’ is in the mouth, ‘counsel’ in the thoughts. And so whereas Eliphaz wished himself far from the ‘sentence’ of the wicked, and blessed Job from the ‘counsel,’ it is plain without denial, that the first desires to be unlike the words of the wicked, but the other unlike their way of thinking even. It goes on; Ver. 19. The righteous shall see it and be glad; and the innocent one shall laugh them to scorn.
[xiii]
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18. The righteous when they see the unrighteous erring here cannot be glad for the error of persons ruining themselves. For if they rejoice in errings, they cease to be righteous. Again, if in the feeling of triumph they be glad, for this that they are not such as they see others are, they are altogether full of pride. Hence the Pharisee lost his justification, because being glad he set himself above the merits of the Publican, saying, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican. Again, if we say that the righteous can triumph with a perfect joy over the death of the wicked, what sort of thing is joy for vengeance on sinners in this world, wherein the life of the righteous is still uncertain? Let us then distinguish between the times of trembling and exulting. For the righteous see the unrighteous now, and pine at their wickedness; and when they see those smitten, they are made distrustful touching their own life too. When then shall the righteous see the destruction of the wicked and be glad, saving when with the strict Judge they incorporate henceforth with perfect sureness of triumphing, when in that final Inquest they shall see the condemnation of those, and shall now no longer have aught to fear for themselves? Now therefore they see the children of perdition and groan, then they shall see them and laugh them to scorn, because in triumphing they shall set at nought those, whom now they neither see doing wickedness without groaning nor dying for their wickedness without fearing. Hence by that which is added it is proved that the thing is spoken as concerning their final condemnation. For the sentence is directly introduced,
Ver. 20. Is not their erecting cut down, and the remnant of them the fire hath consumed [al. shall comsume]?
[xiv]
19. For here the wicked are erected, in that they are lifted up in bad deeds. For they both do wickedly, and yet for their wicked deeds they are not stricken. They sin and thrive, they add to their sins, and multiply earthly good. But ‘their erecting is cut down’ then, when they are either dragged from the present life to destruction, or from the sight of the Eternal Judge to the eternal burning of hell. Which people, though here they quit their dead flesh, yet that same in the resurrection they receive again, that together with that flesh they may burn, in which flesh they did their sin. For as their sin was in mind and body, so the punishment shall be in spirit and flesh alike. Therefore, whereas not even that shall be quit of torment to them, which here they leave dead, it is rightly said now, the remnant of them the fire hath consumed. It goes on;
Ver. 21, 22. Be at one then with Him, and be at peace; thereby thou shalt have the best fruits. Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.
[xv]
20. There is the sin of pride in teaching one better than one’s self, which heretics are often guilty of, who touching things which they have wrong notions of, take upon them as if to instruct Catholics. For such they think are then ‘at one with God,’ if it chance for them to assent to their bad ways; and to those thus ‘at one’ they promise peace in that they henceforth cease to quarrel with those who agree with themselves. Now ‘the best fruits’ they promise to those agreeing with themselves, in that they believe that they only do good works, whom they triumph in themselves drawing in to their own tenets; which persons this also suits that he adds, Receive, I pray, the law out of His mouth; because the things they think of their own heads, they fancy proceed from the mouth of God. And lay up His words in thine heart; as if he asserted it in plain words, saying,
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‘which up to this present time in thy mouth thou hast held, and not in thine heart. ’ For because he [al. Holy Church] rejected their corrupted tenets, they allege against him [al. her, &c. ] that the words of God he had held not in the feeling, but in the shewing off. Whence, as if under a certain appearance of sweetness, they insinuate the poison of pestilent persuading, so as to admonish the Church to lay up the words of God in the heart; which words, if they had ever departed from her heart, from those persons she would never have heard such things. It follows;
Ver. 23. If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacle.
[xvi]
21. That the faithful people have gone away from God is the opinion of heretics, because they see it opposed to their preachings; which same, when they see it afflicted with present calamities, they endeavour, as if by admonition, to draw to their Maker’s Grace, saying, If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up. As if they said in plain words; Whereas by gainsaying our doctrines thou hast gone away from the Lord, therefore to the building up of righteousness thou art undone. Now by a tabernacle we understand sometimes the habitation of the body, and sometimes the habitation of the heart; for as by the soul we inhabit the body, so by the thoughts we inhabit the mind. Therefore ‘iniquity in the tabernacle’ of the mind is an evil bent in the attachment of the thought. But ‘iniquity in the tabernacle’ of the body is carnal doing in the fulfilment of the deed. Thus Eliphaz, forasmuch as he was the friend of a blessed person, seeing some things true, and yet in those points in which he departs from the right line, holding the likeness of heretics, not knowing that it was in consequence of good qualities blessed Job was stricken, fancied that he had erred whom he saw smitten, and makes him promises if he would return to Almighty God, saying, Thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles. As if he said in plain speech, ‘Whosoever after erring ways is brought back to God, is purified both in thought and in deed together. ’ It follows; Ver. 24. He shall give the flint for earth, and for the flint golden torrents.
[xvii] [ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
22. What is denoted by ‘earth’ but weakness in conduct, what by the hardness of the flint but strength, what do we understand by ‘the golden torrents,’ but the instruction of interior brightness? Now to those that turn themselves to Him Almighty God ‘gives for earth the flint,’ in that for weak conduct He bestows the strength of vigorous practice. He also gives ‘for the flint golden torrents,’ in that for vigorous practice He redoubles the instruction of bright preaching, that every converted sinner may from weak be enabled to prove strong, and in his strength rise up even to the uttering forth words of the inner brightness, so that in that person, both weakness of conduct, in which like earth he is crumbled, by strength of good living may be firmly settled, and whereas perception is derived from the life, from that same firmness torrents of gold may run out, seeing that in the mouth of those that live well brightness of teaching runs over. It follows;
Ver. 25. Yea the Almighty shall be against thine enemies, and thou shalt have heaps of silver.
[xviii]
23. What other enemies are we more subject to than evil spirits, who in our thoughts besiege us, that they may break into the city of our minds, and hold it, taken captive, under the yoke of their
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dominion? Now by the name of ‘silver,’ the Psalmist testifies the sacred oracles are denoted, when he says, The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth. [Ps. 12, 6] And often when we apply ourselves to the sacred oracles, we are more grievously subject to the artifices of evil Spirits, in that they sprinkle upon our mind the dust of earthly thoughts, that the eyes of our heeding they may darken to the light of the interior vision. Which same the Psalmist had undergone when he said, Depart from me, ye evil ones, and I will search into the commandments of my God; i. e. plainly teaching us that he could not search into the commandments of God, when he was suffering in mind the snares of the evil spirits. Which thing in the work of Isaac too we know to he represented under the evil doing of the Philistines, who with a heap of earth filled up the wells which Isaac had dug. For these very same wells we ourselves dig, when in the hidden meanings of Holy Scripture we penetrate deep. Which wells however the Philistines secretly fill up, when to us advancing to deep things unclean spirits bring in earthly thoughts, and as it were take away the water of divine knowledge which has been discovered. But because no one can overcome these enemies by his own power, it is said by Eliphaz, Yea the Almighty shall be against thine enemies, and thou shalt have heaps of silver. As if it were said in plain words; ‘While the Lord drives away from thee the evil spirits by His power, the shining talent of divine revelation within gains growth. ’ It proceeds;
Ver. 26. Then shalt thou abound with delicacies over the Almighty. [xix]
24. To ‘abound with delicacies over the Almighty’ is in the love of Him to be filled to the full with the banquet of Holy Scripture. In Whose words surely we find as many delicacies, as for our profiting we obtain diversities of meaning, so that now the bare history should be our food, now, veiled under the text of the letter, the moral allegory refresh us from our inmost soul, and now to the deeper things contemplation should hold us suspended, already, in the darkness of the present life, shining in upon us from the light of eternity. And it is necessary to be known, that whosoever ‘abounds with delicacies,’ is released in a kind of loosening of himself, and slacks from devotion to labour as it were from weariness, because the soul when it has begun to abound with the interior delicacies, henceforth consents not ever to give itself to earthly employments, but being captivated by the love of the Creator, and by its captivity henceforth free, for the contemplating of His likeness fainting it draws breath, and as it were wilst giving over, is invigorated; because whereas sordid burthens it is now no longer able to bear, unto Him through rest it hastens Whom it loves within. Hence also in admiration of the spouse it is written, Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness abounding with delicacies? [Cant. 8, 5. Vulg. ] in that truly except Holy Church ‘abounded with the delicacies’ of God’s words, she could not mount up from the deserts of the present life to the regions above. Thus she ‘abounds with delicacies and comes up,’ in that whilst she is fed by mystical senses, she is lifted up for the contemplating day by day the things above. Hence likewise the Psalmist says, Even the night shall be light about me in my delicacies; [Ps. 139, 11. Vulg. ] in that while by mystical perception the earnest mind is regaled, henceforth the darkness of the present life is lighted up in her by the radiance of the day to come. So that even in the blindness of this state of corruption the force of the future light should break out into her understanding, and she being fed with delicacies of words, might learn by thus foretasting what to hunger for of the food of truth. It goes on;
And shall lift up thy face unto God.
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[xx]
25. To ‘lift up the face to God’ is to raise the heart for the searching into what is loftiest. For as by the bodily face we are known and distinguishable to man, so by the interior figure to God. But when by the guilt of sin we are weighed to the earth, we are afraid to lift the face of our heart to God; for whereas it is not buoyed up by any of the confidence of good works, the mind is full of affright to gaze on the highest things, because conscience of itself accuses self. But when by the tears of penance sin is now washed out, and things committed are so bewailed that nothing to be bewailed is any more committed, a great confidence springs up in the mind, and for the contemplating the joys of the recompensing from above ‘the face of our heart is lifted up. ’ Now these things Eliphaz would have spoken aright, if he had been admonishing one that was weak; but when he looks down upon a righteous man on account of his scourges, what is this, but that he pours out words of knowledge in not knowing? Which same words if we bring into a type of heretics, they are they that with false promises engage for us to ‘lift our face to God. ’ As if they said plainly to the faithful people, ‘As long as thou dost not follow our preaching, thine heart thou sinkest down in things below. ’ But whereas Eliphaz charged blessed Job to return to God, from Whom observe that same blessed man had never departed, he yet further subjoins, as promising; Ver. 27. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto Him, and He shall hear thee.
[xxi]
26. For they make their prayer to God, but never obtain to be listened to, who set at nought the precepts of the Lord, when He enjoins them. Whence it is written, He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination. [Prov. 28, 9] So long then as Eliphaz believed that blessed Job was not heard, he determined that that person had surely done wrong in his practice. And hence he adds further,
And thou shalt pay thy vows.
He that has vowed vows, but is unable from weakness to pay the same, has it dealt to him in punishment of sin, that whilst willing good, the having the power should be taken away from him. But when in the sight of the interior Judge, the sin which hinders is done away, it is immediately brought to pass, that the being able attends upon the vow. It goes on;
Ver. 28. Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee.
[xxii]
27. This is used to be the special conclusion of those going weakly, that in such proportion they esteem a man righteous as they see him obtain all that he desires; whereas in truth we know that earthly goods are sometimes withheld from the righteous, while they are bestowed with liberal bounty upon the unrighteous; seeing that to sick persons also when they are despaired of, physicians order whatever they call for to be supplied, but those whom they foresee may be brought back to health, the things which they long for they refuse to have given them. Now if Eliphaz introduced these declarations with reference to spiritual gifts, be it known that ‘a thing is decreed and is established’ to a man, when the virtue which is longed for in the desire, is, by God’s granting it, happily forwarded by the carrying of it out as well. And hence it is yet further added;
And the light shall shine upon thy way.
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[xxiii] [LITERAL AND MORAL INTERPRETATION]
28. Since for ‘light to shine in the ways’ of the righteous, is by extraordinary deeds of virtue to scatter the tokens of their brightness, that wherever they go in the bent of the mind, from the hearts of those beholding them they may dispel the night of sin, and by the example of their own practice pour into them the light of righteousness; but whatever justness of practice there may be, in the eye of the interior Judge it is nothing, if pride of heart uplifts it. Hence it is added;
Ver. 29. For he that has been abased shall be in glory, and he that has bent down his eyes, the same shall be saved.
[xxiv]
29. Which same sentence is not at variance with the mouth of ‘Truth,’ when It says, For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. [Luke 14, 11] And hence it is said by Solomon, Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility. [Prov. 18, 12] But it is properly said, For he that has bent down his eyes, the same shall be saved; in that so far as it is to be discovered through the ministering of the members, the first manifestation of pride is used to be with the eyes. Hence it is written, And wilt bring down high looks. [Ps. 18, 27] Hence it is said of the very head himself of those that behave proudly, He beholdeth all high things. [Job 41, 34] Hence it is written concerning her, who by unbelief attached herself to him, There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up. [Prov. 30, 13] So to ‘bend down the eyes, is no man on looking upon him to look down upon, but one’s self to look upon as inferior and below all one sees. He then that ‘bends down his eyes shall be saved’; because he who quits the false height of pride, scales the loftiness of truth. It goes on;
Ver. 30. The innocent shall be saved, but he shall be saved by the cleanness of his hands.
[xxv]
30. Which same sentence now if it be delivered touching the recompense of the kingdom of heaven, is supported by truth, in that whereas it is written concerning God, Who rendereth to every man according to his deeds [Rom. 2, 6], that man in the Last Inquest the justice of the Judge Eternal saveth, whom here His pitifulness sets free from impure deeds. But if a man is to this purport supposed to be here saved by the cleanness of his own hands, that by his own powers he should be made innocent, assuredly it is an error; for if Grace above do not prevent him when faulty, assuredly it will never find anyone faultless to recompense without fault. Whence it is said by the truth-telling voice of Moses; And no man of himself is innocent in Thy sight. [Exod. 34, 7] And so heavenly pity first works something in ourselves without the help of ourselves, that, our own free will following it up as well, the good which we now desire, it may do along with ourselves; yet the good coming by grace bestowed, in the Last Judgment, He so rewards in ourselves, as if it had proceeded only from ourselves. For whereas the Goodness of God prevents us to make us innocent, Paul says, But by the grace of God I am what I am. [1 Cor. 15, 10] And whereas our free will follows that grace, he adds, And His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I laboured more abundantly than they all. Who whereas he saw that he was nothing of himself, says, Yet not I, and yet forasmuch as he saw that he was something in union
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with grace, he added, but the grace of God with me. For he would not have said, with me, if together with preventing grace he had not had free will following it up. Therefore in order to shew that he was nothing without grace, he says, Yet not I, but that he might shew that along with grace he had worked by free will, he added, but the grace of God with me. Thus ‘the innocent man shall be saved by the cleanness of his hands,’ in that he who is here prevented by the gift, that he may be made innocent, when he is brought to judgment, is rewarded of merit. All which things, as was before said, Eliphaz though he delivered rightly, yet to whom he was delivering them he knew not; because one better than himself it was not his business to teach, but to hear. All which particulars however agree in a figure with the promises of heretics, who when they find any of the faithful afflicted in the present life suppose them stricken for the sin of misbelief, and promise them if they will follow their doctrine the saving health of innocency by cleanness of good works. But the mind of the faithful looks down upon them so much the deeper down, in proportion as it does not see them to possess the innocency which they promise. Whence it is well said by Solomon, Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any winged fowl. For the ‘winged fowl’ are the spirits of good men, which whilst in the hope of truth they soar up to the higher regions, shun the nets of bad men set for their deceiving. It goes on;
Chap. xxiii. 1, 2. Then Job answered and said, Now also is my complaint bitter: and the hand of my stroke is heavier than my groaning.
[xxvi] [ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
31. In his own way blessed Job sets out with the plainer sort of words, but his declaration he closes by the deep following on of mystery. For the pain of the afflicted man ought to have been healed by the consoling of his friends, but because their consoling broke out into the soothings of deceit, the pain of the stricken man was made harsher. For whereas Eliphaz was not afraid to promise him better things on being converted, it was as if by a poisonous remedy the wound were increased. Hence it is rightly said, Even to-day is my complaint bitter, and the hand of my stroke is heavier than my groaning, in this respect, viz. that the straining of unregulated consoling increased the stroke manifold, which it ought to have diminished; by which same words taken in a type of Holy Church, the pain of the faithful is likewise set forth, who groan the more, the more they see the wicked using the acts of flattery, who, according to the declaration of Paul, by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.
32. Which words may also be rightly applied to the viewing with greater exactness the mind of the faithful, who can never be without bitterness even if they seem to prosper in this world. Which persons when adversity too befalls, it redoubles that pain which it finds. Whence it is rightly said, Now also is my complaint bitter, that it might be plainly shewn that even in prosperity the mind of the Elect should not be without bitterness. And it is well said, And the hand of my stroke is heavier than my groaning. For ‘the hand of a stroke,’ is the force of the striking. For their first striking the Elect see to be, that from the vision of their Creator they are parted, that the brightness of the interior illumining they never enjoy, but groan as being banished in the exile of the present life as in a place of darkness. Thus they always have their groaning in this ‘hand of their stroke;’ but when over and above adversities also befall them in this life, ‘the hand of their stroke is heavier than their groaning. ’ For there was groaning for the stroke even when the adversities of the present life were away. But the bitterness of the original stroke is increased over and above by the trial of adversity. Therefore he says, And the hand of my stroke is heavier than my groaning? In that any
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just man adversity did not smite whilst happy in this life, but came to redouble in him the pain of the wound. Yet it happens by the extraordinary governance of Almighty God, that when in this life the spirit of the righteous man travails most in adversities, he thirsts the more ardently after the beholding of his Maker’s face. Hence it is fitly subjoined here,
Ver. 8. O that one would grant me that I might know and find Him, that I might come even to His seat!
[xxvii]
33. An elect person if he did not know God, assuredly would not love Him. But it is one thing to ‘know’ by faith, and another to know by His own Form, one thing to find by trustfulness, another to find Him by contemplation. In consequence whereof it is brought to pass that Him Whom they know by faith, all of the Elect long to see by His own Form as well. With the love of Whom they burn and glow because the honey of His sweetness they already taste of in the mere certainty of their faith. Which that person in the country of the Gerasenes cured of the devils well represents, who wishes to depart with Jesus; but by the Master of health it is, told him, Return to thine own house, and shew what great things God hath done unto thee. [Luke 8, 39] For on him that loves delay is still imposed, that by the longing of love delayed the title to rewarding may be heightened. And so to us Almighty God is made sweet in miracles, and yet in His own loftiness remains hidden from our eyes, that both by shewing something of Himself, He may by secret inspiration set us on fire in the love of Him, and yet by hiding the gloriousness of His Majesty may increase the force of that love of Him by the heat of longing desire. For except the holy man sought to see This Being in His Majesty, surely he would not bring in the words, that I might come even to His seat? For what is the ‘seat’ of God but those angelical Spirits, who as Scripture testifies are called ‘Thrones? ’ He then that desires to ‘come to the seat of God,’ what else does he long for but to be among the Angelic spirits, that no failing moments of the periods of time he henceforth be liable to, but rise up to abiding glory in the contemplation of eternity.
[LITERAL AND ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
34. Which words nevertheless are likewise appropriate to the righteous whilst placed in this life. For when they see any thing done against their wish and desire, they have recourse to the hidden judgments of God, that therein they may read that that is not irregularly ordered within, which seems to pass irregularly without. For when they behold with the eyes of faith the Creator of all things, ruling over the Angelical Spirits, then they ‘come to His seat. ’ And whereas they observe that He, Who rules the Angels in a wonderful manner, does not dispose of man in any way contrary to justice, then indeed the principles of cases they see to be as just as they are, whilst the cases themselves externally seem to be unjust. And whereas they do this with humility, they often lay blame to themselves in their will, and their own wishes they sometimes judge in themselves, whilst they ponder that those things are better which the Creator appoints. Hence it is well added in addition,
Ver. 4. I will order my cause before Him, and fill my mouth with reproaches. [xxviii]
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35. To ‘order our cause before God’ is within the secret depth of our mind by the contemplating of faith to open the eyes of our view to the awful inquisition of His Majesty, to mark what man as a sinner deserves, of the now hidden and secret Judge to take thought how terrible He will hereafter appear. In consequence of which it happens, that the soul is recalled to the knowledge of itself with greater exactness, and in proportion as it sees its secret Judge the greater object of alarm, is so much the more horribly wrung with fears for its actions. It trembles with anxious alarm; its offences it prosecutes with lamentation; in repenting it charges home what it remembers itself to have been; whence now too after it had been said, I will order my cause before Him, it is rightly subjoined, And fill my mouth with reproaches. For he who ‘orders his cause before God,’ does ‘fill his mouth with reproaches,’ in that while he beholds the exact scrutiny of the awful Judge directed against himself, he pursues himself with the charges of bitter repentance. Now it often happens that whilst we neglect to take account of our faults, what blaming of them may follow in the Judgment we are left ignorant of: but whilst we pursue them by exercising repentance what the Judge in His Inquisition may say to us concerning them, we find out. Whence it is further added with propriety, Ver. 5. That I may know the words that he will answer me, and understand what he will say unto me.
[xxix]
36. For we then bewail our sins, when we begin to weigh them; but we then weigh them the more exactly, when more anxiously we bewail them, and by our lamentations it rises up [one Ms. ‘is known’] more perfectly in our hearts, what the severity of God threatens those with that commit sin, what will be those rebukings upon the children of perdition, what the terror, what the abhorrence of the unappeasable Majesty. For so great things shall the Lord then being angry ‘say’ to the lost, as great as He permits them of justice to undergo. Which same words of His visitation, the righteous, because now they anxiously fear them, escape free from. But who in that inquisition might be found righteous, if God according to the Majesty of His Might, so sifted the life of man? Therefore it is fitly subjoined,
Ver. 6. I would not that He should contend with me with great power, nor oppress me with the weight of His mightiness.
[xxx]
37. For the soul of one however righteous, if he be judged with strictness by Almighty God, is borne down by the weight of His mightiness. In which same words this is likewise to be understood, that whereas the holy man shews the might of God, what else of Him does he desire, but His weakness? And it is written, the weakness of God is stronger than men. [1 Cor. 1, 25] Whence too he directly adds,
Ver. 7. Let Him put forth equity against me, and my judgment shall come unto victory. [PROPHETICAL INTERPRETATION]
For who else saving the Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus, is denoted by the title of ‘equity? ’ Concerning Whom it is written, Who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness. [I Cor. 1, 30] And whereas this same righteousness came into this world against the ways of sinners, we get the better of our old enemy, by whom we were held captive. So let him
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say, I would not that He should contend with me with great power, nor oppress me with the weight of His mightiness. Let Him put forth equity against me, and my judgment shall come unto victory. i. e. ‘for the rebuking of my ways, let Him send His Incarnate Son, and then the plotting foe, by the sentence of mine absolving, I as victor will turn out. ’ For if the Only-begotten Son of God had so remained invisible in the strength of the Divine Nature, as not to have admitted aught derived from our weakness, when could weak men ever have found the access of grace to Him? For the weight of His greatness, being considered, would rather have oppressed than aided him; but the Strong above all things came weak among all things, that whereas He agreed with us by assumed weakness, He might elevate us to His own abiding strength. For in Its loftiness the Divine Nature could never have been apprehended by us, inasmuch as being too little, but He bowed Himself down to man through human nature, and we as it were mounted up on Him laid low; He rose, and we were lifted up. Whence this too is added directly, whereby the Divine Being may be shewed invisible and incomprehensible. Thus it goes on;
Ver. 8, 9. If I go to the East, He appeareth not; if I go to the West, I shall not understand Him; if I go to the left hand, what shall I do? I shall not comprehend Him; if I turn myself to the right hand I shall not see Him.
[xxxi]
38. For the Creator of all things is not in a part, inasmuch as He is every where. And then He is found the less, when He, That is whole every where, is sought in a part. For the Incomprehensible Spirit containeth all things within Itself, Which at the same time both while filling encompasseth, and while encompassing filleth, both in supporting overtops, and in overtopping supports; and it is well that after it had been said, if I go to the East, He appeareth not; if I go to the West, I shall not understand Him; if I go to the left hand, what shall I do? I shall not comprehend Him; if I turn myself to the right hand I shall not see Him; he thereupon added, But He knoweth the way that I take. As if he said in plain words, ‘I am unable to see Him, Who seeth me, and Him that beholdeth me most minutely, I have no power to behold:’ that is to say, that he might shew that He is so much the more heedfully to be feared, in proportion as He is not discernible. For He Who so beholds us that He may not be by us beheld, is so much the more to be dreaded in proportion as in seeing all things He is not seen in the least degree. For when we believe that there is anyone hidden in ambush to assault us, we dread him the more that we do not at all see him; and when we do not at all discover his ambush where it is placed, we apprehend it even there where it does not exist. And our Creator, Who is whole every where, and while discerning all things is not discerned, is the more to be dreaded in proportion as continuing invisible, what He may determine concerning our actions and at what time is not known. Which words, too, may be understood in another sense also. For we ‘go to the East,’ when we lift up our mind in thinking of His Majesty. But ‘He appeareth not,’ seeing that such as He is in His own Nature, by mortal thought He cannot be seen to be. If I go to the West, I shalt not understand Him; we ‘go to the west,’ when the eye of the heart that is lifted up in God, but made to recoil by the mere immensity of the light, we bring back to our own selves, and being spent with labour, we learn that the thing is very much above us which we were seeking; and viewing our own mortal condition find out that as yet we are creatures unfit to have the power to behold One that is Immortal. If I go to the left hand what shall I do? I shalt not comprehend Him. To ‘go to the left hand’ is to yield one’s self to the enjoyments of our sins. And it is surely plain, that he cannot ‘apprehend God,’ who still in the gratification of sin lies prostrate along the left side. If I turn myself to the right side I shall not see Him. He truly is ‘turned to the
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right hand,’ who is lifted up on the ground of virtuous attainments. But he cannot see God, who is glad with selfish joy for his good deeds; because in that man the swelling of pride weighs down the eye of the heart. Whence it is well said elsewhere, Thou shalt not decline to the right hand nor to the left. [Deut. 17, 11] In all which particulars the soul very often searches out itself, nor yet is able perfectly to find out itself. Whence it is fitly added here,
But He Himself knoweth the way that I take.
[xxxii] [LITERAL INTERPRETATION]
39. As if he said in plain terms, ‘I for mine own part both search myself strictly, and am not able to know myself thoroughly; yet He, Whom I have not power to see, seeth most minutely all the things that I do. ’ It goes on; And He shall try me like gold which passeth through the fire.
Gold in the furnace is advanced to the brightness of its nature, whilst it loses the dross. And so like ‘gold that passeth through the fire’ the souls of the righteous are tried, which by the burning of tribulation through and through, both have their defects removed, and their good points increased. Nor was it of pride that the holy man likened himself as set in tribulation to gold, in that he who, by the voice of God, was pronounced righteous before the stroke, was not for this reason permitted to be tried that bad qualities might be cleared off, but that excellences might be heightened; but gold is purified by fire; less then than he was did he think of his own self, in that, being delivered over to suffer tribulation, he believed that he was being purified, whereas he had not any thing in him to be purified.
40. Now it is necessary for us to know, that though the mind of the righteous entertains humble thoughts touching itself, yet the several things that they do, they see to be as right as they are, while they never presume on the rightness of them. Whence it is yet further added; My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept and not declined. Neither have gone back from the commandment of his lips, and I have hid the words of his mouth in my bosom. But in the midst of all this let us see whether he thinks himself to be any thing. It follows; But He is Himself alone. By the subjoining of which sentence, he shews that amidst all the good things which he had done he believed himself to be nothing. But taking up these same words from the beginning, let us run over them as well as we are able.
Ver. 11. My foot hath held His steps. [xxxiii]
41. For as a kind of footsteps of God are His doings which we see, by which doings both the good and bad man is governed, by which the righteous and unrighteous are arranged in their classes, whereto both everyone that is subject is led on day by day to better things, and he that is in rebellion against them is borne with going headlong into worse. Concerning which same footsteps the Prophet said, Thy goings have been seen, O God. [Ps. 68, 24] And so we, when we behold the efficacy of His long-suffering and pitifulness, and upon so beholding strive to imitate the same, what else do we but follow the ‘footsteps of His goings,’ in that we imitate some outskirts of His method of proceeding. Thus these footsteps of His Father ‘Truth’ gave it in charge to imitate when He said, Pray for them which persecute you and falsely accuse you; that ye may be the children of your Father Which is in heaven. For He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good. [Matt.
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5, 44. 45. ] It may be too that blessed Job who had already said with assured faith, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that I shall arise at the latter day from the earth [Job 19, 25]; so dwelt on the future working of Wisdom Incarnate to be, in like manner as we behold by faith the works of that Wisdom now past, how that the Mediator between God and man should be kind to give, humble to bear, patient to afford an example. Whose life while blessed Job, filled with the Spirit from above, regarded with heedful intentness, foreseeing the future lowliness of His mild character, he refers as it were to a pattern set before him, so that whatever he did in this life he might bind fast to His footsteps in imitating, that so he who was incapable of seeing the high things of His secret ordering, as it were looking on the ground, might keep His footsteps for imitation. Of which same ‘footsteps’ of Him it is said by Peter, Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His footsteps. [1 Pet. 2, 21] Concerning whom it is yet further added;
Ver. 11. His way have I kept, and not declined.
[xxxiv]
42. For he ‘keeps the way and does not decline,’ who practises the thing whereon his mind is bent. Since to ‘keep’ in the bent is ‘not to decline’ in the practice. For this is the anxiety of the righteous, that day by day they should try their actions by the ways of truth, and proposing these as a rule to themselves, they should not decline from the track of their right course. Thus day by day they strive to get above themselves, and in proportion as they are lifted up upon the summit of virtues, they judge with heedful censure, whatever there is of themselves left remaining below themselves.
Ver. 10. Therefore snares are round about thee; and sudden fear troubleth thee.
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[vii]
11. That man ‘sudden fear doth trouble,’ who neglects to consider what there is hanging over his head from the severity of the Judge, when He comes. Therefore, whereas heretics look upon the faithful people as borne down by sins of misbelief, they make it a charge that ‘snares are round about them. ’ And because they believe that it does not foresee the future, they suppose this people under the smiting to be ‘troubled with sudden fear;’ which persons adding yet further insult subjoin, Ver. 11. And thou thoughtest [V. And thoughtest thou? ] thou wouldest not see darkness; and that thou wouldest not be borne down with the force of overflowing waters.
As if he said in plain speech; ‘Thou didst promise thyself security of peace in hope, and therefore thou wast glad for thine assurance as for the light, nor ever thoughtest for thyself to be oppressed with tribulation. But see, whilst thou art afflicted with evils coming upon thee, whether what thou maintainest be right, the very darkness of trouble which weighs upon thee makes plain; which same troubles Eliphaz compares to ‘overflowing waters,’ in that whilst one set rushes in over another, as in swoln waters waves follow waves. It goes on,
Ver. 12-14. Dost thou bethink thee that God is in the height of heaven, and high above the height of the stars? And thou sayest, How doth God know? and, He judgeth as in the dark. Thick clouds are a covering to Him, that He seeth not our matters; and He walketh in the circuit of heaven.
[viii]
12. There are very many so dull that they cannot dread aught, saving what they see in a bodily form. Whence it is brought to pass that they do not fear God, in that they cannot see Him. But heretics because they think themselves wise utter words of insult against Catholics, and imagine that He is not feared by them, because they are unable to see Him in a bodily shape, so that as it were from deadness of perception they think that their Maker, because He is higher than heaven and exalted above the tops of the stars, is not able to see from a distance, and that because between ourselves and the seat of heaven the regions of the air are interposed, He, ‘as it were buried in a cloud passes judgment out of the darkness,’ and intent upon things above, the less considers those below, and whilst He holds together the binges of heaven by encircling them, doth not see into the interior parts. But who that was out of his right mind even, could suspect such things of God. Who indeed, whereas He is always Omnipotent, so minds all things that He is present to each one individually, and so present to each that His Presence is never wanting to all together. For though He forsakes persons when they sin, yet to those very persons He is present in respect of judgment, to whom He is seen to be wanting in respect of aidance. Therefore He so encircles what is without that He yet fills what is within, so fills what is within that He yet encircles what is without, so rules the heights above that He does not quit the depths below, is in such sort present to the parts beneath that He does not depart from those above, is so concealed in His own appearance that nevertheless He is known in His working, so known in His work that yet He cannot be comprehended by the calculation of the person knowing Him; He is in such a way present that yet He cannot be seen, in such a way impossible to be seen that yet His very own judgments bear witness to His Presence, so yields Himself to be understood by us that yet the very ray of the perception of Himself He overclouds to us, and again so holds us in by the darkness of ignorance that notwithstanding He shines into our minds with the rays of His brightness, so that at once by being lifted up it may see something, and made to recoil may tremble all over, and because such as He is it is impossible to
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see Him, may yet know Him by seeing Him some little. But all this heretics do not reckon Holy Church to be acquainted with, because by a foolish judgment they suppose that they alone are wise. In a type of whom it is yet further added;
Ver. 15. Wouldest thou mark the old way, which wicked men have trodden?
[ix] [LITERAL INTERPRETATION]
13. As the ‘way’ of our Redeemer is humility, so the way of the world is pride. And so wicked men tread the way of the world, in that by the desires of this world they walk in self-exaltation. Of which same wicked persons it is yet further added;
Ver. 16. Which were taken away before their time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood.
[x]
14. Whereas the period of our life is assuredly foreordained for us in the foreknowledge of God, it is a very important question on what principle it is said now, that the wicked are withdrawn from the present world ‘before their time. ’ For Almighty God though He often change His sentence, yet His counsel never. At that time, then, is every man ‘taken away’ from this life, at which by Divine power he is foreknown to be before all times. But it is necessary to be known, that Almighty God in creating and disposing of us, according to the deserts of each one also appoints his bounds too, so that either that bad man should live a short time, lest he do mischief to numbers doing right; or that this good man should last longer in life, that he may prove a helper of good practice to numbers; or again that the bad man should be detained longer in life, to add yet more to his wicked deeds, purified by the testing whereof the righteous may live a truer life; or that the good man should be withdrawn more speedily, lest if he were to live long here, wickedness should spoil his innocence. Yet it is to be borne in mind, that it is the loving-kindness of God, to vouchsafe to sinners space for repentance. But because the times vouchsafed they do not turn to the fruits of penance, but to the service of iniquity, what by the mercifulness of God they might have obtained, they let go out of their hands. Although Almighty God foreknows that time of each individual for death, at which his life is brought to an end; nor could any one ever have died at any time, saving at that actual time when he does die. For if to Hezekiah fifteen years are related to have been added for life, the time of his life was increased from that end, indeed, in which of himself he deserved to die; for God’s providence foreknew his time at that point whereat He afterwards withdrew him out of the present life. This then being so, what does it mean that it is said, that the wicked were cut down before their time, but that all they that love the present life, promise to themselves longer periods of that life? But when death coming on withdraws them from the present life, the spaces of their life, which they were wont as it were in imagination to draw out to themselves longer, it cuts asunder. Of whom it is rightly said, whose foundation was overflown with a flood.
15. For the wicked while they neglect in heart to go on to the things of eternity, and do not observe that all things present are fleeting, fix their heart on the love of the present life, and as it were therein construct for themselves the foundation of a long abode, because by desire they are established in earthly things. Thus Cain is described the first to have constructed a city upon earth, who thereby is plainly proved an alien, in that the same set a foundation upon earth, who was alien to the stedfastness of the eternal world; for being a stranger to the things above, he has settled his foundation in things beneath, who has placed the settling of his heart in earthly delight. And hence,
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in the stock of that man, Enoch, which is by interpretation ‘dedication,’ is born the first. But in the offspring of the Elect Enoch is described to have been the seventh, in this way, because the sons of perdition by building dedicate themselves in this life which comes first, but the Elect await the dedication of their building up in the end of time, i. e. the seventh number. For one may see great numbers minding temporal things alone, seeking after honours, open-mouthed after the compassing of good things, look out for nothing after this life. What then do these but ‘dedicate themselves’ in the first generation? One may see the Elect seeking nothing of present glory, gladly bearing want, undergoing the ills of this life with a composed mind, that they may be crowned at the end. And so to the Elect Enoch is born in the seventh generation, in that the dedication of their joy they look for in the glory of the last retribution. [Gen. 5, 21] And whereas by the daily lapse of time the mortal state in the present life itself runs to an end, and destroys the dedication of the children of perdition by removing those very children of perdition, it is rightly said of the wicked, Whose foundation was overflown with a flood; i. e. the mere course of changeableness overthrows in them the settlement of wicked rearing. It goes on;
Ver. 17. Which said unto God, Depart from us. [xi]
16. That this too blessed Job had said, who can doubt? But what we have unfolded in his words, on account of wearying the reader, we forbear to repeat. [Job 21, 14] It goes on;
And as though the Almighty could do nothing, so reckoned concerning Him.
In this part likewise the wording, and not the statement, is changed. For what was expressed by blessed Job; What is the Almighty that we should serve Him? [Job 21, 15] is expressed by Eliphaz, And as though the Almighty could do nothing, so reckoned concerning Him. It goes on;
Ver. 18. Yet He has filled their houses with good things.
[xii]
17. The Lord ‘filleth the houses of the wicked with good things,’ in that even to the unthankful He refuses not His gifts, that either they may blush at the loving-kindness of their Creator and be brought back to goodness, or altogether despising to return thereto, may from the same cause be there worse punished, that here they rendered an evil return for God’s more bounteous good, so that severer woes should there chastise those whose wickedness here not even gifts overcame. It goes on;
But let their sentence be far from me.
This too was expressed by blessed Job. For he says, Whose counsel be far from me. [Job 21, 16] Though ‘sentence’ may be taken for one thing and ‘counsel’ for another; for ‘sentence’ is in the mouth, ‘counsel’ in the thoughts. And so whereas Eliphaz wished himself far from the ‘sentence’ of the wicked, and blessed Job from the ‘counsel,’ it is plain without denial, that the first desires to be unlike the words of the wicked, but the other unlike their way of thinking even. It goes on; Ver. 19. The righteous shall see it and be glad; and the innocent one shall laugh them to scorn.
[xiii]
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18. The righteous when they see the unrighteous erring here cannot be glad for the error of persons ruining themselves. For if they rejoice in errings, they cease to be righteous. Again, if in the feeling of triumph they be glad, for this that they are not such as they see others are, they are altogether full of pride. Hence the Pharisee lost his justification, because being glad he set himself above the merits of the Publican, saying, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican. Again, if we say that the righteous can triumph with a perfect joy over the death of the wicked, what sort of thing is joy for vengeance on sinners in this world, wherein the life of the righteous is still uncertain? Let us then distinguish between the times of trembling and exulting. For the righteous see the unrighteous now, and pine at their wickedness; and when they see those smitten, they are made distrustful touching their own life too. When then shall the righteous see the destruction of the wicked and be glad, saving when with the strict Judge they incorporate henceforth with perfect sureness of triumphing, when in that final Inquest they shall see the condemnation of those, and shall now no longer have aught to fear for themselves? Now therefore they see the children of perdition and groan, then they shall see them and laugh them to scorn, because in triumphing they shall set at nought those, whom now they neither see doing wickedness without groaning nor dying for their wickedness without fearing. Hence by that which is added it is proved that the thing is spoken as concerning their final condemnation. For the sentence is directly introduced,
Ver. 20. Is not their erecting cut down, and the remnant of them the fire hath consumed [al. shall comsume]?
[xiv]
19. For here the wicked are erected, in that they are lifted up in bad deeds. For they both do wickedly, and yet for their wicked deeds they are not stricken. They sin and thrive, they add to their sins, and multiply earthly good. But ‘their erecting is cut down’ then, when they are either dragged from the present life to destruction, or from the sight of the Eternal Judge to the eternal burning of hell. Which people, though here they quit their dead flesh, yet that same in the resurrection they receive again, that together with that flesh they may burn, in which flesh they did their sin. For as their sin was in mind and body, so the punishment shall be in spirit and flesh alike. Therefore, whereas not even that shall be quit of torment to them, which here they leave dead, it is rightly said now, the remnant of them the fire hath consumed. It goes on;
Ver. 21, 22. Be at one then with Him, and be at peace; thereby thou shalt have the best fruits. Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.
[xv]
20. There is the sin of pride in teaching one better than one’s self, which heretics are often guilty of, who touching things which they have wrong notions of, take upon them as if to instruct Catholics. For such they think are then ‘at one with God,’ if it chance for them to assent to their bad ways; and to those thus ‘at one’ they promise peace in that they henceforth cease to quarrel with those who agree with themselves. Now ‘the best fruits’ they promise to those agreeing with themselves, in that they believe that they only do good works, whom they triumph in themselves drawing in to their own tenets; which persons this also suits that he adds, Receive, I pray, the law out of His mouth; because the things they think of their own heads, they fancy proceed from the mouth of God. And lay up His words in thine heart; as if he asserted it in plain words, saying,
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‘which up to this present time in thy mouth thou hast held, and not in thine heart. ’ For because he [al. Holy Church] rejected their corrupted tenets, they allege against him [al. her, &c. ] that the words of God he had held not in the feeling, but in the shewing off. Whence, as if under a certain appearance of sweetness, they insinuate the poison of pestilent persuading, so as to admonish the Church to lay up the words of God in the heart; which words, if they had ever departed from her heart, from those persons she would never have heard such things. It follows;
Ver. 23. If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacle.
[xvi]
21. That the faithful people have gone away from God is the opinion of heretics, because they see it opposed to their preachings; which same, when they see it afflicted with present calamities, they endeavour, as if by admonition, to draw to their Maker’s Grace, saying, If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up. As if they said in plain words; Whereas by gainsaying our doctrines thou hast gone away from the Lord, therefore to the building up of righteousness thou art undone. Now by a tabernacle we understand sometimes the habitation of the body, and sometimes the habitation of the heart; for as by the soul we inhabit the body, so by the thoughts we inhabit the mind. Therefore ‘iniquity in the tabernacle’ of the mind is an evil bent in the attachment of the thought. But ‘iniquity in the tabernacle’ of the body is carnal doing in the fulfilment of the deed. Thus Eliphaz, forasmuch as he was the friend of a blessed person, seeing some things true, and yet in those points in which he departs from the right line, holding the likeness of heretics, not knowing that it was in consequence of good qualities blessed Job was stricken, fancied that he had erred whom he saw smitten, and makes him promises if he would return to Almighty God, saying, Thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles. As if he said in plain speech, ‘Whosoever after erring ways is brought back to God, is purified both in thought and in deed together. ’ It follows; Ver. 24. He shall give the flint for earth, and for the flint golden torrents.
[xvii] [ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
22. What is denoted by ‘earth’ but weakness in conduct, what by the hardness of the flint but strength, what do we understand by ‘the golden torrents,’ but the instruction of interior brightness? Now to those that turn themselves to Him Almighty God ‘gives for earth the flint,’ in that for weak conduct He bestows the strength of vigorous practice. He also gives ‘for the flint golden torrents,’ in that for vigorous practice He redoubles the instruction of bright preaching, that every converted sinner may from weak be enabled to prove strong, and in his strength rise up even to the uttering forth words of the inner brightness, so that in that person, both weakness of conduct, in which like earth he is crumbled, by strength of good living may be firmly settled, and whereas perception is derived from the life, from that same firmness torrents of gold may run out, seeing that in the mouth of those that live well brightness of teaching runs over. It follows;
Ver. 25. Yea the Almighty shall be against thine enemies, and thou shalt have heaps of silver.
[xviii]
23. What other enemies are we more subject to than evil spirits, who in our thoughts besiege us, that they may break into the city of our minds, and hold it, taken captive, under the yoke of their
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dominion? Now by the name of ‘silver,’ the Psalmist testifies the sacred oracles are denoted, when he says, The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth. [Ps. 12, 6] And often when we apply ourselves to the sacred oracles, we are more grievously subject to the artifices of evil Spirits, in that they sprinkle upon our mind the dust of earthly thoughts, that the eyes of our heeding they may darken to the light of the interior vision. Which same the Psalmist had undergone when he said, Depart from me, ye evil ones, and I will search into the commandments of my God; i. e. plainly teaching us that he could not search into the commandments of God, when he was suffering in mind the snares of the evil spirits. Which thing in the work of Isaac too we know to he represented under the evil doing of the Philistines, who with a heap of earth filled up the wells which Isaac had dug. For these very same wells we ourselves dig, when in the hidden meanings of Holy Scripture we penetrate deep. Which wells however the Philistines secretly fill up, when to us advancing to deep things unclean spirits bring in earthly thoughts, and as it were take away the water of divine knowledge which has been discovered. But because no one can overcome these enemies by his own power, it is said by Eliphaz, Yea the Almighty shall be against thine enemies, and thou shalt have heaps of silver. As if it were said in plain words; ‘While the Lord drives away from thee the evil spirits by His power, the shining talent of divine revelation within gains growth. ’ It proceeds;
Ver. 26. Then shalt thou abound with delicacies over the Almighty. [xix]
24. To ‘abound with delicacies over the Almighty’ is in the love of Him to be filled to the full with the banquet of Holy Scripture. In Whose words surely we find as many delicacies, as for our profiting we obtain diversities of meaning, so that now the bare history should be our food, now, veiled under the text of the letter, the moral allegory refresh us from our inmost soul, and now to the deeper things contemplation should hold us suspended, already, in the darkness of the present life, shining in upon us from the light of eternity. And it is necessary to be known, that whosoever ‘abounds with delicacies,’ is released in a kind of loosening of himself, and slacks from devotion to labour as it were from weariness, because the soul when it has begun to abound with the interior delicacies, henceforth consents not ever to give itself to earthly employments, but being captivated by the love of the Creator, and by its captivity henceforth free, for the contemplating of His likeness fainting it draws breath, and as it were wilst giving over, is invigorated; because whereas sordid burthens it is now no longer able to bear, unto Him through rest it hastens Whom it loves within. Hence also in admiration of the spouse it is written, Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness abounding with delicacies? [Cant. 8, 5. Vulg. ] in that truly except Holy Church ‘abounded with the delicacies’ of God’s words, she could not mount up from the deserts of the present life to the regions above. Thus she ‘abounds with delicacies and comes up,’ in that whilst she is fed by mystical senses, she is lifted up for the contemplating day by day the things above. Hence likewise the Psalmist says, Even the night shall be light about me in my delicacies; [Ps. 139, 11. Vulg. ] in that while by mystical perception the earnest mind is regaled, henceforth the darkness of the present life is lighted up in her by the radiance of the day to come. So that even in the blindness of this state of corruption the force of the future light should break out into her understanding, and she being fed with delicacies of words, might learn by thus foretasting what to hunger for of the food of truth. It goes on;
And shall lift up thy face unto God.
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[xx]
25. To ‘lift up the face to God’ is to raise the heart for the searching into what is loftiest. For as by the bodily face we are known and distinguishable to man, so by the interior figure to God. But when by the guilt of sin we are weighed to the earth, we are afraid to lift the face of our heart to God; for whereas it is not buoyed up by any of the confidence of good works, the mind is full of affright to gaze on the highest things, because conscience of itself accuses self. But when by the tears of penance sin is now washed out, and things committed are so bewailed that nothing to be bewailed is any more committed, a great confidence springs up in the mind, and for the contemplating the joys of the recompensing from above ‘the face of our heart is lifted up. ’ Now these things Eliphaz would have spoken aright, if he had been admonishing one that was weak; but when he looks down upon a righteous man on account of his scourges, what is this, but that he pours out words of knowledge in not knowing? Which same words if we bring into a type of heretics, they are they that with false promises engage for us to ‘lift our face to God. ’ As if they said plainly to the faithful people, ‘As long as thou dost not follow our preaching, thine heart thou sinkest down in things below. ’ But whereas Eliphaz charged blessed Job to return to God, from Whom observe that same blessed man had never departed, he yet further subjoins, as promising; Ver. 27. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto Him, and He shall hear thee.
[xxi]
26. For they make their prayer to God, but never obtain to be listened to, who set at nought the precepts of the Lord, when He enjoins them. Whence it is written, He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination. [Prov. 28, 9] So long then as Eliphaz believed that blessed Job was not heard, he determined that that person had surely done wrong in his practice. And hence he adds further,
And thou shalt pay thy vows.
He that has vowed vows, but is unable from weakness to pay the same, has it dealt to him in punishment of sin, that whilst willing good, the having the power should be taken away from him. But when in the sight of the interior Judge, the sin which hinders is done away, it is immediately brought to pass, that the being able attends upon the vow. It goes on;
Ver. 28. Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee.
[xxii]
27. This is used to be the special conclusion of those going weakly, that in such proportion they esteem a man righteous as they see him obtain all that he desires; whereas in truth we know that earthly goods are sometimes withheld from the righteous, while they are bestowed with liberal bounty upon the unrighteous; seeing that to sick persons also when they are despaired of, physicians order whatever they call for to be supplied, but those whom they foresee may be brought back to health, the things which they long for they refuse to have given them. Now if Eliphaz introduced these declarations with reference to spiritual gifts, be it known that ‘a thing is decreed and is established’ to a man, when the virtue which is longed for in the desire, is, by God’s granting it, happily forwarded by the carrying of it out as well. And hence it is yet further added;
And the light shall shine upon thy way.
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[xxiii] [LITERAL AND MORAL INTERPRETATION]
28. Since for ‘light to shine in the ways’ of the righteous, is by extraordinary deeds of virtue to scatter the tokens of their brightness, that wherever they go in the bent of the mind, from the hearts of those beholding them they may dispel the night of sin, and by the example of their own practice pour into them the light of righteousness; but whatever justness of practice there may be, in the eye of the interior Judge it is nothing, if pride of heart uplifts it. Hence it is added;
Ver. 29. For he that has been abased shall be in glory, and he that has bent down his eyes, the same shall be saved.
[xxiv]
29. Which same sentence is not at variance with the mouth of ‘Truth,’ when It says, For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. [Luke 14, 11] And hence it is said by Solomon, Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility. [Prov. 18, 12] But it is properly said, For he that has bent down his eyes, the same shall be saved; in that so far as it is to be discovered through the ministering of the members, the first manifestation of pride is used to be with the eyes. Hence it is written, And wilt bring down high looks. [Ps. 18, 27] Hence it is said of the very head himself of those that behave proudly, He beholdeth all high things. [Job 41, 34] Hence it is written concerning her, who by unbelief attached herself to him, There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up. [Prov. 30, 13] So to ‘bend down the eyes, is no man on looking upon him to look down upon, but one’s self to look upon as inferior and below all one sees. He then that ‘bends down his eyes shall be saved’; because he who quits the false height of pride, scales the loftiness of truth. It goes on;
Ver. 30. The innocent shall be saved, but he shall be saved by the cleanness of his hands.
[xxv]
30. Which same sentence now if it be delivered touching the recompense of the kingdom of heaven, is supported by truth, in that whereas it is written concerning God, Who rendereth to every man according to his deeds [Rom. 2, 6], that man in the Last Inquest the justice of the Judge Eternal saveth, whom here His pitifulness sets free from impure deeds. But if a man is to this purport supposed to be here saved by the cleanness of his own hands, that by his own powers he should be made innocent, assuredly it is an error; for if Grace above do not prevent him when faulty, assuredly it will never find anyone faultless to recompense without fault. Whence it is said by the truth-telling voice of Moses; And no man of himself is innocent in Thy sight. [Exod. 34, 7] And so heavenly pity first works something in ourselves without the help of ourselves, that, our own free will following it up as well, the good which we now desire, it may do along with ourselves; yet the good coming by grace bestowed, in the Last Judgment, He so rewards in ourselves, as if it had proceeded only from ourselves. For whereas the Goodness of God prevents us to make us innocent, Paul says, But by the grace of God I am what I am. [1 Cor. 15, 10] And whereas our free will follows that grace, he adds, And His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I laboured more abundantly than they all. Who whereas he saw that he was nothing of himself, says, Yet not I, and yet forasmuch as he saw that he was something in union
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with grace, he added, but the grace of God with me. For he would not have said, with me, if together with preventing grace he had not had free will following it up. Therefore in order to shew that he was nothing without grace, he says, Yet not I, but that he might shew that along with grace he had worked by free will, he added, but the grace of God with me. Thus ‘the innocent man shall be saved by the cleanness of his hands,’ in that he who is here prevented by the gift, that he may be made innocent, when he is brought to judgment, is rewarded of merit. All which things, as was before said, Eliphaz though he delivered rightly, yet to whom he was delivering them he knew not; because one better than himself it was not his business to teach, but to hear. All which particulars however agree in a figure with the promises of heretics, who when they find any of the faithful afflicted in the present life suppose them stricken for the sin of misbelief, and promise them if they will follow their doctrine the saving health of innocency by cleanness of good works. But the mind of the faithful looks down upon them so much the deeper down, in proportion as it does not see them to possess the innocency which they promise. Whence it is well said by Solomon, Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any winged fowl. For the ‘winged fowl’ are the spirits of good men, which whilst in the hope of truth they soar up to the higher regions, shun the nets of bad men set for their deceiving. It goes on;
Chap. xxiii. 1, 2. Then Job answered and said, Now also is my complaint bitter: and the hand of my stroke is heavier than my groaning.
[xxvi] [ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
31. In his own way blessed Job sets out with the plainer sort of words, but his declaration he closes by the deep following on of mystery. For the pain of the afflicted man ought to have been healed by the consoling of his friends, but because their consoling broke out into the soothings of deceit, the pain of the stricken man was made harsher. For whereas Eliphaz was not afraid to promise him better things on being converted, it was as if by a poisonous remedy the wound were increased. Hence it is rightly said, Even to-day is my complaint bitter, and the hand of my stroke is heavier than my groaning, in this respect, viz. that the straining of unregulated consoling increased the stroke manifold, which it ought to have diminished; by which same words taken in a type of Holy Church, the pain of the faithful is likewise set forth, who groan the more, the more they see the wicked using the acts of flattery, who, according to the declaration of Paul, by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.
32. Which words may also be rightly applied to the viewing with greater exactness the mind of the faithful, who can never be without bitterness even if they seem to prosper in this world. Which persons when adversity too befalls, it redoubles that pain which it finds. Whence it is rightly said, Now also is my complaint bitter, that it might be plainly shewn that even in prosperity the mind of the Elect should not be without bitterness. And it is well said, And the hand of my stroke is heavier than my groaning. For ‘the hand of a stroke,’ is the force of the striking. For their first striking the Elect see to be, that from the vision of their Creator they are parted, that the brightness of the interior illumining they never enjoy, but groan as being banished in the exile of the present life as in a place of darkness. Thus they always have their groaning in this ‘hand of their stroke;’ but when over and above adversities also befall them in this life, ‘the hand of their stroke is heavier than their groaning. ’ For there was groaning for the stroke even when the adversities of the present life were away. But the bitterness of the original stroke is increased over and above by the trial of adversity. Therefore he says, And the hand of my stroke is heavier than my groaning? In that any
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just man adversity did not smite whilst happy in this life, but came to redouble in him the pain of the wound. Yet it happens by the extraordinary governance of Almighty God, that when in this life the spirit of the righteous man travails most in adversities, he thirsts the more ardently after the beholding of his Maker’s face. Hence it is fitly subjoined here,
Ver. 8. O that one would grant me that I might know and find Him, that I might come even to His seat!
[xxvii]
33. An elect person if he did not know God, assuredly would not love Him. But it is one thing to ‘know’ by faith, and another to know by His own Form, one thing to find by trustfulness, another to find Him by contemplation. In consequence whereof it is brought to pass that Him Whom they know by faith, all of the Elect long to see by His own Form as well. With the love of Whom they burn and glow because the honey of His sweetness they already taste of in the mere certainty of their faith. Which that person in the country of the Gerasenes cured of the devils well represents, who wishes to depart with Jesus; but by the Master of health it is, told him, Return to thine own house, and shew what great things God hath done unto thee. [Luke 8, 39] For on him that loves delay is still imposed, that by the longing of love delayed the title to rewarding may be heightened. And so to us Almighty God is made sweet in miracles, and yet in His own loftiness remains hidden from our eyes, that both by shewing something of Himself, He may by secret inspiration set us on fire in the love of Him, and yet by hiding the gloriousness of His Majesty may increase the force of that love of Him by the heat of longing desire. For except the holy man sought to see This Being in His Majesty, surely he would not bring in the words, that I might come even to His seat? For what is the ‘seat’ of God but those angelical Spirits, who as Scripture testifies are called ‘Thrones? ’ He then that desires to ‘come to the seat of God,’ what else does he long for but to be among the Angelic spirits, that no failing moments of the periods of time he henceforth be liable to, but rise up to abiding glory in the contemplation of eternity.
[LITERAL AND ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
34. Which words nevertheless are likewise appropriate to the righteous whilst placed in this life. For when they see any thing done against their wish and desire, they have recourse to the hidden judgments of God, that therein they may read that that is not irregularly ordered within, which seems to pass irregularly without. For when they behold with the eyes of faith the Creator of all things, ruling over the Angelical Spirits, then they ‘come to His seat. ’ And whereas they observe that He, Who rules the Angels in a wonderful manner, does not dispose of man in any way contrary to justice, then indeed the principles of cases they see to be as just as they are, whilst the cases themselves externally seem to be unjust. And whereas they do this with humility, they often lay blame to themselves in their will, and their own wishes they sometimes judge in themselves, whilst they ponder that those things are better which the Creator appoints. Hence it is well added in addition,
Ver. 4. I will order my cause before Him, and fill my mouth with reproaches. [xxviii]
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35. To ‘order our cause before God’ is within the secret depth of our mind by the contemplating of faith to open the eyes of our view to the awful inquisition of His Majesty, to mark what man as a sinner deserves, of the now hidden and secret Judge to take thought how terrible He will hereafter appear. In consequence of which it happens, that the soul is recalled to the knowledge of itself with greater exactness, and in proportion as it sees its secret Judge the greater object of alarm, is so much the more horribly wrung with fears for its actions. It trembles with anxious alarm; its offences it prosecutes with lamentation; in repenting it charges home what it remembers itself to have been; whence now too after it had been said, I will order my cause before Him, it is rightly subjoined, And fill my mouth with reproaches. For he who ‘orders his cause before God,’ does ‘fill his mouth with reproaches,’ in that while he beholds the exact scrutiny of the awful Judge directed against himself, he pursues himself with the charges of bitter repentance. Now it often happens that whilst we neglect to take account of our faults, what blaming of them may follow in the Judgment we are left ignorant of: but whilst we pursue them by exercising repentance what the Judge in His Inquisition may say to us concerning them, we find out. Whence it is further added with propriety, Ver. 5. That I may know the words that he will answer me, and understand what he will say unto me.
[xxix]
36. For we then bewail our sins, when we begin to weigh them; but we then weigh them the more exactly, when more anxiously we bewail them, and by our lamentations it rises up [one Ms. ‘is known’] more perfectly in our hearts, what the severity of God threatens those with that commit sin, what will be those rebukings upon the children of perdition, what the terror, what the abhorrence of the unappeasable Majesty. For so great things shall the Lord then being angry ‘say’ to the lost, as great as He permits them of justice to undergo. Which same words of His visitation, the righteous, because now they anxiously fear them, escape free from. But who in that inquisition might be found righteous, if God according to the Majesty of His Might, so sifted the life of man? Therefore it is fitly subjoined,
Ver. 6. I would not that He should contend with me with great power, nor oppress me with the weight of His mightiness.
[xxx]
37. For the soul of one however righteous, if he be judged with strictness by Almighty God, is borne down by the weight of His mightiness. In which same words this is likewise to be understood, that whereas the holy man shews the might of God, what else of Him does he desire, but His weakness? And it is written, the weakness of God is stronger than men. [1 Cor. 1, 25] Whence too he directly adds,
Ver. 7. Let Him put forth equity against me, and my judgment shall come unto victory. [PROPHETICAL INTERPRETATION]
For who else saving the Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus, is denoted by the title of ‘equity? ’ Concerning Whom it is written, Who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness. [I Cor. 1, 30] And whereas this same righteousness came into this world against the ways of sinners, we get the better of our old enemy, by whom we were held captive. So let him
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say, I would not that He should contend with me with great power, nor oppress me with the weight of His mightiness. Let Him put forth equity against me, and my judgment shall come unto victory. i. e. ‘for the rebuking of my ways, let Him send His Incarnate Son, and then the plotting foe, by the sentence of mine absolving, I as victor will turn out. ’ For if the Only-begotten Son of God had so remained invisible in the strength of the Divine Nature, as not to have admitted aught derived from our weakness, when could weak men ever have found the access of grace to Him? For the weight of His greatness, being considered, would rather have oppressed than aided him; but the Strong above all things came weak among all things, that whereas He agreed with us by assumed weakness, He might elevate us to His own abiding strength. For in Its loftiness the Divine Nature could never have been apprehended by us, inasmuch as being too little, but He bowed Himself down to man through human nature, and we as it were mounted up on Him laid low; He rose, and we were lifted up. Whence this too is added directly, whereby the Divine Being may be shewed invisible and incomprehensible. Thus it goes on;
Ver. 8, 9. If I go to the East, He appeareth not; if I go to the West, I shall not understand Him; if I go to the left hand, what shall I do? I shall not comprehend Him; if I turn myself to the right hand I shall not see Him.
[xxxi]
38. For the Creator of all things is not in a part, inasmuch as He is every where. And then He is found the less, when He, That is whole every where, is sought in a part. For the Incomprehensible Spirit containeth all things within Itself, Which at the same time both while filling encompasseth, and while encompassing filleth, both in supporting overtops, and in overtopping supports; and it is well that after it had been said, if I go to the East, He appeareth not; if I go to the West, I shall not understand Him; if I go to the left hand, what shall I do? I shall not comprehend Him; if I turn myself to the right hand I shall not see Him; he thereupon added, But He knoweth the way that I take. As if he said in plain words, ‘I am unable to see Him, Who seeth me, and Him that beholdeth me most minutely, I have no power to behold:’ that is to say, that he might shew that He is so much the more heedfully to be feared, in proportion as He is not discernible. For He Who so beholds us that He may not be by us beheld, is so much the more to be dreaded in proportion as in seeing all things He is not seen in the least degree. For when we believe that there is anyone hidden in ambush to assault us, we dread him the more that we do not at all see him; and when we do not at all discover his ambush where it is placed, we apprehend it even there where it does not exist. And our Creator, Who is whole every where, and while discerning all things is not discerned, is the more to be dreaded in proportion as continuing invisible, what He may determine concerning our actions and at what time is not known. Which words, too, may be understood in another sense also. For we ‘go to the East,’ when we lift up our mind in thinking of His Majesty. But ‘He appeareth not,’ seeing that such as He is in His own Nature, by mortal thought He cannot be seen to be. If I go to the West, I shalt not understand Him; we ‘go to the west,’ when the eye of the heart that is lifted up in God, but made to recoil by the mere immensity of the light, we bring back to our own selves, and being spent with labour, we learn that the thing is very much above us which we were seeking; and viewing our own mortal condition find out that as yet we are creatures unfit to have the power to behold One that is Immortal. If I go to the left hand what shall I do? I shalt not comprehend Him. To ‘go to the left hand’ is to yield one’s self to the enjoyments of our sins. And it is surely plain, that he cannot ‘apprehend God,’ who still in the gratification of sin lies prostrate along the left side. If I turn myself to the right side I shall not see Him. He truly is ‘turned to the
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right hand,’ who is lifted up on the ground of virtuous attainments. But he cannot see God, who is glad with selfish joy for his good deeds; because in that man the swelling of pride weighs down the eye of the heart. Whence it is well said elsewhere, Thou shalt not decline to the right hand nor to the left. [Deut. 17, 11] In all which particulars the soul very often searches out itself, nor yet is able perfectly to find out itself. Whence it is fitly added here,
But He Himself knoweth the way that I take.
[xxxii] [LITERAL INTERPRETATION]
39. As if he said in plain terms, ‘I for mine own part both search myself strictly, and am not able to know myself thoroughly; yet He, Whom I have not power to see, seeth most minutely all the things that I do. ’ It goes on; And He shall try me like gold which passeth through the fire.
Gold in the furnace is advanced to the brightness of its nature, whilst it loses the dross. And so like ‘gold that passeth through the fire’ the souls of the righteous are tried, which by the burning of tribulation through and through, both have their defects removed, and their good points increased. Nor was it of pride that the holy man likened himself as set in tribulation to gold, in that he who, by the voice of God, was pronounced righteous before the stroke, was not for this reason permitted to be tried that bad qualities might be cleared off, but that excellences might be heightened; but gold is purified by fire; less then than he was did he think of his own self, in that, being delivered over to suffer tribulation, he believed that he was being purified, whereas he had not any thing in him to be purified.
40. Now it is necessary for us to know, that though the mind of the righteous entertains humble thoughts touching itself, yet the several things that they do, they see to be as right as they are, while they never presume on the rightness of them. Whence it is yet further added; My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept and not declined. Neither have gone back from the commandment of his lips, and I have hid the words of his mouth in my bosom. But in the midst of all this let us see whether he thinks himself to be any thing. It follows; But He is Himself alone. By the subjoining of which sentence, he shews that amidst all the good things which he had done he believed himself to be nothing. But taking up these same words from the beginning, let us run over them as well as we are able.
Ver. 11. My foot hath held His steps. [xxxiii]
41. For as a kind of footsteps of God are His doings which we see, by which doings both the good and bad man is governed, by which the righteous and unrighteous are arranged in their classes, whereto both everyone that is subject is led on day by day to better things, and he that is in rebellion against them is borne with going headlong into worse. Concerning which same footsteps the Prophet said, Thy goings have been seen, O God. [Ps. 68, 24] And so we, when we behold the efficacy of His long-suffering and pitifulness, and upon so beholding strive to imitate the same, what else do we but follow the ‘footsteps of His goings,’ in that we imitate some outskirts of His method of proceeding. Thus these footsteps of His Father ‘Truth’ gave it in charge to imitate when He said, Pray for them which persecute you and falsely accuse you; that ye may be the children of your Father Which is in heaven. For He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good. [Matt.
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5, 44. 45. ] It may be too that blessed Job who had already said with assured faith, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that I shall arise at the latter day from the earth [Job 19, 25]; so dwelt on the future working of Wisdom Incarnate to be, in like manner as we behold by faith the works of that Wisdom now past, how that the Mediator between God and man should be kind to give, humble to bear, patient to afford an example. Whose life while blessed Job, filled with the Spirit from above, regarded with heedful intentness, foreseeing the future lowliness of His mild character, he refers as it were to a pattern set before him, so that whatever he did in this life he might bind fast to His footsteps in imitating, that so he who was incapable of seeing the high things of His secret ordering, as it were looking on the ground, might keep His footsteps for imitation. Of which same ‘footsteps’ of Him it is said by Peter, Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His footsteps. [1 Pet. 2, 21] Concerning whom it is yet further added;
Ver. 11. His way have I kept, and not declined.
[xxxiv]
42. For he ‘keeps the way and does not decline,’ who practises the thing whereon his mind is bent. Since to ‘keep’ in the bent is ‘not to decline’ in the practice. For this is the anxiety of the righteous, that day by day they should try their actions by the ways of truth, and proposing these as a rule to themselves, they should not decline from the track of their right course. Thus day by day they strive to get above themselves, and in proportion as they are lifted up upon the summit of virtues, they judge with heedful censure, whatever there is of themselves left remaining below themselves.
