And thinketh himself free horn like a wild ass's colt. xiii. 23. For by ^ a wild ass's colt' is set forth every kind of wild animals, which being left free to the motions of nature, are not held by the reins of persons ruling them. For the fields leave animals in a state of liberty both to roam where they list, and to rest when they are wearied; and though man is im- measurably superior to insensate beasts, yet that is very often not allowed to man, which is granted to brute creatures. For those animals, which are never kept for any other end, assuredly never have their movements held in under the bands of discipline; but man, who is being brought to a life hereafter, must of necessity be held in all his movements under the controlling hand of discipline, and like a tame animal render service, bound with reins, and live restricted by eternal appointments. He then that seeks to put in practice in un- restrained liberty all the things that he has a desire for, what else is this but that he longs to be like the wild ass's colt, that the reins of discipline may not hold him in, but that he may boldly run at large through the forest of desires?
24. But oftentimes Divine mercy breaks by the encounter of sudden adversity those, whom it sees going into the un- ruliness of lawless freedom, that being crushed they may learn with what damnable exaltation they had been swoln, that being now tamed by the experience of the scourge, they may like tame animals yield the mind's neck to the reins of the commandments, and go along the ways of the present life at the ruler's beck. With these reins he knew well that he Ps. 73, ^y^^ bound, who said, F am as a beast before Thee, and lam Submission to God's Will. Hardness of the heart. 597 continually with Thee. Whence too that raging persecutor, Book when he was brought away from the field of unbelievhig 1— self-indulgence to the house of faith, being pricked by the spurs of his ruler, heard the words, It is hard for thee to kick Acts 9, against the pricks. It remains then, if we would not hence- ^* forth be like the wild ass's colt, that in all that we desire we first look out for the token of the interior appointment, so that our mind in all that it strives at may be held in by the bridle of the Supreme control, and may fulfil its wishes the more effectually to the obtaining of life, by the very same act, whereby even against its will it treads under foot the aims and objects of its own life. Zophar delivered many forcible sayings, but he is not conscious that he is addressing them to a better than himself; whence he still further subjoins in words of upbraiding, Ver. 13. Thou hast set firm thine heart, and stretched out thine hands towards Him.
25. The heart is not here said to be ' set firm' by virtue but xiv. by insensibility, for every soul that submits itself to the consideration of the interior severity, is directly softened by the fear thereof; and the shaft of divine dread enters into him, in that he carries weak bowels through humility. But he that is hardened by obstinacy in insensibility, as it were sets his heart firm, that the darts of heavenly fear may not pierce it. Whence the Lord says mercifully to some by the Prophet, And I will take away the stony heart out of you,Ezek. and I will give you a heart of flesh. For He ' takes away ^ the stony heart,' when He removes from us the hardness of pride. And He ' gives us a heart of flesh,' when He there- upon changes that same hardness into sensibility. Now by ' hands' as we have often taught are denoted works. To stretch out the hands to God, then, with sin, is to pride ourselves upon the excellency of our works to the prejudice of the grace of the Giver. For he that, speaking in the presence of the Eternal Judge, ascribes to himself the good that he does, stretches out his hands to God in a spirit of pride. It is in this way truly that the lost ever let themselves loose against the Elect, and so heretics against Catholics; that when they are unable to abuse their doings, they set themselves to blame the good for pride in those doings, that those, whom they cannot upbraid for weak points in practice, they may 598 Sin to be renounced in deed and in thought.
Job 11, charge with the guilt of high-mindedness. And hence the '- good things which are done outwardly, they now no longer reckon to be good, in that they are set forth as it were in the prosecution of swelling conceit. And these oftentimes with swelling thoughts rebuke lowly deeds, and know not that they are dealing blows against themselves by their words. But whereas Zophar had hitherto chidden the righteous man with reproof, now, as giving him lessons of instruction, he subjoins, Ver. 13, 14, 15. If the iniquity which is in thine hand thou put far from thee^ and wickedness dwell not in thy tabernacle, then shall thou lift up thy face without spot, yea thou shall he stedfast, and shall not fear. XV. 29. Every sin is either committed in thought alone, or it is done in thought and deed together. Therefore * iniquity in the hand' is offence in deed; but ' wickedness in the tabernacle,' is iniquity in the heart; for our heart is not unfitly called a tabernacle, w^herein we are buried w^ithin ourselves, when we do not shew ourselves outwardly in act. Zophar therefore, in that he was the friend of a righteous person, knows what he should say, but in that he reproached a righteous person, bearing the likeness of heretics, he does not know how rightly to deliver even the things which he knows. But let us, treading under our feet all that is delivered by him in pride of spirit, reflect how true his words are, if they had but been spoken in a right manner. For fii'st he bids that * iniquity' be removed from the ^ hand,' and afterwards that ' wickedness' be cut off from the ' tabernacle;' for whoso- ever has already cut away fi'om himself all wicked deeds with- out, must of necessity in returning to himself probe himself discreetly in the purpose of his heart, lest sin, which he no longer has in act, still hold out in thought. Hence too it is Prov. well said by Solomon, Prepare thy work without, and ^^> 27- diligently work thy field, that afterwards thou mayest build thine house. For what is it when the ' work is pre- pared,' to ' till the field diligently without,' saving when the briars of iniquity have been plucked up, to train our practice to bearing fruits of recompense? And after the tilling of the field, what else is it to return to the building of our house, than that we very often learn from good deeds the perfect purity of life which we should build up in our thoughts.
Practice perfects in rir/Ziteousness. Boldness toward God. 599 For almost all good deeds come from the thoughts, but there Book be some fine points of thought which have their birth in ^' action; for as the deed is derived from the mind, so on the other hand the mind is instructed by the deed; for the soul taking the first beginnings of divine love dictates the good things which should be done, but after the deeds so dictated have begun to be fiilfilled, being practised by its own actions, it learns how little it saw when it began to dictate good deeds. Thus the ' field is tilled without, that the house may afterwards be built;' for very often we gain from outward practice what an extreme nicety of righteousness we should keep in our hearts; and Zophar was well minded to observe this order, in that he spake first of ' iniquity being put away from the hands,' and afterwards ' wickedness fi'om the taber- nacle;' for the mind can never be completely set upright in thought when it still goes astray in deed.
27. Now if we thoroughly wipe away these two, we then directly ' lift our face without spot' to God. For the soul is the inner face of man, by which same we are known, that we may be regarded with love by our Maker. Now it is to lift up this same face, to raise the soul in ^ God by appliance to i ai. <to.' the exercises of prayer. But there is a spot that pollutes the uplifted face, when consciousness of its own guilt accuses the mind intent; for it is forthwith dashed from all con- fidence of hope, if when busied in prayer it be stung with recollection of sin not yet subdued. For it distiTists its being able to obtain what it longs for, in that it bears in mind its still refusing to do what it has heard fiom God. Hence it is said by John, Beloved, if our heart condemn us iJohn3, not, then have we confidence toward God; and tchatsoever ^'^^' ue ask we shall receive of Him. Hence Solomon saith, HeVrox. that iurneth away his ear from hearing the law, ecen his^^^' prayer shall he abomination. For our heart blames us in ofiering up our prayers, when it calls to mind that it is set in opposition to the precepts of Him, Whom it implores, and the prayer becomes abomination, when there is a * turning away' from the control of the law; in that verily it is meet that a man should be a stranger to the favours of Him, to Whose bidding he will not be subject.
28. Wherein there is this salutary remedy, if when the coo How to ' Lijl up the face without spot^ to God.
Job 11 soul reproaches itself upon the remembrance of sm, it first 13—15. bewail that in praj^er, wherein it has gone wrong, that where- °"^^'as the slain of offences is washed away by tears, in offering up our prayers the face of the heart may be viewed unspotted by our Maker. But we must be over and above on our guard, that the soul do not again fall away headlong to that, which it is overjoyed that it has washed away by tears; but whilst the sin that is deplored is again committed, those very lamentings be made light of in the eyes of the righteous Ecclus. Ji-i<^^ge. For we should call to mind what is said. Do not 7, 14. repeat a word in thy prayer; by which same saying the wise man in no sort forbids us to beseech pardon oftentimes, but to repeat our sins. As if it were expressed in plain words; ' When thou hast bewailed thy misdoings, never again do any thing for thee to bewail again in prayer.'
29. Therefore that ' the face may be lifted up in prayer without spot,' it behoves that before the seasons of prayer every thing that can possibly be reproved in the act of prayer be heedfully looked into, and that the mind when it stays from prayer as well should hasten to shew itself such, as it desires to appear to the Judge in the very season itself of prayer. For we often harbour some impure or for- bidden thoughts in the mind, when we are disengaged from our prayers. And when the mind has lifted itself up to the exercises of prayer, being made to recoil, it is subject to images of the things whereby before it was burthened of free will whilst unemployed. And the soul is now as it were with- out ability to lift up the face to God, in that the mind being blotted within, it blushes at the stains of polluted thought. Oftentimes we are ready to busy ourselves with the concerns of the world, and when after such things we apply ourselves to the business of prayer, the mind cannot lift itself to heavenly things, in that the load of earthly solicitude has sunk it down below, and the face is not shewn pure in prayer, in that it is stained by the mire of grovelling ima- gination.
30. However, sometimes we rid the heart of every encum- brance, and set ourselves against the forbidden motions there- ~ of, even at such times as we are disengaged from prayer, yet because we ourselves commit sins but seldom, we arc the Not to forgive^ is a ' spot' in Go(Vs sight, 601 more backward in letting go the offences of others, and in Book proportion as our mind the more anxiously dreads to sin, the ' — more unsparingly it abhors the injuries done to itself by another; whence it is brought to pass that a man is found slow to grant pardon, in the same degree that by going on advancing, he has become heedful against the commission of sin. And as he iears himself to transgress against another, he claims to punish the more severely the transgression that is done against himself. But what can be discovered worse than this spot of bitterness ^ which in the sight of the Judge ^ doloris does not stain charity, but kills it outright.? For every sin stains the life of the soul, but bitterness maintained against our neighbour slays it; for it is fixed in the soul like a sword, and the very hidden parts of the bowels are gored by the point thereof; and if it be not first drawn out of the pierced heart, no whit of divine aid is won in prayer. For the medicines of health cannot be applied to the wounded limbs, unless the iron be first withdrawn from the wound. Hence it is . that ' Truth' saith by Itself, //* ye forgive not men their Matt. 6, trespasses^ neither will your Father Which is in Heaven forgive you your trespasses. Hence He enjoins, saying. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against ^^^\ any. Hence He saith again, Give, and it shall be given Luke 6, unto you; forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. Hence to the^^* form of petition. He affixed the condition of pity; saying. Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass ^^att. 6, against us: that truly the good which we beg from God being pierced with compunction, we first do with our neigh- bour, being altered by conversion. Therefore we then truly ' lift our face without spot,' when we neither commit forbidden misdeeds, nor retain those which have been committed against ourselves from jealous regard for self; for in the hour of prayer our soul is overwhelmed with sore dismay, if either its practice still continue to pollute it, or bitterness kept for the injuring of another lay charge against it; which two when any one has cleansed away, he forthwith arises free to the things which are subjoined, Yea, thou shall be stedl'ast^ and shall not fear, in that doubtless he fears the Judge the less, the more stedfast he stands in good deeds. For he gets the mastery of fears, who retains possession of stedfastness, 602 Contemplation harder to maintain than action.
Job 11, in that whilst he anxiously busies himself to do what our , ~ ^' Creator tenderly enioins, he bethinks hiroself in security of MOUAL...that which He threatens with terriblcness.
31. Moreover it should be known, that there are some good deeds wherein we persevere unwearied, and again, there are some from which we are continually giving over , and falling away, and we are restored to these, not without I great endeavours at intervals of time; for in the active life the mind is stablished without failing, but from the con- templative, being overcome by the load of its infirmity, it faints away. For the first endures the more stedfastly in proportion as it opens itself to things about it for our neighbour's ^^'eal; the latter falls away the more swiftly, in proportion as passing beyond the barriers of the flesh, it endeavours to soar up above itself- The first directs its way through level places, and therefore plants the foot of practice more strongly; but the other, as it aims at heights above itself, the sooner descends wearied to itself. Which is well and briefly conveyed by Ezekiel, when he relates the motions of the living creatures which he had seen, saying, Ez. 1,9. They turned not ivhen they went; and soon after he subjoins ^^* in addition. And the living creatures went and returned. For sometimes the holy ^ living creatures go and return not,' and sometimes they ' go and return forthwith;' for when the minds of the Elect, through the grace of an active life being vouchsafed them, abandon the paths of error, they never return to the evil courses of the world which they have forsaken; but when through the gaze of contemplation they are led to stay themselves from this same active life, they ' go and return,' in that hereby, that they are never able to continue for long in contemplation, they again let themselves out in action, that by busying themselves in such things as are immediately near them, they may recruit their strength, and may be enabled by contemplation again to soar above them- selves. But while this practice of contemplation is in due method resumed at intervals of time, we hold on assuredly without failing all its entireness; for though the mind being overcome by the weight of its infirmity fall short, yet being restored again by continual eflbrts it lays hold thereof. Nor should it be said to have lost its firniness in that, which.
Sufferings of the Elect here are transient. 603 though it be ever failnig in, it is ever pursuing, even when Book it has lost the same. It proceeds; Ver. 16. Thou shall also forget thy misery^ and no more remember it, as waters that pass away.
32. The mind feels the ills of the present life the more xvi. severely, in proportion as it neglects to take account of the good that comes after; and as it will not consider the rewards that are in store, it reckons all to be grievous that it undergoes; and hence the blinded imagination murmurs against the stroke of the scourge, and that is taken for an immeasurable woe, which by the days flowing on in their course is daily /being brought to an end. But if a man once raise himself I to things eternal, and fix the eye of the soul upon those ,' objects which remain without undergoing change, he sees i that here below all whatsoever runs to an end is almost nothing at all. He is subject to the adversities of the present life, but he bethinks himself that all that passes away is as nought. For the more vigorously he makes his way into the interior joys, he is the less sensible of pains without. Whence Zophar, not being afraid with boldfaced hardihood to instruct one better than himself, exhorts to righteousness, and shews how little chastening appears in the eyes of the righteous man. As if it were in plain words; ' If thou hast a taste of the joy which remains within, all that gives pain without forthwith becomes light.' Now^ he does well in likening the miseries of the present life to ' waters that pass away,' for passing calamity never overwhelms the mind of the Elect with the force of a shock, yet it does tinge it with the touch of sorrow. For it drops indeed with the bleeding of the wound, though it is not dashed from the certainty of its salvation. But it often happens that not only stripes inflict bruises, but that in the mind of each one of the righteous the temptings of evil spirits come in force, so that he is grieved by the stroke without, and is in some sort chilled within by temptation. Yet grace never forsakes him, which same the more severely it smites us in the dealings of Providence, so much the more does it watch over us in pity; for when it has begun to grow dark through temptation, the inward light kindles itself again. Whence too it is added; 604 Great joy often granted afier dark temptations.
Job 11, Ver. 17. And the noonday splendour shall rise to thee at -^ — - eventide.
Hist.
xvii. 33. For ' the noonday splendour at eventide' is the renew- ing of virtue in the season of temptation, that the soul should be reinvigorated by the sudden heat of charity, which but now was full of fear, that the light of grace had sunk to it; which Zophar further unfolds with more exactness, when he subjoins, Ver. 18. And when thou thinkest thyself consiuned^ thou shall arise like the morning star.
xviii. 34. For it often comes to pass that so many temptations beset our path, that the very multitude of them almost inclines us to the downfall of desperation. Hence for the most part, when the mind is turned to weariness, it scarce takes account even of the hurts that its virtue sustains, and notwithstanding that it is wholly filled with pain, it is as if it were now dislocated from the sense of pain, and were unable to reckon up with what a tumult of thoughts it is overrun. It sees itself momentarily on the point of falling headlong, and grief itself withstands it worse, that it should not lay hold of the arms of resistance. Mists encompass the eyes, wherever turned about, and whereas darkness ever obstructs the sight, the sad soul sees nought else than darkness; but with the merciful Judge it often happens that this very sad- ness, which even weighs down the effect of prayer, intercedes for us the more piercingly. For then our Creator sees the blackness of our sorrow, and pours back again the rays of the light withdrawn, so that the mind being immediately braced up by His gifts becomes full of vigour, which same a little before contending evil propensities kept down under the heel of pride. At once it shakes off the load of torpor, and bursts with the light of contemplation after the dark- ness of its troubled state. At once that is raised to the joy of advancement, which amidst temptations was well nigh driven by despair to a sorer fall. Without a conflict of the heart it looks down upon present things, without let of mis- giving it trusts in the retribution to come. Therefore when the righteous man * thinks himself consumed, he arises like the morning star,' in that so soon as he has begun to be benighted NoWy the Elect are raised up from temporal sorroios. 605 uith the blackness of temptations, he is restored anew to the Book light of grace, and he in himself manifests the day of righte ^-^— ousness, who the moment before, on the point to fall, dreaded the night of guiltiness. Now the life of the righteous is rightly compared to the ' morning star.' For the morning- star, being precursor of the sun, proclaims the day. And what does the innocency of the Saints proclaim to us, saving the brightness of the Judge, That cometh after? For in our admi- ration of them we see what we are to account of the Majesty of the true Light. We do not yet behold the power of our Redeemer, but we admire His goodness in the characters of His Elect. Therefore in that the life of the good presents to our eyes on the consideration of it the force of Truth, the ' morning star' aiises bright to us heralding the sun.
35. But be it known that all that we have made out, pro- ceeding upon the opposition of spiritual temptations, may without hindrance be interpreted by external ills, for holy men, because they love the things above from the bottom of their heart, encounter hardships in things below; but at the end they find the light of joy, which in the span of this pass- ing life they care not to have. Whence it is said on this occasion by Zophar, And the noondaij splendour shall arise to thee at eventide. For the sinner's light in the da}'- time is dimness at eventide, in that he is buoyed up with good fortune in the present life, but is swallowed up by the darkness of calamit}- at the end; but to the righteous man the noonday splendour ariseth at eventide, in that he knows what exceeding brightness is in store for him when he has already begun to set. Hence it is written; Whoso Jeareth ^cdus. the Lord, it shall go tcell with him at the last. Hence it is ' declared by the Psalmist; When He giveth His beloved sleep, Ps. 127, ^this is the heritage of the Lord. He, while he is still T'^^'^ set in the strife of this present life as well, ' when he ^^^ thinketh himself consumed, ariseth like the morning star;' because whilst falling outwardly he is renewed in- wardly. And the more that he encounters crosses with- out, the more richly he gleams with the hght of his virtues within, as Paul testifies, who saith. Though our 2 Cot. outward man perish, yet the imvard man is renewed day by ' * GOG Present suffering increases future Joy.
Job M,day. For our light affliction which is but for a moment Hist.
worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. And it ought to be observed, that he never says, ' when thou art consumed,' but, ' when thou thinkest thyself consumed,' in that both that which we see is doubtful, and that which we hope for certain. Whence too the same Paul did not know, but thought, that he was consumed, who even when falling headlong into sufferings and tribulations, shone 2 Cor. bright like the morning star, saying, As dying., and^ behold., ' * ' ive live; as sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as j)oor, yet, making many rich. And we should know that the worse plight the mind of the good is reduced to for the love of the truth, the more sure and certain its hope of the rewards of eternity. Whence too it is justly added;