238 Saints not freed as yet from feaj-s about sin. Job 3, 71. And it is well added, And the servant is free from TiT — '— his master. For it is written, Every one that sinneth is the John 8, servant of sin. For whosoever yields himself up to bad ^' desire, submits the neck of his mind, till now free, to the dominion of wickedness. Now we withstand this master, when we struggle against the evil whereby we had been taken captive, when we forcibly resist the bad habit, and treading under all froward desires, maintain against the same the right of inborn liberty, when we strike our sin by peni- tence, and cleanse the stains of pollution with our tears. But it oftentimes happens, that the mind indeed already bewails what it remembers itself to have done amiss, that already it not only forsakes its misdeeds, but even chastises them with the bitterest lamentations, yet while it recalls to memory the things that it has done, it is affrighted and sorely dismayed against the Judgment. It already turns itself with a perfect intention, but does not yet lift itself up in a perfect state of security, for while it weighs the rigid exactness of the final scrutiny, it trembles with anxiety between hope and fear, for it knows not, when the righteous Judge comes, what He will reckon, what He will remit of the deeds done. For it ^ remembers what evil deeds it has committed, but it cannot tell whether it has worthily bewailed the commission of them, and it dreads lest the vastness of the sin exceed the measure of penance. And it is very often the case that ' Truth' already remits the sin, yet the troubled soul, whilst it is full of anxiety for itself, still trembles for the pardon thereof. So that in this present life the servant already escapes from his master, yet he is not free from him, in that by chastisement and penance man already forsakes his sin, yet he still fears the strict Judge for the recompensing of it. There then ^ the servant will be free from his master,' when there will be no longer misgiving about the pardon of sin, when the recollection of its sin no longer condemns the soul, now secured, where the conscience does not tremble under a sense of guilt, but exults in the pardon of the same in a state of freedom.
72. But if man is reached there by no remembrance of his sin, how does he congratulate himself that he has been saved therefrom? Or how does he return thanks to his Memory of sin in heaven, not poll u fine/, pains not. 239 Benefactor for the pardon, which he has received, if by an Book intervening forgetfulness of his past wickedness, he knows not that he is a debtor to suffer punishment? For we must not pass over negligently that which the Psalmist says, /PtJ-SO,! will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever. For how does he * sing of the mercies of God for ever,' if he knows not that he has been miserable; and if he has no recollection of past misery, whence does he answer with praises the bestowal of mercy? And again, we must enquire how the mind of the Elect can be in perfect bliss, if amidst its joys the memory of its guilt reaches it? Or how does the glory of indefectible light shine out, when it is overcast by the sin that is recalled to mind? But be it known, that just as oftentimes now in joy we call to mind Stid things, so in the future life, we bring back the memory of past sin without any hurt to our bliss. For it verj' often hap]iens, that in the season of health, wc recall to mind past pains without feeling pain, and in pro- portion as we remember ourselves sick, the more we hug ourselves in health. And so in that blissful estate there will be a remembrance of sin, not such as to pollute the mind, but to attach us the more closely to our joy, that while the mind without pain remembers itself of its pain, it may the more clearly perceive itself to be a debtor to the physician, and so much the more cherish the health it has received, in proportion as it remembers what it has escaped of uneasiness. And so then, placed in that state of bliss, we so regard our evil deeds without loathing, as now being set in light, without any inward blindness of the heart, we see the darkness with our mind; for though that be dim which wc perceive with the imagination, this comes from the sentence of light, not from the misfortune of blindness. And thus throughout eternity we render to our Benefactor the praise of His mercy, yet are in no degree o])pressed with the consciousness of wretchedness; for whilst we review our evils without any evil betiding the mind, on the one hand there will never be ought to defile the hearts that render j)raise on the score of past wickednesses, and again there will always be somewhat to inflame them to the praise of their Deliverer. Therefore, because the repose of inward light does in such sort transport the great ones into itself, that yet it does not 240 The Converted hereof ter free even from past sin.
Job 3, leave the little ones, let it be rightly said, the small and great ____! are there. Now forasmuch as the mind of the converted 'sinner is there touched by the recollection of his sin in such sort that he is not overwhelmed by any confusion at that recollection, it is fitly subjoined, And the servant is free from his master.
BOOK V.
He explains the remainder of chap. iii. from ver. 20. the whole of chap. iv. and the first two verses of chap. v.
1. Though the appointments of God are very much i. hidden from sight, why it is that in this life it is sometimes ill with the good and well with the wicked, yet they are then still more mysterious ■ when it both goes well with the good here below, and ill with the wicked. For when it goes ill with the good, and well with the bad, this perhaps is found to be for that both the good, if they have done wrong in any thing, receive punishment here that they may be more completely'' freed from eternal damnation, and the wicked meet here with the good things, which conduce to this life, that they may be dragged to unmitigated torments hereafter. And hence these words are spoken to the rich man, when burning in hell. Sot?, remeniher tltat Ihou in thy /f/<?/«//?0Luke receivedsl thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things. *^' ■^^• But when it is well with the good here and ill with the wicked, it is very doubtful, whether the good for this reason receive good things, that they may be set forward and advance to something better, or whether by a just and secret appointment they receive here the reward of their deeds, that they may prove void of the rewards of the life to come; and whether afflictions for this reason'come upon the wicked, in order that by correcting, they may be the means of pre- serving them from everlasting punishments, or whether their punishment only begins here, that, one day to receive com- pletion, it should lead to the final torments of hell. Tliere- fore, because in the midst of the divine appointments the ■ i. e. more doubtful in each parti- nity,' i. e. in the Future State. St.
cular case. Grej?ory believed a Purgatorial fire, '' ' Plenius.' It is difficult tn assign seemingly a« a thing then lately made an exact meaning to the expression, known by visionH, <fec. See Dial. ir.
unlesR ' eternal' is taken for * in eter- c. 39 sqq.
K 242 Two reasons why good men fear prosperity* Job 3, human mind is closed in bv the erreat darkness of its un- — ^-^— certainty, holy men, when they see this world's prosperity to be their lot, are disquieted yaih. fearful misgivings. For they fear lest they should receive here the fruits of their labours. They fear lest Divine Justice should see in them a secret wound, and in loading them with external blessings should withhold them from the interior. But when they exactly consider, that they never do good saving that they may please God only, nor triumph in the veiy exuberance of their prosperity, then indeed they less fear hidden judgments to their hurt in their good fortune, yet they ill endure that \ good fortune, in that it impedes the interior purpose of the heart, and they reluctantly submit to the caresses of this present life, forasmuch as they are not ignorant that they are in some degree retarded thereby in their interior longing. I For honour in this world is more engrossing than the con- : tempt thereof, and the rise of prosperity weighs upon them \ more than the pressure of a hard necessity. For sometimes \ when a man is outwardly straitened by the latter, he is the ' more entirely set at liberty to fix his desire upon the interior good; but by the other the mind, while forced to yield to the will of many, is kept back from the race of its own \ desire. And hence it is that holy men are in greater dread of prosperity in this world than of adversity. For they know that while the mind is under soft and beguiling impressions, it is sometimes apt to give itself up to be drawn away after external objects. They know that oftentimes the secret thought of the heart so beguiles it, that it does not see how it is changed. And they consider too, what the eternal blessings are which they desire, and they see what a mere nothing all is that courts and smiles upon us after the manner of things temporal, and their mind bears the worse all the prosperity of this world, in proportion as it is pierced with love of heavenly happiness; and it is planted so much the more erect in contempt of the delightfulness of the present life, the more it perceives that this is beguiling it by stealth in the disregard of eternal glory. Hence when blessed Job, having his eye fixed upon the rest above, had said. The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master. He therefore adds.
Holy sorrow likes not litis world's liyht. 243 Ver. 20. JVherefore is liglil given to one that is in misery? Book 2. In holy Scripture prosperity is sometimes represented by -'-^— the title of light, and this world's adversity by the name of ^^* night. Hence it is well said by the Psalmist, As is its Ps, 139, darkness, so also is its light. For as holy men thus trample Vuig. upon the prosperity of this state by contemning it, as also they sustain its adverse fortune by trampling upon it, by an exceeding highmindedness laying under their feet alike the good and the ill of the world, they declare, As its darkness, so also is its light. As though they said in plain words, * as its griefs do not force down the resoluteness of our fixed mind, so neither can its caresses corrupt the same.' But since these last, as we have said above, though they fail to lift up the mind of the righteous, do yet cause them disquietude; holy men, who know themselves to be in misery in this wearisome exile, shrink from shining in its prosperity. Hence it is well said at this time, Where/ore is light given to one that is in miseiy? lor ' light is given to those in misery,' when they, who, by contemplating things above, see themselves to be in misery in this our pilgrimage, have the brightness of transitory prosperity bestowed upon them; and when they are deploring giievously, that they are slow in returning to their country, they are over and above constrained to bear the burthen of honours. The love of eternal things is crushing them, and at the same time the glory of temporal things smiles upon them. When these reflect what the things are, which keep them down below, and what those are that they see not of the things above, what those are that set them up on earth, and what they have lost of heavenly blessings, they are stung with regret of their prosperity. For though they see that they are never wholly overwhelmed thereby, yet they anxiously consider that their thoughts are divided between the love of God, and the gifts of His hand; and hence when he says, JVherq/bre is light given to him that is in misery? he subjoins forthwith. And life nntn the bitter in soul?
3. For all the Elect are bitter in soul, in that either they iij, never cease to punish themselves by weeping for the trans- gressions they have committed, or they afflict themselves with regrets, that banished here far from the face of their r2 244 Bad men know not their own misery.
Job 3, Creator, they are not yet admitted to the bliss of the eternal p-^— ^ — country; and of their hearts it is well said by Solomon, The 14, 10. heart knoweth its own bitterness, and a stranger shall not intermeddle xoith his joy. For the hearts of the reprobate are likewise in bitterness, for that they are afflicted even by their very bad passions themselves. Yet they know not of this very bitterness, because having voluntarily blinded their own eyes, they cannot estimate what they are undergoing; but on the contrary the heart of a good man knoweth its own bitterness, for it knows the hard condition of this place of exile, wherein it is cast forth to be torn in pieces; and it sees how tranquil is all that it has lost, how troubled the con- dition it has fallen into. Yet this embittered heart is one day brought back to its own joy, and a stranger shall not inter- meddle therewith, in that he, who now casts himself forth without, away from this sorrow of the heart, in his aims, will then remain shut out from, its interior festival.
4. They then that are in bitterness of soul, long to be wholly dead to the world, that, as they themselves aim at nothing in this present world, so they may not henceforth be fettered by the world with any ties; and it very often happens that a person has already ceased to retain the world in his affections, but the world still ties down that person by its business, and he indeed is already dead to the world, but the world is not yet dead to him. For in a certain sense the > D/ de- ^^'01'^^) still alive, regards^ him, so long as it strives to carry sires \^[^^ away in its actions, when he is bent another way. below) Hence, since Paul both himself utterly contemned the world, and saw that he was become such an one as this world could not possibly desire, having burst the bonds of this life, and Gal. 6 being henceforth at liberty, he rightly exclaims. The world ^^- is crucified to me, and I unto the world. For ^ the world was crucified to him.,' because being now dead to his affec- tions it was no longer an object of love to him; and he had likewise ' crucified himself to the world,' in that he studied to shew himself thereto in such a light, that, as though dead, he might never be coveted by it. For if there be a dead person, and one alive in the same place, though the dead sees not the living, yet the living person does see the dead, but if both are dead, neither can possibly see the other. Thus he, \ The world alive to some that are ilead to it. 245 wlio no longer loves the world, but yet even against his will Book is loved by the world, though he himself being as it were ^- dead sees nothing of the world, yet the world not being dead sees him; but if he neither himself retains the world in his affections, nor again is retained in the affections of the world, then both are mutually dead to one another; in that whereas neither sects the other, it is as if the dead heeded not the dead. Therefore, because Paul neither sought tlie glory of the world, nor was himself sought out by the same, he glories both in being himself crucified to the world, and in the world beingcrucified to him. Now because there are many that desire this, who yet do not altogether rise up to the very extreme point of such a state of deadness, they may well lament and say; Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul. For ' life is given to those in bitterness,' when the glory of this world is bestowed upon the sad and sorrowful, in which same life they do not spare them- selves the chastening of most urgent fear; for though they do not themselves hold to the world, yet they still dread being such as the world holds to; and except they were living to it in some slight degree, it would never surely love them for their serviceableness to its interests; just as the sea keeps living bodies in her own bosom, but dead ones she forthwith casts out from herself It proceeds; Ver. 21. Which long for death, but it cometh not, 5. For they desire to mortify themselves wholly, and to be iv. entirely extinct of the life of temporal glor}', but by the secret appointments of God they are often forced either to take the lead in command, or to busy themselves with dignities imposed on them, and in these circumstances they miceasingly look for a perfect mortification, but this expected death coraeth not; in that the use of them is still alive to temporal glory even against their will, though they submit to that glor)' from the fear of God, and while they inwardly retain their aim after piety, they outwardly discharge the fimctions of their station, that they should neither quit their perfection in their inward pui-})ose, nor set themselves against the dispensations of their Creator in a spirit of pride. For by a marvellous pitifulness of the Divine Nature it comes to pass, that, when he, who aims at contemplation with a / 246 Holy desires grow by the check of labour for others.
Job 3, perfect heart, is busied with human affairs, his perfect mind 21 — 1 — '— at once profits many that are weaker, and in whatever degree he sees himself to be imperfect, he rises therefi'om more perfect to the crowning point of humility. For sometimes by the very same means, whereby holy men suffer loss in their own longings, they bear off the larger profits by the ^ conversion of others, for, while it is not permitted them to give themselves thereto as they desire, it is their grateful office to carry off along with themselves others, whom they are associated with. And so it is effected by a wonderful \ dispensation of pity, that by the same means, whereby they » dd- seem to themselves to be the more undone^, they rise dorrs' ^^^^^ richer resources to the building up^ of their heavenly 2 cori- Country.
struC" tionem ^' Now sometimes they fail to attain the desires, that they have conceived, for this reason, that by the very interposing of the delay, they may be made to expand to the same objects with an enlarged embrace of the mind, and by a striking dispensation it is effected that that, which if fulfilled might perhaps become thin and poor, being kept back, gains grow til. For they desire so to mortify themselves that, if it may be vouchsafed, they may already perfectly behold the face of their Creator, but their desire is delayed that it may gain increase, and it is fostered in the bosom of its slow advancement that it may grow larger. Hence the Bride, Cant..3, panting with desire of her Bridegroom, justly cries out. By night on my bed I sought hint, whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. The Spouse hides himself when He is sought, that not being found He may be sought for with the more ardent affection, and she in seeking is withheld, that she cannot find Him, in order that being rendered of larger capacity by the delay she undergoes, she may one day find a thousandfold what she sought. Hence when blessed Job said. Which long for deaths but it cometh not; that he might the more minutely particularize this very desire of those seekers, he thereupon adds; And dig for it as for hid treasures. V. 7. For all men that seek for a treasure by digging, the deeper they have begun to go, kindle to the work with the greater energy; for in the same proportion that they reckon Death to the World more longed for the nearer gained. 247 themselves to be now, at this moment, a])proaching the Book buried troasm*e, they strive with hicreased efibrts in digging '-- for it. They, then, that perfectly desire the moriilication of themselves, seek it as they that dig for hid treasures, lor the nearer they are brought to their object, the more ardent they shew themselves in the work. Therefore they never Hag in their labour, but increase the more in the exercise thereof; for that in the degree, that they reckon on their reward as now nearer at hand, they spend themselves the more gladly in the work. Hence Paul says well to some, that were seeking the hid treasure of the eternal inheritance, Not forsaking neh.io, the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is; but consoling^ one another, and so much the more as ye see^^-fon- the day approaching. For to give consolation to the labourer, is to continue labouring in like manner to him, the sight of a fellow labourer being the alleviation of our own labour, as, when a companion joins us in a journey, the way itself is not shortened, yet the toilsomeness of the way is alleviated by the society of a companion. Therefore, whereas Paul looked for their consoling one another in their labours, he added these words, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching. As though he said, * let your labour increase the more, that now the reward of your labour itself is nigh at hand.' As if he expressed himself in plain words, ' Do ye seek a treasure? Then ye should dig for it with the greater ardour, that ye have by digging reached by this time close to the gold ye were in quest of.'
8. Though this, that he says, fVhich long for death attd it Cometh not; and dig for it as for hid treasures, may be taken in another sense also. For in that we cannot perfectly die to the world, unless we bury ourselves within the invisible depths of our own heart from all things visible, they that long for the mortifying of themselves, are well comi)ared to those that dig for a treasure. For we die to the world by means of an unseen wisdom, of which it is said by Solomon, It' thou seckest her as silver, and diggest for her as /or ///</ Prov. -2, treasures. Since wisdom lieth not on the surface of things, for it is deep in the unseen. And we tlien lay hold nn the mortification of ourselves, in attainnig wisilom, if, reliuijuish- ing visible things, we bury ourselves in the invisible; if wo 248 Joy of being hurled in divine Contemplation. Job 3, so seek for her in tlie digging of the heart, that every ima- '- — gination, which the mind conceives, of an earthly nature,