nothinq; of.
39. And here it is properly subjoined. But he shall save^ex.io. the poor froin the sword of their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty. For the ' poor' is every one that is not set up in his own eyes. And hence ' Truth' saitb in the Gospel, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is Me Matt. 5 kingdom of heaven. Now a person is drawn into sin in two^- w^ays. For either he is led on by pleasure, or overcome by fear. For ' the sword of the mouth' is the mischievousness of persuasion, but ' the hand of the mighty' is the opposition of power. But because he that is truly humble, who is here called ' the poor,' as he covets none of the good things of this world, so also undauntedly sets at nought even its adverse fortune, it is well said. But He saveth the poor from the sword of their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty. As if it were put plainly; ' God doth so finnly establish the souls of the humble in Himself, that neither the alluring arts of persuasion can draw them, nor the pains of i)unishment break them in to the practice of sin. For hope rears the 34*2 Mouth of the Wicked stopped. Benefit of correction.
Job 6, spirit into the eternal world, and therefore it is not sensible rrz — ^— of any of the ills without, that it falls under. And hence it ver. 16. is Subjoined, So the needy shall have hope. Unto the fruits of which same hope, verily, when the poor man attaineth, every one that is exalted is struck dumb; and hence it is yet further added. And iniquity shall stop her mouth. For the wicked man detracts from the good, and the righteous ways, which he cares not to practise, he never ceases to pull in pieces by slander, but iniquity at that time stoppeth her mouth, when her eyes are opened to see how great is the glory of the recompense provided for righteous souls. For then he is not at liberty to speak against the good, in that torments hold his tongue tied by the deserved retribution of his misdeeds. Hence it is well delivered by Hannah, 1 Sam. speaking in prophecy, He will keep the feet of his Saints, ' * and the toicked shall be silent in darkness. But that every elect soul may escape eternal woe, and the poor mount up to everlasting glory, he must be bruised here below with continual stripes, that he may be found purified in the Judgment. For we are every day borne downwards by the mere weight of our infirmity, but that by the wonderful interposition of our Maker we are relieved by succouring stripes. Hence it is added, Ver. ] 7. Behold, happy is the man whom God correctelh.
xxni. 40. The highest virtue is to avoid sins, that they should never be done, and second to that, at least to amend them when they have been committed. But for the most part we not only never at all avoid sins that threaten, but we do not even open our eyes to them, when committed. And the mind of sinners is enveloped in the deeper darkness, in pro- portion as it does not see the deficiency of its own blindness. Hence it is very often brought to pass, by the bountifulness of God's gift, that punishment follows upon transgression, and stripes unclose the eyes of the transgressor, which self-security was blinding in the midst of evil ways. For the inactive soul is touched with the rod, so as to be sti- mulated, in order that he, that has lost, by being self-secure, the firm seat of uprightness, may mark, upon being afflicted, I A.B. where he is laid prostrate; and thus to him^ the very sharp- ' huic' '^^^^^ <jf the correction becomes the source of light; and GocTs chastening not to he called in question. 343 heuce it is said by Paul, But all things that are proved^ Book are made manifest by the light; for proof of saving health lies in the force of the pain. Hence it is that Solomon saith^ 13. For healing vAll cause great offences to cease. Hence again ecc. 10, he saith, For whom the Lord loveth He correcteth. even a^i-^"^^- a father the son in whom he delighteth. Hence the Lord 12. addresses John by the voice of the ilngel'^, saying, As many Kev. 3 as I love^ I rebuke and chasten. Hence Paul saith, Now no!?• ' Heb.l2, chastening for the present seemeth to be Joyous, but grievous, n. nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness, unto them that are exercised thereby. Al- though therefore grief and happiness can never meet toge- ther, yet it is rightly said here, Hajjpy is the man whom the Lord correcteth. For by this means, that the sinner is straitly visited with the pain of correction, he is sometimes trained to happiness, which knows no intervention of pain. It proceeds, TJierefore despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, 4l. Whosoever is smitten for a fault, and lifted up in xxiv. murmuring against the stroke, ' reproves the chastening of the Lord.' For he lays to His charge, that he has this put upon him unjustly. But they that are stricken, not for the cleansing of guilt, but for the testing of their forti- tude, when they inquire into the causes of the stroke, must by no means be said to ' reprove the correction of the Lord;' for their aim is to discover in themselves what they are igno- rant of. And hence blessed Job, breaking out into a voice of liberty, amidst the visitings of the scourge, the more rightly questions the judgments of the smiter concerning him, the more he is really ignorant of causes for his suffering in himself Eliphaz, then, forasmuch as he reckoned that he was visited, not with the trial of probation, but of purification, when he spoke with freedom amidst the stripes, supposed that he ' reproved the correction of the Lord."* And we have said that he at the same time bears the likeness of heretics with great fitness, in that whatsoever is done aright by Holy "= The meaning of the word accord- tion; which two senses are united in ing to St. Greg, includes perhaps the ' argumentum salutis' in the next sen- notion of ' proof in a double sense; tence.
first, the proving of man's sin to him; d This bears out the reading of the secondly, the fact of his being 'proved' passage noticed in note p, p. 228. itself constituting proof of his salva- 344 Tico ways in lohich God wounds that He may heal.
Job 5, Churcb, is ever, in their judgment, tunied and twisted awry - — '— to some fault of crookedness. But forasmuch as it is with a * good intention that he is led to speak, yet he takes no heed to discriminate who he is speaking to, he yet further subjoins, and proclaims the dispensations of the supreme governance, saying, Ver. 18. For He maketh sore, and hindeth up; He ivoundeth, and His hands shall make whole.
XXV. 42. In two ways Almighty God wounds those, whom He is minded to bring back to saving health; for sometimes He smites the flesh, and consumes the hardness of the heart by the fear of Him. Thus He recalls to saving health, by dealing wounds, when He afflicts His own Elect outwardly, that they be quickened with inward life. Whence He also says by Deut. Moses, / will kill and I?Hll make alive. I uill wound and ' ' / will heal; for He ' kills,' that He may ^ make alive,' He * wounds,' that He may ' heal;' in that He for this reason applies stripes without, in order that He may heal the wounds of sin within. But sometimes, even if strokes without should seem to have ceased, He inflicts wounds within, in that He strikes the hardness of the heart with the desire of Himself; yet in wounding He heals, in that when we are pierced with the dart of His dread. He recalls us to a right sense. For our hearts are not well sound, when they are wounded by no love of God, when they feel not the wofulness of their pilgrimage, when they do not go soiTowing w^ith the least degree of feeling for the infirmity of their neighbour.
But they are ^ wounded,' that they may be ' healed,' in that God strikes unfeeling souls with the darts of His love, and straightway makes them full of feeling, through the burning heat of charity, and hence the spouse saith in the Song of Cant. 2, Songs, For I am wounded with love. For the diseased soul, ' laid prone upon the litter of this place of banishment in blind self-security, neither beheld the Lord, nor sought to see Him.
But on being struck with the darts of His love, it is wounded in its innermost ])arts with a feeling of pious affection, bums with the desire of contemplation; and in a marvellous manner she is made alive by wounding, who aforetime lay dead in a state of health: she glows, she pants, and yearns to see Him already, from Whom she turned. By being smitten, then, she God gives trouble Jirst^ then rest 345 is brought back to a state of soundness, who is recalled to Book a secure state of inward repose by the disturbing of her_Z]L_ self-love. But when the wounded soul begins to pant after God, when, setting at nought all the alluring arts of the world, it stretches forth in desire to the land above, all is forthwith turned to its trial, whatsoever aforetime was ac- counted pleasing and alluiing in this world. For they that had a fond affection for him living in sin, cruelly assault him when he lives aright. The soul that is raised up toward God, is subject to rude assaults from the flesh, wherein it formerly lay grovelling in enjoyment, the slave of evil habits; former pleasures recur to the mind, and push hard the resisting soul with a gi'ievous conflict. But because that, while we are afflicted with transitory labour, we are rescued from everlasting pain, it is fitly subjoined; Ver. 19. He shall deliver thee in six troithles^yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.
43. For what is denoted by the number * six,' which is xxvi. followed by * the seventh,' saving the labour and course of the present life? For God, finishing all things on the sixth day, created man, and God rested on the seventh day; and this same seventh day is without an evening, for there is no longer any end to close the rest that followeth. When all things, then, are completed, the rest followeth, in that after the good works of the present life, the recompense of eternal rest follows. Therefore ' in six troubles the Lord delivers us,' that ' no evil may touch us in the seventh,' in that by the training of His fatherly pity. He exercises us with the labours of the present life, but at the coming of the Judge, He hides us from the scourge, that He may then bring us out the more sure for His salvation, in proportion as we are now scored the more cruelly with scourges. And im- mediately reckoning up with fitness both the ills of the present life, and the aids of Protection from above, adds, Ver. 20. In famine He shall redeem thee from death, and in war from the poicer of the sword.
44. As the ' famine' of the flesh is the withdrawal of thexxvii. support of the body, so the hunger of the soul is the silence of divine revelation. Hence it is rightly delivered by the Prophet, / ivill send a famine in the land, not a famine ^"^^^^i 346 Deliverance fiom famine^ sword, and scourge.
Job 5, of bread, nor a thirst of water, but a famine of hearing the '— words of the Lord. And forasmuch as when the di^dne com- ' munication leaves the human soul, the temptation of the flesh gains force against it, it is fitly brought in. And in war from the power of the sword. For we suffer a war, when we are assailed by the temptations of our flesh. Concerning Ps. 140, which same war the Psalmist saith, Cover my head in the day of battle. Therefore, whereas the reprobate, whilst their strength fails from a ' famine' of the word of God, are furthennore pierced with ' the sword of war,' the Lord both ' in famine redeems' His Elect * from death,' and 'in war' He hides them ' from the sword.' For while He refreshes their souls with the food of His word, He makes them strong to resist the temptations of the body. Yet there be some, who, though they recruit themselves, out of the store of the word of God, from the famine of the interior, though they be already stayed up against the temptations of the body by the virtue of continency, yet still fear to be stricken with the slanders of their fellow-creatures, and oftentimes, whilst they dread the arrows of the tongue, they strangle themselves with the noose of sin. And hence it is fitly added, xxviii. Ver. 21. Thou shalt he hid from the scourge of the tongue. 45. ' The scourge of the tongue' is the taunting of insults offered. They strike the righteous ' with the scourge of the tongue,' who pursue their deeds with mockery. For often- times the tongue, while it utters jibes, recalls from a good deed, and puts itself out like a scourge, in that it cuts the back of the cowardly soul. Which ' scourge of the tongue,' the Prophet had seen plotting against the elect soul, when Ps.91,3. He said, promising the aid that is above. Surely He shall "^' deliver thee from the snare of the hunter, and from the rough word. For ' hunters' seek nothing else than flesh, but we are ' delivered from the snare of the hunters and from the rough word,' when we overcome both the snare of carnal persons, and the reproaches of sneers, by setting them at nought. For their words are ' rough,' which are arrayed against our righteous ways. And to * escape the roughness of words,' is to trample down the mockings of calumniators by shutting our eyes to them. The holy soul then is hidden The Elect prepared against the last Judgment. 347 from * the scourge of tongues,' in that whilst in this world book it never seeks the honour of applause, neither does it feel Ti- the insults of calumny. But there be some that already set at nought the words of the scoraful, already care nothing for their jeers, yet they still stand in dread of the pains and tortures of the body. For our old adversary, in order to with- draw us from a right bent of mind, assaults us in diverse modes, and prosecutes the tempting of us one while by a famine of the word, another while by the conflict of the flesh, now by the scourge of talk, now by the distress of persecution. But because every perfect person, when once he has over- come the evil habits in himself, straightway goes on to brace his mind to meet the inflictions of sufiering, it is properly subjoined.
Neither shall thou be afraid of calamity when it cometh.
46. For holy men, for that they see that they are engaged xix. with an adversary of manifold form, equip themselves vari- ously in their conflict. For against a famine, they have the sustenance of God's word; against the sword of wai', they have the shield of continency; against the scourge of the tongue, the defence of patience; against the hurt of outward misfortune, they have the aid of inward love. Hence in a marvellous method it is brought to pass, that the more manifold the temptations which the craft of the enemy brings upon them, so much the richer in virtues are the wary soldiers of God rendered. And forasmuch as all the Elect severally, whilst they bear with com-ageous hearts the con- flicts of the present life, are providing for themselves security under the terrors of the future Judgment, it is rightly sub- joined; Ver. 22. In destriictioti and famine thou shall laugh.
47. For the lost shall then suffer ' destruction and famine,' xxx. when, being condemned in the last Judgment, they ai'e parted asunder from the sight of ' the Bread' eternal. For it is written. Let the wicked be taken away, that he see not the is. 26 glory of God. And the Lord declares by His own lips, /loi^x. am the living Bread, Which came down from heaven. Thus 51. ' at one and the same time both ' destruction and famine' combine to torture those, who not only feel torments without, but farther suffer death within by the plague of starvation.
348 Hell burns within and loithout. The Elect glad at Judgment.
Job 5, Hell ' destroys ' in that it burns, famine kills, in that the — - — Redeemer hides His face from them. For well and iustly they nave their recompense both withm and without, m that the wretched people both by thought and by deed did commit offence. Whence it is well said bv the Psalmist, Ps.21,9. TJioii shalt make them as a Jiery oven in the time of Thine anger: the Lord shall confound litem in His ivrath^ and the Jive shall devour iheni. For that, which is ' devoured' by fire, is kindled from the outside. But an oven is set on fire within. And so in the time of God's anger all the unrigh- teous are both ' made as a fiery oven,' and also * devoured by the fire,' in that at the appearing of the Judge, when all the multitude of them is banished from the sight of Him, both within the conscience is set on fire from the misery of 1 'Desi-want\ and without hell torments the flesh.
48. ' The scourge of the tongue' too may be understood to mean the sentence of the final doom, whereby the Just Matt. Judge saith to the lost, Depart from Me, ye cursed^ into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. The righteous man then is ' hidden from the scourge of the tongue,' and from the coming woe, because in that exceeding strictness of doom, he is then comforted with the mild voice ver. 35, of the Judge, when it is said. For I was an hungred^ and ^^' ye gave Me meat: I ivas thirsty, and ye gave Me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took 3Ie in: naked, and ye clothed Me: I was sick, and ye visited Me: I was in prison, and ver. 34. ye came unto 3Ie, Before which it is premised; Come, ye blessed of 3Iy Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Therefore ^ in destruction and famine" the righteous man ' shall laugh;' for, when the final vengeance smites all the wicked, he himself joys in the glory of a meet reward. Nor does he at that time any longer compassionate the damned by virtue of his human nature.
2 per For, incorporated into the Divine Justice by resemblance % speciemj^^ is, by the unshaken force of interior strictness, made thoroughly firm. For the souls of the Elect, being reared up in the clear light of the Righteousness above, are touched by no sense of compassion, in that the height of their bliss makes them strangers to misery. Hence also it is well said Ps. 52, bv the Psalmist; The righteous also shall see this, and The had at last unpitied. Satan a lion. 349 shall fea}', and shall laugh at hvf/, and shall say, Lo, this Book is the man that made not God his helper. For now the righteous see the wicked and fear, then they shall see and ^ laugh. For because they may now fall in imitation of them, here they are holden of fear, but because they cannot then advantage the damned, there they entertain no sympathy.
/ Therefore, that they should not commiserate those that are \ doomed to eternal woe, they read in that very justice of the ' Judge wherein they exist in bliss. For, a thing which it is not right to imagine of them, they lower the character of the happiness vouchsafed them, if, when placed in the kingdom, they wish for something which they never can accomj^lish.
But whosoever orders himself after the precepts of life, already tastes here below tlie first-fruits of that secure estate which shall last for ever, so that he has no fear of our old enemy; nor at the coming on of the crisis of death in any degree dreads his violent assault. For to the righteous the ' beginning of their recompense is most commonly nothing else than the very security of their minds in dying. Hence it is rightly added, Neither shalt thou be afraid of the beast of the earth, 49. For our crafty foe is called ' a beast of the earth,' in xxxi. that he ravins with the violence of his savage nature, to seize upon the souls of sinners at the hour of their death. For those whom he deludes by flattery during their lifetime, he seizes with cruelty when they are dying. Contrary where- unto the Lord gives a promise concerning the Church of the Elect through the Prophet, The evil beast shall not go up is. 35,9. thereon. They then in dying fear the ' beast of the earth,' who when living fear not the power of their Maker. For good men, because they submit themselves from the core of their heart to the dread of God, put away every weight of fear arising from the adversary's coming. For it is hence that the Psalmist beseeches the Lord, in these words, LestV$.7^2. he tear my soul as a lion. Hence again he says, Hear my ps. 64 voice, 0 God, in my prayer, preserve my soul from fear of the ^' ^* enemy. For while they live they perfectly fear the Judge, that when they die they may not dread the accuser. Well then is it said. Neither shall thou be afraid of the beast of the earth. As if it were in plain words, ' Forasmuch as thou 350 21ie persevering joined to Saints, helped on by enemies.
Job 5, art not now overcome by the enemy in his alluring address, thou shalt not hereafter fear him in his rage. But when we live well, It IS very needful to be on our guard, that the mind, looking down upon others, be not lifted up by the pride of standing alone. Hence it is that the blessing of fellowship is fitly called to mind, where the words are im- mediately introduced thereupon, But with the stones of the countries shall be thy covenant. xxxii. 50. The Churches of the nations are like separate countries in the world, which, while they be planted in one faith, are separated by a diversity of customs and of tongues. ' What then do we take the stones of the countries to mean but the Elect ones of the Church, to whom it is declared by the 1 Pet. voice of him who was the first among the teachers, Ye ' ' also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house? Con- cerning whom the Lord by His Prophet promises Holy Is. 54, Church, saying. Behold, I will lay thy stones in order. Whoso then lives aright, joins himself in covenant ' with the stones of the countries.' For herein, that he conquers the desires of the world, without doubt he ties his life to an imitation of the Saints that have gone before. But when he is departing from the practice of the world, the assaults of malicious spirits increase, which nevertheless, the more they afflict a man in sorrow of heart, bow him the more humbly to his Creator. And hence it is added.
And the beasts of the earth shall be peacemakers to thee.
xxxiii. 51. First it is to be observed, that he does not say, ' made peaceful,' but, * peacemakers,' that is to say, not that they are at peace, but that they make peace; for the crafty foes in making plots distress, but the distressed soul delights the more in her return to the heavenly home, the more she lives toiling in this woful place of exile, and most truly abases herself to the gracious regard of her Helper, when she considers the most violent plots of the enemy against her. The beasts of the earth then are rendered ' peacemakers' to the Elect, in that the malignant spirits, when they bear down the hearts of the good by their hostility, drive them to the love of God against their will. Thus there arises a firmer peace with God, from the same source, whence a tougher fight is occasioned us by our adversaries.
lHvil desires repressed bring peace. 351 52. By the * beasts of the earth' too may be understood the Book motions of the flesh, which, while they gall the mind by '— prompting conduct which is contrary to reason, rise up against us like beasts. But when the heart is bowed down under the Divine Law, even the incitements of the flesh are reduced, so that, though in tempting us they give a low muttering, yet they never mount so high as to the execution of the deeds, as to the madness of open biting. For who that still subsists in this conniptible flesh, completely tames these beasts of the earth, when that preeminent Preacher that was caught up to the third heaven, says, But I see'Rom,7j another law in my tiiemhers, warring against the law of my ' mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is my members. But it is one thing to see these beasts raging in the field of practice, and another to hold them ravening within the door of the heart. For when they be forced back within the bars of continence, though they still roar by tempting, yet, as we have said, they go not such lengths as the bite of unlawful practice. The beasts of the field then are peacemakers, in that though the motions of the flesh beat high in the desire, yet they never assail us with the open resistance of deeds, (though by this same circumstance, that they are called * peacemakers,' even this same that we have said of malicious spirits is not unsuitably understood.) For the motions of the flesh ' make peace' for u& with God, when they offer opposition by tempting us. For the mind of the righteous man, in that his way is directed to the realms above, is sore bestead by a grievous war arising from the corruptible body. And if at any time it be hindered in heavenly aspirations by any enjoyment of this world however slight, by that very war of temptation, which it undergoes, it is urged on to set all its affections in that, which is disturbed by no opposition. Whence it comes to pass that it recalls to mind the interior repose, and fleeing from the enticements of the flesh, sighs after it with a full affection. For temptation constrains every man to mark from whence and whereunto he is fallen, who after he has forsaken the peace of God, feels a strife rise up against him from out of himself, and then he more truly sees what he has lost of the assured love of God, who having fallen down to himself.
352 Peace for the body. Man sees himself in his fellow. Job 5, finds his own self insulted within himself. The beasts of the 24 ,, — '- — earth then make peace for us, in that the motions of the flesh, whilst by offermg temptation they irritate us, urge us forwards to the love of the interior repose. Now it is rightly added, Ver. 24. And thou shalt know thai thy tabernacle shall be in peace.
xxxiv. 53. In holy Scripture full peace is described in one way, and peace in its beginning in another. For ' Truth' gave to JohnU, His Disciples peace in its beginning, when He said, Peace I leave icith you; My peace 1 give imto you. And Simeon desired to have perfect peace, when he besought saying, Luke 2, JS^ow leitest Tliou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word. For our peace begins in longing for the Creator, but it is perfected by a clear vision. For it will then be perfect, when oar mind is neither blinded by ignorance, nor moved by the assaults of its fleshly part. But forasmuch as we touch upon its first beginnings, when we either subject the soul to God or the flesh to the soul, the ' tabernacle' of the righteous man is said to ' have peace,' in that his body, which he inhabits by his mind, is held in from the froward motions of its desires under the controlling hand of righte- ousness But what advantage is it to restrain the flesh by continence, if the mind is uninstructed to expand itself by compassion in the love of our neighbour.? For that chasteness of the flesh is as nothing, which is not recommended by sweetness of spirit. Whence after the ' peace of the taber- nacle' it is fitly subjoined, And thou shall visit thy likeness, and shalt not sin.