Job 3, upon the caresses of sin. We * enfold the day in bitterness,' ^ '^^ when we regard the punishments that follow the joys of for- bidden gratification, and pour tears of bitter lamenting around them. For whereas what is folded up is covered on every side, we wish ' the day to be folded in bitterness,' that each man may mark on every side the ills that threaten crooked courses, and may cleanse the wantonness of self- gratification by the tears of bitter sorrow.
34. But if we hear that daij, w^hich we have rendered the * gratification of sin,' assailed with so many imprecations, that, surely, our tears poured around it may expiate whatso- ever sin the soul is become guilty of by being touched with gratification through negligence, w^ith what visitings of penitence is the night of that day to be stricken, i. e. the actual consent to sin? For as it is a less fault when the mind is carried away in delight by the influence of the flesh, yet by the resistance of the Spirit offers violence to its sense of delight; so it is a more heinous and complete wickedness not only to be attracted to the fascination of sin by the feeling of delight, but to pander to it by yielding consent. Therefore the mind must be cleansed from defilement by being wrung harder with the hand of penitence, in proportion as it sees itself to be more foully stained by the yielding of the consent. And hence it is fitly subjoined, Ver. 6. As for thai night, let a black tempest seize it.
35. For the awakened spirit of sorrow is like a kind of tempestuous whirlwind. For when a man understands what sin he has committed, when he minutely considers the wickedness of his evil doings, he clouds the mind with son-ow, and the air of quiet joy being agitated, as it were, he sweeps away all the inward tranquillity of his breast, by the whirl- wind of penitence. For unless the heart, returning to the knowledge of itself, were broken by such a whirlwind, the Ps.48,7. Prophet would never have said, Thou hreakest the ships of Tarshish ivith a strong tcind. For Tarshish is rendered, ' the exploring of joy.' But when the strong blast of peni- tence seizes the mind, it disturbs therein all the * explorings' after a censurable joy, that it now takes pleasure in nought but to weep, minds nought but what may fill it with affright. For it sets before the eyes, on the one hand, the Sin to be seized by penance as by a whirlwind. 207 strictness of justice, on the other the deserts of sin, it sees Rook what punishment it deserves, if the pitifulness of the sparing '-^ Hand be wanting, which is wont by present soiTowing to rescue from eternal woe. Therefore, * a strong wind breaks the ships of Tarsliish,' when a mighty force of compunction confounds, with wholesome terrors, our minds which have abandoned themselves to this world, like as to the sea. Let him say then, As for that night, let a black tempest seize it, i. e. let not the softness of secure ease cherish the commission of sin, but the bitterness of repentance burst on it in pious fury.
36. But we are to bear in mind, that when we leave sins unpunished, we are * taken possession of by the night,' but when we correct those with the visitation of penitence, then we ourselves * take possession of the night,' that we have made. And the sin of the heart is then brought into our right of possession, if it is repressed in its beginning. And hence it is said by the voice of God to Cain, harbouring evil thoughts, Thy sin will lie at the door. But under thee Gen. 4, shall be his desire, and thou shall rule over him. For * sin lieth at the door,' when it is knocking in the thoughts, and * the desire thereof is under,' and man ' ruleth over it,' if the wickedness of the heart, being looked to, be quickly put down, and before it gi'ows to a state of hardness, be subdued by a strenuous opposition of the mind. Therefore that the mind may be quickly made sensible of its offence by repent- ing, and hold in under its authority the usui'])ing power of sin, let it be rightly said, As far that night let a black tempest seize it; as though it were said in plain words, * Lest the mind be the captive of sin, let it never leave a sin free from penance.' And because we liave a sure hope that wliat we prosecute with weeping, will never be urged against us by the Judge to come, it is rightly added, I^t it not be joined unto the days of the year; let it not come into the number qf the months.
37. The year of our illumination is then accomplished, xx. when at the ai)i)earing of the Eternal Judge of Holy Church, the life of her ])ilgrimage is completed. She tlien receives the recompense of her labours, when, having finished this season of her warfare, she returns to her native country.
208 We pray that The Judge may not regard our ^ night.''
Job 3, Hence it is said by the Prophet, Thou shalt bless the crown - — '- — of the year with Thy goodness. For the crown of the year Ps. Qb^ is as it were * blessed,' when, the season of toil at an end, the reward of virtues is bestowed. But the days of this year are the several virtues, and its months the manifold deeds of those virtues. But observe, when the mind is erected in confidence, to have a good hope thai, when the Judge comes, she will receive the reward of her virtues, all the evil things that she has done are also brought before the memoiy, and she greatly fears lest the strict Judge, Who comes to reward virtues, should also examine and weigh exactly those things, which have been unlawfully committed, and lest, when ' the year' is completed, the ' night' also be reckoned in. Let him then say of this night. Let it not he joined unto the days of the year^ let it not come into the number of the months. As though he implored that strict Judge in such words as these; ' When, the time of Holy Church being completed. Thou shalt manifest Thyself for the final scrutiny, do Thou so recompense the gifts Thou hast vouchsafed, that Thou require not the evil we have committed. For if that ' night be joined unto the days of the year,' all that we have done is brought to nought, by the accounting of our iniquity. And the days of our virtues no longer shine, if they be overclouded in Thine eyes by the dark confusion of our night being added to the reckoning.'
38. But if we would not then have inquest made on our night, we must take especial care now to exercise a watchful eye in examining it, that no sin whatever may remain un- punished by us, that the froward mind be not bold to vindicate what it has done, and by that vindication add iniquity to iniquity. And hence it is rightly added, Ver. 7. Lo, let that flight be solitary, and worthy of no praise.
xxi. 39. There are some men that not only never bewail what they do, but who do not cease to uphold and applaud it, and verily a sin that is upheld, is doubled. And against this Ecclus. j^ is rightly said by one. My son, hast thou sinned? add not ' ' again thereto. For he * adds sin to sin,' who over and above maintains what he has done amiss; and he does not ' leave the night alone,' who adds the support of vindication Night of sin best left solitary. IVho curse it. 209 also to the darkness of his fault. It is hence that the first Book man, when called in question concerning the * night' of his — error, would not have the same * night' to be * solitarj^,' in that while by that questioning he was called to repentance, he added the props of self-exculpation, saying. The icoynan whom Thou gavest to be with me^ she gave me of the tree., and I did eat; i. e. covertly turning the fault of his trans- gression upon his Maker; as if he said, ' Thou gavest me occasion of transgressing, Who gavest me the woman.' It is hence that in the human race the branch of this sin is drawn out from that root so far as to this present time, that what is done amiss should be yet further maintained. Let him say then. Let that night be solitary^ and not worthy of any praise. As though he besought in plain words, * Let the fault that we have done remain alone, lest while it is praised and upheld, it bind us a hundredfold more in the sight of our Judge. We ought not indeed to have sinned, but would that, by not adding others, we would even leave those by themselves, Avhich we have committed.'
40. But here it is to be impressed upon our minds, that he in a true sense bears hard upon his sin, whose heart is no longer set to the love of the present state of being by any longing for prosperity, who sees how deceitful are the caresses of this world, and reckons its smiles as a kind of persecution; and hence it is well added, Ver. 8. Let them curse it that curse the day.
4L As if he said in plain words; * Let them strike the darkness of this night by truly repenting, who henceforth despise and tread u})on the light of worldly prosperity.' For if we take * the day,' for the gladness of delight, of this * night' it is rightly said. Let them curse it that curse the day. In that, indeed, they do truly chastise the misdeeds committed with the visitations of j)enancp, who are hence- forth earned away by no sense of delight after deceitful goods. For of those whom other mischievous practices still delight, it is all false whereinsoever they are seen to bewail one set they have been guilty of. But if, as we have said above, we understand thereby the crafty suggestion of our old enemy, those are to be understood to curse the * night,' that curse the * day,' in that surely they all really punish their past sins, xxii.
210 Casting off sin rouses Leviathan^ s rage* Job 8, who in the mere flattering suggestion itself detect the snares of the malicious deceiver. But it is well added; Who are ready to rouse up Leviatlian. xxiii. 42. For all they that with the spirit tread under foot the things which are of the world, and with a perfect bent of the mind desire the things that belong to God, rouse up Leviathan against themselves, in that they inflame his malice, by the incitements of their life and conduct. For those that are subject to his will, are as it were held in possession by him with an undisturbed right, and their tyrannizing king, as it were, enjoys a kind of security, while he rules their hearts with a power unshaken. But when the spirit of each man is quickened again to the longing after his Creator; when he gives over the sloth of negligence, and kindles the frost of former insensibility with the fire of holy love; when he calls to mind his innate freedom, and blushes that his enemy should keep him as his slave; because that enemy marks that he is himself contemned, and sees that the ways of God are laid hold of, he is stung that his captive struggles against him, and is at once fired with jealousy, at once pressed to the conflict, at once raises himself to urge count- less temptations against the soul that withstands him, and stimulates himself in all the arts of mangling, that launching the darts of temptation he may pierce the heart, which he has long held with an undisputed title. For he slept, as it were, whilst he reposed at rest in the corrupt heart. But he is * roused,' in challenging the fight, when he loses the right of wicked dominion. Let those then curse this light, that are ready to rouse up Leviathan, i. e. * let all those gather themselves resolutely to encounter sin with the stroke of severe judgment, who are no wise afraid to rouse up Leviathan Ecclus. in his tempting of them.' For so it is written. My son, if Vule thou come to serve the Lord, stand in righteousness and in fear, a?id prepare thy soul for temptation. For whosoever hastes to gird himself in the service of God, what else does he than prepare against the encounter of the old adversary, that the same man set at liberty may take blows in the strife, who, when slaving in captivity under tyrannizing power, was left at rest? But in this very circumstance that the mind is braced to meet the enemy, that some vices it has under its Infirmities left in good men to hinder pride. 211 feet, and is striving against others, it sometimes happens Hook that somewhat of sin is permitted to remain, nevertheless not — so as to do any great injury.
43. And often the mind, which overcomes many and forcible oppositions, is unable to master one within itself, and that perchance a very little one, though it be most earnestly on the watch against it. Which doubtless is the effect of God's dispensation, lest being resplendent with virtue on all points, it be lifted up in self-elation, that while it sees in itself some trifling thing to be blamed, and yet has no power to subdue the same, it may never attribute the victory to itself, but to the Creator only, whereinsoever it has power to subdue with resolution; and hence it is well added, Ver.9. Let the stars thereof be overshadowed with darkness.
44. For the stars oj this night are overshadoiced uith dark- xxiv. nesSy when even they that already shine with great virtues, still bear something of the dimness of sin, while they struggle against it, so that they even shine with great lustre of life, and yet still draw along with unwillingness some remains of the night. Which as we have said is done with this view, that the mind in advancing to the eminence of its righteous- ness, may through weakness be the better strengthened, and may in a more genuine manner shine in goodness by the same cause, whereby, to the humbling of it, little defects overcloud it even against its will. And hence when the land of promise now won was to be divided to the people of Israel, the Gentile people of Canaan are not said to be slain, but to be made tributaiy to the tribe of Ephraim; as it is written. The Canaanites dwelt in the midst of Ephraim Jos. 16, under tribute. For what does the Canaan ite, a Gentile people, denote saving a fault? And oftentimes we enter the land of promise with great virtues, because we are strengthened by the inward hope that regards eternity. Hut while, amidst lofty deeds, we retain certain small faults, we as it were permit the Canaanite to dwell in our land. Yet he is made tributary, in that this same fault, which we cannot bring under, we force back by humility to answer the end of our wellbeing, that the mind may think meanly of itself even in itsliighesl excellencies, in proportion as it fails to master by its own strength even ihe small things that it aims at. Hence it is well written p2 2\'2 Mati's light overclouded through night of consent to sin.
Job 3, again, Noiv these are the nations which the Lord left^ to •-_ prove Israel by them. For it is for this that some of our Jud. 3, least faults are retained, that our fixed mind may ever be practising itself heedfully to the conflict, and not presume upon victory, forasmuch as it sees enemies yet alive within it, by whom it still dreads to be overcome. Thus Israel is trained by the Gentile people being reserved, in that the uplifting of our goodness meets with a check in some very little faults, and learns, in the little things that withstand it, that it does not subdue the greater ones by itself.
45. Yet this that is said. Let the stars thereof he over- shadowed with darkness, may also be understood in another sense; for that nigltt, viz. consent to the sin, which was derived to us by the transgression of our first parent, has smitten our mind's eye with such a dimness, that in this life's exile, beset by the darkness of its blinded state, with whatever force it strain after the light of eternity, it is unable to pierce through; for we are born condemned sinners after post punishment has begun \ and we come into this life together with the desert of our death, and when we lift up the eye of the mind to that beam of light above, we grow dark with the mere dimness of our natural infirmity. And indeed many in this feeble condition of the flesh have been made strong by so great a force of virtue, that they could shine like stars in the world. Many in the darkness of this present life, while they shew forth in themselves examples above our reach, shine upon us from on high after the manner of stars; but with whatsoever brilliancy of practice they shine, with what- ever fire of compunction they enkindle their hearts, it is plain that while they still bear the load of this corruptible flesh, they are unable to behold the liglit of eternity such as it is.
So then let him say. Let the stars thereof be overshadowed with darkness; i. e. * let even those in their contemplations still feel the darkness of the old night, of whom it appears that they already spread the rays of their virtues over the human race in the darkness of this life, seeing that, though they already spring to the topmost height in thought, they arc yet pressed down below by the weight of the first offence. And hence it comes to pass that at the same time that without they give specimens of light, like the stars, yet within, pcenam Dawn of true Light hidden from sinful eyes. 213 being closely encompassed by the darkness of night, they Book fail to mount up to the assuredness of an immoveable — vision. Now the mind is often so kindled and inflamed, that, though it be still set in the flesh, it is transported into God, and every caraal imagination brought under; and yet not so that it beholds God as He is, in that, as we have said, the weight of the original condemnation presses upon it in corruptible flesh. Oftentimes it longs to be swallowed up, just as it is, that if it might be so, it might attain the eternal life without the intervention of the bodily death. Hence Paul, when he ardently sought for the inward light, yet in some sort dreaded the evils' of the outward • damna death, said, For tee that are^ in this tabernacle do (/roan,2 Cot. 5 j being burtliened, for that we would not be unclothed, but ' ^^' clothed upon, that niortalifg might be sivallowed up of life. Therefore holy men long to see the true dawn, and, if it were vouchsafed, they would even along with the body attain that deep of inmost light. But with whatever ardour of purpose they may spring forth, the old night still weighs upon them, and those eyes of our corruptible flesh, which the crafty enemy has opened to concu])iscence, the just Judge holds back from the view of His inward radiance. And hence it is well added, f.et it look for light and have none, neither let it see the dawning of the day.
46. For with whatever strength of purj^ose the mind, while xxv. yet in this pilgrimage, labours to see the Light as It is, the ])Ower is withheld, in that this is hidden from it by the blindness of its state under the curse. ['Now the * rising of the dautV is the brightness (jf inward truth, which ought to be ever new to us. And this the night assuredly seeth not, because our infirmity, blind by reason of sin, and still jdaced in the corruptible flesh, mounts not up to that light wherewith our fellowcitizens above are already irradiated. For the rising of this dawn is in the interior, where the brightness of the Divine Nature is manifested ever new to the spirits of the Angels, and where that bliss of light is as it were ever •• al. $0 long as we are — tr^. and there without any notice to shew ' The passage in brackets is found where it comes from. (Ben.) It is not only in the Edition of Gussanville, in the Oxford Mss.
214 Sin conceived through lust, born through consent. Job 9, dawning, which is never brought to an end.] But the risi?ig Moral of the dawfi, is that new birth of the Resurrection, whereby Holy Church, with the flesh too raised up, rises to contem- plate the sight of Eternity; for if the very Resurrection of our flesh were not as it were a kind of birth, Truth would never Matt, have said of it, In the Regeneration, when the Son of Man ' shall sit upon the throne of His glory. This then, which He called a rege?ieratio?i, He beheld as a rising. But with whatever virtue the Elect now shine forth, they' cannot pierce to see what will be that glory of the new birth, wherewith they will then mount up together with the flesh to 1 Cor. contemplate the sight of Eternity. Hence Paul says. Eye ' * hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. Let him say then. Let it look for light and have none, 7ieither let it see the dawning of the day. For our frail nature, darkened by its spontaneous fault, penetrates not the brightness of inward light, unless it first discharge its debt of punishment by death. It goes on; Ver. 10. Because it shut not up the doors of my mother'' s womb, nor took away sorrow from mine eyes.
xxvi. 47. As has been likewise remarked above, the words, it shut not lip, are * it opened,' and it took not away, ' it brought upon me.' So that this night, i. e. sin, opened the door of the womb, in that to man, conceived unto sin, it unsealed the lust of concupiscence"", w^hereof the Prophet Isaiali says. Enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors. For we ' enter our chambers,' when we go into the recesses of our own hearts. And we ' shut the doors,' when we restrain forbidden lusts; and so whereas our consent set open these doors of carnal concupiscence, it forced us to the countless evils of our corrupt state. And so now we hence- forth groan under the weight of mortality, though we came" thereunto by our own free will, in that the justice of the sentence against us requires thus much, that what we have done willingly, we should bear with against our will. It proceeds; " One Ms. ap. Ben. ' in that lust reading. See p. 217. opened the desires that were conceived " Al. * came not/ which reading in men toward sin.' This rending is of 2 Mss. Hen. seems right in reject- not ill suited to the sequel and to§. 49. ing. He is speaking of habitual sin, but it looks like an explanation, (and and of a figurative conception, is the true explanation,) of the common Conception, hirth, nursing^ and sucklijig of nn, 215 Ver. 11, 1*2. Why died I not from the womb? II hy did I Book 7iot give up the ghost when I came out of the belly? Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that J should stick '^ 48. Be the thought far from us, that blessed Job, who wasxxvii. endued with such high spiritual knowledge, and who had such a witness of praise from the Judge within, should wish that he had perished in abortive birth! But seeing, what we also learn by the reward which he received, that he has within the witness of his fortitude, the weight of his words is to be reckoned within.
49. Now sin is committed in the heart in four ways, and in four ways it is consummated in act. For in the heart it is committed by the suggestion, the pleasure, the consent, and the boldness to defend. For the suggestion comes of the enemy; the pleasure, of the flesh; the consent, of the spirit; and boldness to uphold, of pride. For the sin, which ought to fill the mind with apprehension, only exalts it, and in throwing down uplifts, while by uplifting it causes its more grievous overthrow; and hence that upright frame, wherein the first man was created, was by our old foe dashed down by these four strokes. For the serpent tempted, Eve was pleased, Adam yielded consent, and even when called in question he refused in effrontery to confess his sin. The serpent tempted, in that the secret enemy silently suggests evil to man's heart. Eve was pleased, because the sense of the flesh, at the voice of the serpent, presently gives itself up to pleasure. And Adam, who was set above the woman, yielded consent, in that whilst the flesh is carried away in enjoyment, the spirit also being deprived of its strength gives in from its uprightness. And Adam when called in question would not confess his sin, in that, in proportion as the spirit is by committing sin severed from the Truth, it becomes worse hardened in shamelessness at its downfall. Sin is likewise completed in act by the self-same four methods; for first the fault is done in secret, but afterwards it is done openly before men's eyes without the blush of guilt, and next it is formed into a habit, finally, whether by the cheats of false hope, or the stubbornness of reckless despair, it is brought to full growth.
216 Fear^ without haired of sin, humbles not.
Job 3, 50. These four modes of sin then, which either go on secretly in the heart, or which are executed in act, blessed