No More Learning

Who is the ‘flock’ of Holy Church saving the multitude of the faithful? Or who else are called ‘the dogs’ of this flock, but the holy Teachers, who became the guardians of those believers? Which same whilst in behalf of their Lord they cried aloud, given up to daily and nightly watchings, uttered, so to say, loud barks of preaching. Concerning whom it is said to that Church by the Psalmist, The tongue of Thy dogs from the enemies by the same. [Ps. 68, 23] Since there are some that being recalled from the worshipping of idols are made the preachers of God. So ‘the tongue of the dogs’ of the Church goeth forth from enemies, because the Gentiles that are converted the Lord
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makes even preachers. Whence the slowness of the Jews, who refused to speak in God’s behalf by the Prophet upbraiding them is made matter of blame, where he says, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark. [Is. 56, 10]
16. Now we speak of the fathers of Heretics meaning those whom we style ‘Heresiarchs,’ by whose evil preaching, i. e. by the seed of speaking, the peoples following them were begotten in error. So then Holy Church ‘disdains to set the fathers’ of heretics ‘with the dogs of her flock,’ because the founders of erring tenets on trying she rejects, and contemns to number them among the true Fathers. Which persons though they seemed to have recalled some from the erroneousness of heathenism, to have trained the practices of some to the doing what is right, yet for this that they did not think right things of God, she does not ‘set them with the dogs of the flock,’ because she does not rank them with right preachers. For it is plain that Arius; Photinus, Macedonius, Nestorius, Eutyches, Dioscorus, Severus, and numbers like to these, endeavoured by teaching and persuading to appear fathers. But their errors the Holy Church Universal trying with strict severity, does not ‘number those persons among the keepers of’ her flock,’ whom she condemns as breaking up the unity of that flock. Of which same it is said to the Ephesians by the voice of Paul, For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. [Acts 20, 29] And because it sometimes happens that heretics in proportion as they fall away more into the erroneousness of misbelief, guard themselves the more fully in outward practising, so that they may appear to do great things above the rest of the world, the Holy Church Universal sets at nought all their works, which she observes do not come forth by the authority of faith. Whence also it is rightly added by the voice of blessed Job,
Ver. 2. The power of whose hands was nothing to me, and of life itself they were accounted unworthy.
[vii]
17. ‘Power in the hand’ is greatness in practising. But ‘the power of the hands’ of Heretics is reckoned ‘as nothing to’ Holy Church, because she sees that, the true faith being lost, whatsoever they do it is of no merit. For the charity of God and our neighbour they forsake, who both imagine what is false concerning God, and by wrangling are separated from their neighbours. But ‘the strength of the hands’ without charity the great preacher bears witness is of no avail, in that he says, And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. [1 Cor. 13, 3] But sometimes Heretics perform signs and miracles as well, but in order that they may here receive back the rewards of their chastening and abstinence, i. e. the praises, which they go after. And hence it is said by the voice of the Redeemer, Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy Name, and in Thy Name have cast out devils, and in Thy Name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from Me, ye that work iniquity. [Matt. 7, 22] By which same sentence what is there given to be understood, but that in man it is the humbleness of charity and not the signs of miraculous virtues that ought to be revered? Whence Holy Church now, even if there be any miracles of heretics performed, sets it at nought, because she sees that these are no proof of holiness. Since the way to prove holiness is not to perform miracles, but to love every man as one’s self; and concerning God to think what is true, and of his fellow-creature to think better things than of himself. For that true power lies in love, and not in the manifesting of a miracle, ‘Truth’ shews, Who says, By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to
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another. [John 13, 35] For He Who says not, ‘in this shall it be known that ye are My disciples, if ye shall perform miraculous signs,’ but Who saith, ‘if ye have love one to another,’ plainly proves that it is not miracles but charity alone that proves the true servants of God. So the witness to the heavenly discipleship is the gift of brotherly charity. Which same love, because all heretics refuse to have, whilst they are divided from the Unity of the Church Universal, it is justly said concerning them; the strength of whose hands was nothing to me. And because to these same signs, that they set forth, they do not accord themselves by any humility, it is rightly added, And of life itself they were accounted unworthy. Or indeed, all heretics Holy Church declares unworthy of life itself, for this reason, because under the Name of Christ, they fight against the Name of Christ. Of whom it is yet further added;
Barren by want and hunger.
[viii]
18. All heretics, whilst in sacred Revelation they make it their aim to dive into secrets of God beyond what they are capable of, by their hunger become barren. For they do not seek those things, whereby they may train themselves to humility, may order their ways in tranquillity, keep patience, shew forth long suffering, but those alone which may prove them learned and talkers; they aim to know those things, by which they may seem to be in a special manner instructed. For they very often treat with boldness of the nature of the Divine Being, whilst, wretched as they are, they know not their own selves. And so they become ‘barren by want and hunger,’ because they desire to dive into those things, by which they should not bring forth the buddings of a good life. For the things which they dive into are beyond themselves. And whilst they make for that which they are unable to comprehend, they neglect to acquaint themselves with those things, by which they might have been instructed. Which same boldness of theirs the great Preacher rightly checks, saying, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly. [Rom. 12, 3] Hence Solomon says, Set bounds to thine own wisdom. [Prov. 23, 4] Hence again he says, Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it. [Prov. 25, 16] For the sweetness of spiritual meaning he who seeks to eat beyond what he contains, even what he had eaten he ‘vomiteth’; because whilst he seeks to make out things above, beyond his powers, even the things that he had made out aright, he forfeits. Hence he says again; As for one to eat much honey is not good, so he that would search out Majesty shall be crushed with, glory. [v. 27] For the glory of the Invisible Creator, which when searched into with moderation lifts us up, being dived into beyond our powers bears us down. Therefore heretics, because in proportion as they aim to be more completely filled by sublime perception, so much the more entirely they become empty, have it rightly said concerning them, barren by want and hunger. Since by unbounded attempts the more they go after the knowledge of heavenly acquaintanceship, the more they lose it.
19. But, on the other hand, they that in Holy Church are truly humble, and truly instructed, are taught touching heavenly mysteries, both some things when viewed to understand, and some things not understood to reverence, that so what they understand they may hold with reverence, and what they do not as yet understand they may look forward to with humility. Whence it is said to us by Moses, that in eating the lamb, that which remaineth of it we should burn, with fire; [Ex. 12, 10] for we ‘eat the lamb,’ when in understanding many particulars of the Lord’s human Nature, we deposit them in the belly of the mind. Wherefrom there are some things left to us, which cannot be eaten; because many particulars still remain concerning Him, which can by no means be understood.
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Which same nevertheless are to be ‘consumed with fire,’ because the things which we are unable to understand concerning Him, we reserve with humility for the Holy Spirit. Which same humility very often reveals even those things to the perceptions of the Elect, which appeared to be things impossible to be understood. For the froward minds of heretics, whilst they proudly attribute understanding to themselves, as it were presume to deliver fixed decisions even touching what is unknown. Whence it comes to pass, that the self-elation itself which lifts them up in themselves within, should without drive them off from the truth, and that in the declarations of God they should hardly even comprehend the outward things, who thought that they had in an especial manner gone to the bottom of spiritual secrets. Whence it is also added here;
Ver. 3, 4. Who gnawed in solitude, being scurvy with calamity and misery, and chewed herbs and the barks of trees.
[ix]
20. That is wont to be ‘gnawed,’ which cannot be eaten. Now heretics because they apply themselves to make out Scripture by their own power, assuredly never can comprehend it, which same whilst they do not make out, they, as it were, do not eat. And because, not being aided by grace from on high, they are unable to eat it, they as it were ‘gnaw’ it with certain efforts. Since they handle it outwardly, when indeed they endeavour but do not attain to the interior parts of it. Which same because they are separated from the society of the Church Universal, are mentioned as gnawing not any where, but ‘in solitude. ’ To which same ‘solitude’ that the false teachers draw their followers, Truth long before forewarned, saying, If they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert, go not forth. [Matt. 24, 26] And these are rightly recorded as ‘scurvy with affliction and misery,’ because they are despicable at once by the destructiveness of their practices, and the badness of their perceptions. Who do also ‘eat herbs and the barks of trees,’ because being kept off by the bar of self-exaltation, they are unable to perceive in sacred Revelation what is great and interior, but with difficulty discover therein a few things that are tender and exterior. Since by ‘herbs’ the plainer statements, and by ‘the barks of trees’ the exterior declarations of the Fathers are betokened. Those then who seek to know those things, by which they may not at all be learned, but seem to be, whilst in the sacred volumes they do not from the heart’s core search out the force of charity towards God and our neighbour, are as it were ‘fed by the herb and the bark,’ because they are either the lowest or the outer things which nourish the souls of those who carry themselves proudly. Or surely to ‘eat herbs’ is touching Holy Scripture to observe the least precepts, and to disregard the greater ones. Whom Truth rightly rebukes, saying, Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the Law. [Matt. 23, 23] Who do also ‘eat the barks of trees,’ because there are some who in the sacred volumes respect the outside of the letter only, nor keep in safety any thing belonging to the spiritual meaning, whereas they imagine that there is nothing more in the words of God, but that which they may hear on the outside. Which persons nevertheless the passion of vain glory possesses in all their errors, and the thirst after honour holds them captives, and generally by the very things that they speak they seek after nothing else but earthly profits. Concerning whom it is said by Paul, For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly. [Rom. 16, 18] Whence too it is rightly subjoined;
And juniper roots for their meat.
[x]
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21. For the juniper tree has prickles instead of leaves, for so bristly is that which they put forth, that like to thorns it is able to prick the person handling it. Now a thorn is all sorts of sin; because whilst it draws into self-gratification, as it were by pricking it wounds the soul. Whence it is spoken by the voice of one righteous and penitent, I was turned in my calamity, while the thorn is broken, [Ps. 32, 4] surely because the mind is turned to lamenting, that the prick of sin may be broken by repenting. But in another translation, the thorn is described not as ‘broken’ [‘confringi’],’ but ‘fixed,’ [‘configi’] which same is not at variance with the same sense, because the mind of the penitent is brought to sorrow when the sin that has been committed is retained fixed fast in the recollection. What then is there denoted by the ‘root of the juniper’ saving avarice, from which the thorns of all the sins are produced? Concerning which it is said by Paul, For the love of money is the root of all evil. [1 Tim. 6, 10] For that springs up covertly in the mind, and brings forth openly the prickles of all sin in the practice. Which same prickles arising from this root the great preacher immediately implies, when he subjoins, Which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. For he who spoke of ‘many sorrows’ made known as it were the prickles arising from this root. So by ‘junipers’ we understand sins, but by ‘the root of junipers’ what else do we understand, but avarice, i. e. the material of sins? So then because heretics in their words generally go after external gains alone, yet are not ignorant that they make up what is wrong, but do not abandon the preachings of error, whilst they wish to receive their emoluments as teachers, it is well said of them now by the voice of the holy man, and juniper roots for their meat, because whilst they think of avarice with all the faculties of their minds, they are as it were fed by that nourishment, wherefrom assuredly the prickles of sins ensuing are used to be produced. Which persons if ever in sacred Revelation they seemingly discover things with sagacity, which while they do not understand, they fancy make for their statements, they directly scatter these vociferating them to their wretched hearers, whom they covet not the souls of but the substance. Whence it is fitly brought in next,
Ver. 5. Who carrying these same off from the valleys, when they found each of then, ran to them with clamour.
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22. They ‘carry them off from the valleys,’ because with a high spirit they gather them from the lowly sayings of the Fathers. Which same whilst they exult to have found making for their cause, they run to them with outcries, because every thing that they have a perception of, by the appetite of praise they strive to cry abroad to the ears of men. It goes on;
Ver. 6. They shall dwell in the desert places of the torrents, and in the caves of the earth, or upon the ground.
[xii]
23. We give the name of ‘torrents’ to the brooks, that are gathered by the winter rains, which likewise at certain seasons are dried up. Thus with justice the framers of wrong doctrines are called ‘torrents’; because being cold to the warmth of charity, they grow to a height in the deadness of the winter season; because they do not flow out with perpetual fulness, but by the pleadings of Catholics, as by summer suns, are dried up. And indeed the fabricators of wrong doctrines springing up against Holy Church, are already made an end of by the heat of truth, yet
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notwithstanding the things which they taught their disciples do not cease to maintain and to defend. Thus then they that follow the errors of those persons ‘dwell in the desert places of torrents,’ i. e. put their trust in the preaching of those, whose effusions are already by the answering and reasoning of Catholics dried up. Now what else do we take ‘the caves of the earth’ for, but the hidden preachings of heretics? For heretics meet together in secret conclaves in such sort, that the reverence, which they cannot invest their erring belief with by reason, they may by concealment, and that to weak souls the speech of pervertedness may appear more to be treated with awe in proportion as it is secret. Hence in Solomon the woman as a type of heresy persuades, saying, Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. [Prov. 9, 17] Which self-same secret preachings ‘Truth’ abhors, saying, Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not. And again; Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert, go not forth; Behold, he is in the secret chambers, believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the East, and shineth even unto the West: so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. [Matt. 24, 23. 26. 27. ] So then that is ‘in the secret chambers’ there, which here is phrased in ‘caves. ’ Thus heretics ‘dwell in caves,’ because they generally conceal their error by preachings in secret; that in the degree that they forbear to shew themselves to the more learned and wiser sort, they may the more irresistibly draw to them the uninstructed. Whence also the words are rightly brought in next; Or upon the gravel. For we call by the name of ‘gravel’ those very little stones which the water of the river draws along. Accordingly, the teachers of perverted doctrines ‘dwell upon the gravel,’ because they draw after them those minds of men which are not established with any stedfastness of gravity, which the streams of errors are as it were ever carrying from place to place. And hence the great preacher, whereas he desired that his hearers should not be led by the chances of time, but that they might be established by firm gravity, charged them, saying, That we henceforth be no more like children, tossed to and fro, and carried about by every wind of doctrine. [Eph. 4, 14] Thus Holy Church, being borne down by her adversaries for a space, when she sees the bold minds of those in error insulting over her, recalls to remembrance what the behaviour of those was, saying, They shall dwell in the desert places of torrents, and in the caves of the earth, or upon the gravel. For because their wrong preaching, the fire of charity being gone, gained power by coldness of feeling, surely it ‘dwelt in the desert places of torrents. ’ And because it was not open and at large, it ‘lay hid’ in caves. And because it held the people not fixed but lightly moved, it remained not upon the rock but ‘upon the gravel. ’ Concerning which it is yet further added;
Ver. 7. Who rejoiced in the midst of the like, and reckoned there were delights under brambles. [xiii]
24. What do we understand by the name of ‘brambles,’ but those ‘piercings’ [§. 21] of sins, which we have already described above. Now because froward minds delight in wickednesses, which they should have bewailed, all heretics uplift themselves with vain joy in proportion as they gain power for worse acts; and they ‘reckon there are delights under the brambles,’ because they lift up the froward mind to joy, from the same cause that they bear the thorns of sins. For if ever they have been able to draw any one to their error, they plume themselves in glee; and by the same act, whereby they are daily heaping to themselves sins, even by ruining others, they exult that they are as it were leaders to righteousness. And so it is well said; Who rejoiced amongst the like, and reckoned that there are delights under brambles. For they drag all that they are able to their own destruction; and to be under sins, or to add offences to offences, they imagine their heaping up a superabundance of virtuous acquirements.
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Ver. 8. They were children of fools, yea, children of base men; and in the earth not appearing at
all.
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25. That is to say, the children of those, who were the masters of errors. So they are called ‘children,’ not as engendered by the seed, but by the imitating of those, who by teaching what is wrong were ‘fools’ in respect of ignorance, and by living wicked lives ‘base men’ in respect of conduct. Who are not allied to our Redeemer by any relationship of wisdom, or by any of life. Concerning which it is said by the voice of Solomon in commendation of Holy Church, Her husband is noble in the gates. [Prov. 31, 23] So these, because they followed the froward examples of those going’ astray, were recorded as being ‘the children of fools and of base men. ’ Now it is rightly subjoined, and on the earth not appearing at all. Because whilst they aim to appear something here, surely from the land of the living they are made outcasts.
26. But this which we have delivered in a type of heretics, nothing is at all in the way, if we understand it as well of persons froward and carnal, though set in the right faith. For neither does Holy Church account those only adversaries to her, who, as placed without, dissent from her faith, but those also who by living amiss inwardly stifle her life. So then let her, afflicted with the wofulness of adversity coming down upon her, survey how in the season of her prosperity, by the wickedness of evil-doers living within her even she was burthened. Let her consider that in due of the deserts of some, the life of all was not unjustly disturbed in her, and let her say, Who gnawed in solitude, scurvy with affliction and misery. As I before said in the first part of this work, the solitude of the interior is sometimes used to be understood in respect of the excellency of contemplation. But in this place, where ‘solitude’ is mentioned in the way of reproach, what else is there demonstrated but a barrenness of goodness? And hence, under the type of Judaea, Jeremiah mourns over the soul of the sinner, saying, How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people! [Lam. 1, 1] But when it is said by blessed Job respecting the evil-doers, they gnawed in solitude, it is well to look at that also which is delivered by the Psalmist, His enemies shall lick the dust. [Ps. 72, 9]
27. For there are two sorts of men that lend themselves to their own ambition, i. e. one which always employs the flatteries of the tongue to serve to avarice, another which is bent on robbery by open force. For we ‘gnaw’ when we wear away any thing outwardly with strong effort. For there is ‘licking’ when that which cannot be eaten with ease is tasted by the lightness of the tongue being pressed upon it. All persons then who even under a guise of faith live wickedly, who long after what belongs to another, but are not any way able to seize upon the object that they long after, but try by flattering speeches, and as it were by the softening of sweetness, to carry off the things coveted, what else do they save ‘lick the ground? ’ because the several things of earth, which they cannot by power, they strive to make away with by the softness of the tongue. But they who are sustained in this world by any degree of power, and whilst coveting the things of others, scorn indeed to cozen by deceit, because they are able even by unjust strength to fulfil what they have a mind for, the thing that they long for these persons do not ‘lick’ but ‘gnaw’; because they demolish the life of their fellow-creatures by the forcibleness of power as by the effect of teeth. So then let Holy Church regard the true riches of the Eternal Country, let her behold the throng of the citizens Above, let her discern in her Elect Children the culture of the mind, and the excellencies of
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countless virtues, and from these let her recall the eye of the mind to the life of the wicked, which is made void of all goodness, and by comparison with them let her see how and in what way that life is destitute of all virtuous attainments, because it has abandoned the things on high, and coveted those beneath. Let her see how very often that thing which he longs for, if perchance he has power, he even seizes by violence. Let her see that she has long been subject to such persons as set within her pale, and that by their offences she has come even to the very jeopardy and hurts of the good too, and let her say, Who gnawed in solitude. As though she complained openly, saying, ‘The things of others they would not gnaw, even by seizing them by violence, except they themselves first remained in their own interior solitary, and bare of the culture of virtues. ’ But she rightly explains the kind and sort of those, saying, Scurvy with affliction and misery. For unhealthy flesh, if it be overlooked to be heedfully taken care of, is by foulness growing over it worse pressed with disease, and whilst to the misfortune of sickness the wretchedness of neglect is superadded, heavier inconvenience is undergone by scurf arising.
28.
Therefore Human Nature having been created aright, but having sunk into disease by the demerit of its own will, it fell into utter overthrow, because being pressed by countless necessities, it found nought in this life save that whereby it should be beaten down; but whereas those same necessities of our nature we generally minister to beyond what is advisable, and overlook the care of the soul, by the wretchedness of neglect we add to our infirmity the foulness of sin. For the necessities of nature are such as to have this in them fraught with the greatest danger, that often there is no discerning therein, what there is done relating to them in the aim at usefulness, and what in the evil of self-gratification. For very frequently occasion of beguilement being met with, whilst we render the things due to necessity we are doing service to the evil of self-gratification, if our self-excusing cloaks itself with the veil of infirmity before the eyes of discernment, and as it were hides itself under the countenance of discharging the useful. But to let loose the frailty of our nature by neglect is nothing else than to add misery to affliction, and by that misery to redouble the foulness of the vices. Whence holy men, in every thing they do, discriminate with the most earnest aim, that the frailty of their nature exact not from them more than is owed, and that under the cloak of necessity there grow not up in them the evil of gratification. For they undergo one thing from infirmity, and another thing from the prompting of temptation, and being appointed as a kind of most equitable umpires between necessity and pleasure, they lift up the one by comforting, and bridle the other by keeping down. Whence it comes to pass, that even if they are exposed to the affliction of their infirmity, yet they never descend from neglect to the foulness of misery. For this mere thing, to be in affliction, is to be subject to the necessities of nature from the frailty of flesh still liable to corruption. Which same necessities he longed to get quit of, who said, Deliver me from my necessities. [Ps. 25, 17] For he knew that, for the most part, the sins of the pleasures break forth by occasion of necessities, and that he might not of his own will commit aught unlawful, he was busy to have that itself plucked up which he was subject to unwillingly in the roots. [An example of this case is found in St. Augustine’s Confessions, B. x. § 43—47. ]
29. But on the other hand, the evil-minded take delight in those necessities of their corrupt state, because they force them back to serve the occasion of gratifications. For while they minister to nature by recruiting their bodies with food, through the gratification of the palate they are swelled out in the glutting of delight. When they seek clothing for covering the limbs, they look out not only for things that may cover, but also may uplift, and against the numbness of cold not only what may defend by thickness, but likewise delight by softness; not only what may soothe the touch by
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softness, but also beguile the eyes by the colour. So then, to turn occasion of necessity to the use of pleasure, what other thing is it but to join the foulness of misery to his affliction? Thus let the Church, being borne down in the season of adversity, call to mind those by whose deserts she undergoes these things, and let her say, Who gnawed in solitude, scurvy with affliction and misery. They indeed would not be made foul by affliction, if they did not superadd to inherent necessities the misery of gratifications. Which same necessities we have earned by the offence of the first parent. But they who add misery to their affliction, from the torture of punishment, break forth into augmentations of guilt. But would that such persons, whilst they scorn to be changed for the better, did things wrong in such a way as not to proffer them to others as well. Would that their own death only were enough for them, and that by their baneful persuasions they did not kill another’s life likewise. For they grudge others being what they are not, they grieve for others to obtain the thing that they lose; for if by chance they perceive any good points springing up in the acts of others, they directly pluck them up with the hand of mischievous reviling. Whence too it follows, And they did eat herbs and the barks of trees.
30. For what is denoted by ‘herbs,’ but the life of those beginning well tender and close to the ground? and what by the barks of trees, but the outward deeds of those who henceforth seek after things aloft? For bad men, when they see persons beginning what is right, either by deriding or as if counselling them, offer opposition. But when they now think with themselves that certain persons are making way to the highest things, because they cannot wholly and entirely scatter to the winds their advancements, they divert those persons from some of their deeds. Thus then to ‘eat herbs and the barks of trees,’ is by pestilent persuasions as by a kind of teeth of their evil-mindedness to scatter to nought, whether the aims of those beginning aright, or the doings of persons now henceforth after the manner of trees making towards that which is above. The children of perdition ‘eat herbs,’ when by scoffing they consume the beginnings of the frail sort. Likewise they ‘eat the barks of trees,’ when with the hand of evil counsel they withdraw from the life of those growing rightly the covering of good deeds. Now these latter they strip like trees in particular actions, but those because like herbs they drag whilst despising them, they as it were eat what they tread under them. The strength of some now rising on high they in part make away with, but the tenderness of some even still placed below they utterly break in pieces. So then let him say, they eat herbs and the barks of trees, because by wicked mockings in some they broke up piecemeal external deeds, and in some hearts in hope growing lively.
31. Or surely to ‘eat herbs’ is to copy some things light and tender belonging to the ancient Fathers. Whilst to ‘eat the barks of trees’ is to practise their deeds so far as the outside, but in these same works not to maintain a right intention. For there are some persons who, whereas they cannot obtain the glory of the present world by that world’s courses of conduct, seek after a semblance of sanctity, assume the garb of reverence, long to appear imitators of the old Fathers, and some few things indeed, little and light, they do employ themselves upon, but their strong things, and such as come forth from the root of charity alone, they are indifferent to imitate. These truly ‘eat herbs,’ because they overlook what is great, and are filled with what is worthless. Yet very often they put in execution even some deeds seemingly more vigorous, but they do not hold a right intention in those same deeds. To which persons surely to ‘eat the barks of trees’ is to take to them the outward acts of the Elect, and not to have a good intention in good acts. For whilst for the sake of human applause they search out right deeds, but are indifferent to imitate the heart of those doing rightly, they are filled ‘by the barks of trees’ alone. For with all the desire they seek after the glory or
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abundance of the present life. Whence too it is rightly subjoined, And the root of junipers was their
meat.
32. For being set within by faith, whilst they for the most part lend themselves to thoughts of avarice, they as it were ‘eat’ that, whereby in the final close of life the roughnesses of punishments are put forth. Which persons, while they do not long after the fruitage of divine revelation, but make themselves subservient for the going after things temporal, are never filled with the bread of wheat, but with the ‘root of the juniper. ’ For the mere things springing up from what is beneath and lowest engross them, that they may prick them afterwards after the manner of the juniper by the hardness of recompensing, as by the sharpness of leaves. For whilst they despise God here, they are never made sensible what great evil it is that they do. For still they are ‘eating the root of the juniper,’ but how sharp the branches of this root are they do not give heed; because verily bad conduct now as it were in the root gives delight in sin, but afterwards as it were in the branches it pricks in punishment. Where also it is well subjoined; Who, carrying these same off from the valleys, when they found each one, did run thereto with clamour.
33. In comparison surely with things above, all the present life is a ‘valley. ’ But these, because they know not to contemplate the heights of mountains, i. e. the strong deeds of the Saints, are always busied in the lowest gratification as in ‘the valleys,’ and when they find any gain, even of a slight acquisition, they run with clamouring, because they strive even by wrangling to make off with this, for ‘upon each being found in the valley to run with clamour,’ is on the occasions of cases arising to wrangle even for small payment. Now it very often happens that him, whom good conduct exhibits as holy, occasion of earthly advantage springing up puts to the proof. For you may see persons already employed on what is lofty, already in the practice of abstinence, already in the work of instruction, following after the patterns of the fathers that went before; but when they suddenly find the gain of the present life, as the fruit of the valley, they ‘run thereto with clamour’; because the quiet of overlaid sanctity being broken through they spring forth to that.
34. It may be too that by ‘herbs and the barks of trees’ not only the deeds of the good are meant, as has been said before, but consolations and blessings in this life. For oftentimes Almighty God, when He enriches His Elect with interior gifts, uplifts them with external honours as well. And while He renders them objects of honour by advancing them above others, He exhibits them the wider as objects of imitation; and sometimes the evil-minded despise indeed the life of those, but long to attain their good success in this world. And so because they seek here below the flatteries of transitory comfort, they ‘eat herbs’; because in their thoughts they dwell on the external glory of these persons, they ‘chew the barks of trees’; and because in all these they minister to avarice alone with the entire bent of their mind, they are filled with the ‘root of the juniper. ’ All which things they ‘carry off from the valleys,’ because from love of this low corruptible life they are made to burn with boundless lusts. And ‘when they find each one, they run thereto with clamours,’ because surely of the holy Fathers, whose merits they never seek to acquire, they are busy to lay hold of the posts and governments, and when they very frequently cannot attain these by quiet means, they even try it by bursting asunder the peacefulness of concord.
35. And for this that these are widely separated from the conduct of the Fathers going before, it is rightly subjoined; They dwelled in the desert places of torrents, and in the caves of the earth, or upon the gravel. For on the side of good we rightly take the ‘torrents’ for the holy preachers, who
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whilst in the present life they flow into us by divine effusions, are as it were collected by a concourse of waters in the winter season. Who also withdraw themselves on the summer sun appearing, because when the light of the Eternal Country shines forth, they will cease to preach. ‘The desert places of these torrents’ are the benefits of the life of time. For these they abandon, and betake themselves to the obtaining of heavenly gains. But all these that ‘torrent’ had forsaken who said; For whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung. [Phil. 3, 8] But because the minds of the wicked seek to obtain those things in this life, which the righteous abandon despising them, they are related to ‘dwell in the desert places of the torrents. ’ For those things which are unworthy of the Saints, those same long to win as great. But the ‘caves of the earth’ are wicked thoughts, in which they bury themselves from the eyes of their fellow-creatures. For as they are evil, they shun being seen by men, and whilst they pretend themselves something else than what they are, they conceal themselves in the lurking places of their conscience, as ‘in caves of the earth,’ which persons would not do all these things, unless they were hopeless of an eternal and substantial life, unless they set their mind in this uncertainty of the temporal state. Whence it is well added, Or upon the gravel.
36. For the ‘gravel’ is the present life, which by the mere failure of mutability, as by the impulse of a river, is unceasingly being brought to its end. Hence to ‘dwell upon the gravel’ is to attach one’s self to the tide of the present life, and there to set the bent of the mind, where it cannot stablish the step by standing firmly. There is another circumstance ‘in gravel,’ which ought in no wise to be passed over in silence, namely, that when the foot is set upon the top of it, it slips by the mere rolling tendency thereof, and is made to roll down to the bottom. From which circumstance the life of the wicked is in nothing at variance, because whilst for love of the world they set themselves to do some things lawful and respectable, they in a manner set the foot flat upon the top, but suddenly the foot slips to the bottom, because their course of conduct, whilst it ever seeks after more, descends even to what is wicked and unlawful. So then, when Holy Church meets with the crosses of this period, let her in remembrance have recourse to the life of the carnal, whom even in her prosperity she bore as adversaries to her, and by whose deserts it is that she suffers these things let her see and know, saying, They dwelled in the desert places of torrents, and in caves of the earth, and upon the gravel. For because they are bared of the teaching of the Fathers, they are related to ‘dwell in the desert places of the torrents’; because they cover themselves up in the hidden thoughts of the heart, they are related to ‘dwell in caves of the earth’; whilst because they desire to fix their aim in the changeableness of the present state of being, they are related to ‘dwell upon the gravel. ’ But would that such, seeing that sins when they tempt they have no mind to do violence to, even after they have been committed, cleansed them away by weeping: would that at all events, when done, they acquainted themselves with their evil deeds, ‘and applied to the barren fig-tree the basket of dung, i. e. to the unfruitful soul the richness of lamenting.
37. But the mind of man has for the most part this thing proper to it, that as soon as ever it falls into transgression, it is still further removed from the knowledge of self. For this very evil, that it commits, inserts itself to the soul as a bar before the eye of reason. Whence it comes to pass, that the soul, being first encompassed by voluntary darkness, afterwards does not any longer even know the good it should seek. For the more it attaches itself to evil things, the less does it apprehend the good ones that it loses. Since the light of truth, because it minutely tries the offences of lost sinners, in the same degree that it is neglected when had, so does it, judging rigidly, allow it to be, that not even when lost it should be sought back, and when it is banished from the act, it departs from the
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perception; that that whereof the face, as it were, is slighted in practice, should now no longer have its very hinder parts appear in the remembrance. Thus, hence it is that lost sinners, whilst subject to sins to be lamented, rejoice; concerning whom it is said by Solomon, Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the worst things. [Prov. 2, 14] Hence it is that occasions of lamentations they go through dancing; hence it is that the business of their death they carry on laughing. Whence here also it is fitly subjoined,
Ver. 7. Who rejoiced in the midst of the like, and reckoned there were delights under the brambles. [xv]
38. ‘They rejoice in the midst of the like,’ because, surely, they give heed to the transitory things which they receive, and neglect to look at the lasting blessings which they lose. And whilst they are on fire with the love of things temporal, they are willingly ignorant of the true joy. Which same if they earnestly sought to acquaint themselves with, how greatly the delights which they seek after are to be wept for, they would see. But, while they are unconcerned to know what are better, they choose those alone for themselves, as the highest, which flatter the eyes in the visible by a fleeting beguilement. That is to say, they fix fast their heart, following after the visible, and rejoice so much the more outwardly, in proportion as they are without the remembrance of themselves inwardly. Yet, generally, there are mixed with their joys calamities, and by the actual things, by which they are filled with pride, they are scourged. For neither can they, without grievous inconveniences of anxieties, either seek when not possessed, or retain when sought, the temporal things that they desire; among their equals aim at superior glory; from inferiors exact respect beyond what is meet, and to superiors shew forth the same less than they ought; for the most part display the mastery by masterfulness; ever do what is wicked, and yet, that they may not have the credit of wickedness, guard themselves with dread. All these things surely sting the wretched persons, but those same stings they do not feel, from being overcome by the mere love of the things of time. And hence it is rightly said now, And reckoned there were delights under the brambles; because, being closely encompassed by the enjoyments of sins, from the affecting of the present life, how sharp the things they are that they undergo they are not aware.
39. Therefore they ‘rejoice,’ but ‘under brambles’; because they delight in earthly things indeed, but yet, whilst they are unable to manage those same things of time without trouble, the wretched persons are stung by that same care which they are pressed by. They continue ‘under the brambles,’ and this very thing they account delight, because they at once endure hardships indeed from the love of the present life, but yet, being bound about by the absorption of over-great desire, they account the trouble of that endurance to be pleasure. Hence Jeremiah, rightly taking upon himself the likeness of all human conduct, complains in lament, saying, He has made me drunken with; wormwood. [Lam. 3, 15] For as we have already said before in a part above, any one drunk knows nothing what he is undergoing. But he that is made ‘drunk with wormwood,’ both has the thing that he has taken bitter, and yet does not understand that same bitterness which he is filled with. So the race of man, being by the right judgment of God left to themselves in their pleasures, and by those same pleasures consigned to voluntary sufferings, is ‘drunk with wormwood’; because both these are bitter things which it endures for the love of this life, and yet that same bitterness, by the blindness of concupiscence, as by the insensibility of drunkenness, it remains ignorant of. For thirsting after the glory of the world, whilst it finds instead thereof numberless tribulations, what it drinks is bitter. But because it took this too eagerly, from mere drunkenness it is not now able to
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discern the evil of that bitterness. For bad men, for the sake of the glory of this world, love tribulations even, and on account of it willingly lend themselves to all toils, and most devotedly submit their necks to the yoke of heavy labours. Which is well described by Hosea whilst prophesying, under the likeness of Ephraim, saying, And Ephraim is a heifer that is taught to love threshing. [Hos. 10, 11] For a heifer accustomed to the labours of threshing, very often, when loosed, returns even not forced to the same customariness of labour. So the mind of the wicked being devoted to the services of this world, and accustomed to the wearyings of temporal things, even if it be allowed to be freely at liberty to itself, yet is eager to submit itself to earthly pains and toils, and seeks the usage [al. ‘from usage’] of a wretched way of life, ‘the threshing’ of labour, that it should not be acceptable, even if it were allowable, to give over the yoke of worldly servitude. Which same yoke the Lord loosed from the neck of the disciples, when He said, And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness; and straightway added, and cares of this life; and so that day come upon you unawares. [Luke 21, 34] And again, Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart. [Matt. 11, 28] What is it for the Lord to call Himself ‘meek and lowly’ in preceptorship, save leaving behind the difficulties for exercising self-exaltation, to point out some plain ways of living well? But because the minds of the wicked are more pleased by what is harsh in self-exalting than by what is gentle in mildness and humility, they ‘suppose there are delights under brambles. ’ For from love of the world they are ready to bear what is hard as things soft and delightful, whilst they try in this life to lay hold of the topmost pinnacles of affairs.
40. The Lord bids ceasing from the labours of the world, He prompts the sweetness of holy tranquillity, and yet the frenzied mind of the wicked is more rejoiced to obtain what is harsh in the carnal way than to hold what is mild in the spiritual way. It is more fed by the bitterness of wearisomeness than by the sweetness of tranquillity. Which the Israelitish people openly shews us in itself, which same, whilst it received the refreshment of manna from above, lusted after the flesh- pots, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, from Egypt. [Numb. 11, 5] For what is denoted by the ‘manna,’ but the food of grace, having a sweet savour, given from Above for the refreshment of the interior life to persons rightly free? And what by the ‘flesh-pots,’ saving carnal works, which are with difficulty to be dressed by the toils of tribulations, as by fires? What by ‘melons,’ but earthly sweets? What by ‘leeks and onions,’ which those who eat very often shed tears, excepting the hardness of the present life, which is both gone through by the lovers of it not without mourning, and notwithstanding is loved with tears? Therefore, forsaking ‘manna,’ together with melons and fleshmeats they sought leeks and onions, surely because bad minds despise the gifts of tranquillity, sweet by grace, and for the sake of carnal pleasures they covet the wearisome ways of this life, even though full of tears; they scorn to have where they may rejoice in a spiritual manner, and ardently seek where they may even groan in a carnal way. So then, let Job with a truth-telling voice rebuke the madness of these persons, for no other reason than that by a perverted judgment they set the troubled before the tranquil, the hard before the gentle, the harsh before the mild, the transitory before the eternal, the suspicious before the assured. The madness of such let Holy Church call to remembrance, when she is encompassed with cruel adversities without, which persons she held within herself as if believers, but for long endured their life opposing the faith, and let her say, Who rejoiced in the midst of the like, and reckoned there were delights under brambles; surely, because the evil things that they do, they learnt by the badness of the wicked going before. Whence also it is rightly subjoined;
Ver. 8. They were children of fools, yea children of base men.
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41. It is right for us to know that some within the pale of Holy Church are styled ‘fools,’ but yet ‘noble,’ whilst others are ‘fools’ and ‘base. ’ For they are called ‘fools,’ but cannot be ‘base,’ who contemning the wisdom of the flesh, desire foolishness that shall stand them in stead, and after the newness of the interior descent are exalted by the nobility of virtue, who set at nought the foolish wisdom of the world, and covet the wise foolishness of God. Since it is written, Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men. This ‘foolishness’ Paul charges ourselves to lay hold of, when he says, If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. [1 Cor. 1, 25] This ‘foolishness’ they that perfectly followed obtained to hear from the voice of Wisdom, Ye which have followed Me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. [Matt. 19, 28] Mark how by abandoning temporal things they purchased the glory of eternal power. Accordingly what is there more foolish in this world than to abandon one’s own? And what more noble in the eternal world than to come with God as judges? Verily the nobility of these judges is made mention of by Solomon bearing record, where this which I have already spoken before is said, Her husband is noble in the gates, when he sitteth among the senators of the land. [Prov. 31, 23] For noble above measure does he regard those, whom he calls ‘senators. ’ This ‘nobility’ Paul had beheld in himself, when being united by the spirit to the relationship of the Creator, he said, Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone graven by art or man’s device; [Acts 17, 29] i. e. we are styled ‘the offspring of God,’ not as being brought forth in His Nature, but as being by His Spirit both created by His Will and made anew by His adoption. So much the more then is each one lifted up to this nobility, in proportion as he is renewed in the image he has received to the likeness of That Being in a copy.
42. But contrariwise they are ‘fools and base men,’ who while, in following themselves, they flee from the wisdom Above, are lulled to sleep in their ignorance as in the vileness of an abject descent. For in proportion as they do not understand that for which they were made, in the same measure they lose the relationship of high birth vouchsafed then in the Likeness. So they are ‘fools and base men,’ whom the slavery of the soul withholds from the fellowship of the Eternal Inheritance. As it is written, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. [John 8, 34] And it is spoken by the voice of the great preacher, For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. [1 Cor. 3, 19] They then, who whilst they were wise in earthly things were held back from the interior nobility, were ‘fools and base men’ at once. Whose actions while very many imitate they are rendered ‘the children of fools and base men,’ and whilst they follow these in notions and practices, they are at once ‘fools,’ because they do not understand true wisdom, and ‘base men,’ because they are not renewed by any freedom of the Spirit. But these persons though they may practise the arts of the wicked, yet very often in this life occupy the places of the just, and they account themselves the children of those, whose offices from lust of honour they outwardly discharge. Which persons holy correction recals to the knowledge of themselves, i. e. that being settled in bad desires, they should mind whose children they are. For they are not the children of those whose places they occupy, but whose deeds they execute: Therefore let it be rightly said, The children of fools and base men. Where it is fitly subjoined;
And on earth utterly not appearing.
[xvii]
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43. For as there are very many persons upon earth, and they are hidden from the knowledge of their fellow creatures by the lowness of their vile condition, as by a kind of overlaying of a cloak, so there are some in the Church, who whilst they submit themselves to the degradation of wicked deeds, are not known to the Divine sight. To which persons it is one day to be said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. So, ‘to be on earth and appear’ is in a right faith through the excellency of practice to display the nobility of the soul. ‘To be on earth and utterly not appear,’ is to be set fast in the Church indeed by faith, but to show forth nothing worthy of faith in practice. These then being within the pale of Holy Church, to the eyes of the Divine Being both ‘appear’ in respect of judgment, and yet do ‘not appear’ in respect of the deserts of a good life, because those things, which by confessing they hold, by living they do not shew forth. Concerning whom Paul saith, They profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him. [Tit. 1, 16] These persons in Holy Church bear down rather than venerate the faith which they protest that they hold, whereas by her name they covet rather to secure their own profits than her’s. But the Elect, whilst they take care to preserve the deservingness of faith by right deeds, are brought near to the knowledge of their
Maker even amidst the throngs of lost sinners. Which is well denoted in the Gospel by the woman suffering from the bloody flux. Concerning whom the Lord says, Who touched Me? Peter answered reasoning, Master, the multitude throng Thee and press Thee, and sayest Thou, Who touched Me? [Luke 8, 45. 46.