paration to the highest degree of intensity, proves vain, and is stilled in a moment. And the mind is so much the longer detained from necessary concerns, as it thinks on trifles to a wider extent. Forasmuch therefore as the evil spirits one while deal a blow against the charges of our stewardship by a slothful or a headlong mode of action, at another time throw them into disorder by a backward or an unchecked use of speech, and are almost always burthening them with exces- sive loads of care, the Chaldeans in three bands carry off the camels. For it is as it were to make three hands against the camels, to spread confusion amidst the business of earthly stewardship, now by unwananted deed, now by overmuch speech, now by unregulated thought, so that while the mind is striving to direct itself eflectually to outward ministrations, it should be cut off from the consideration of itself, and know nothing of the injuries which it sustains in itself, in the same proportion that it exerts itself in the affairs of others 1 ISDiscretion, the one that escapes. The Wilderness^evil spirits.
Job 1, with a zeal above what is befitting. But when a right mind * -undertakes any charge of stewardship, it considers what is * due to self and what to neighbours, and neither by excess of concern for others overlooks its own interests, nor by atten- tion to its own welfare, puts behind the affairs of others. But yet it very often happens that while the mind is dis- creetly intent upon both, while it keeps itself clear for the utmost precautions, both as regards itself and the things which have been entrusted to it, still being thrown into confusion by some unexpected point in any case that arises, it is so hurried away headlong, that all its precautions are overwhelmed thereby in a moment. And hence the Chal- deans strike with the sword the servants that were the keepers of the camels. Yet one returns; for amidst all this the rational thought of discretion meets the eyes of our mind, and the soul, taking heed to herself, is led to comprehend what she has lost within by the sudden onset of temptation. It follows; Ver. 18, 19. While he was yet speaking, there came also another y and said. Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking icine in their eldest brother'' s house: And, behold, there came a great wind from, the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. xlix. 76. As we have before said, ' the wilderness' is the deserted multitude of impure spirits, which when it forsook the felicity of its Creator, as it were lost the hand of the cultivator. And from the same there came a strong wind, and overthrew the house; in that strong temptation seizes" us from the unclean spirits, and overturns the conscience from its settled frame of tranquillity. But this house stands by four corners for this reason, that the firm fabric of our mind is upheld by Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, Justice. This house is grounded on four corners, in that the whole structure of good practice is raised in these four virtues. And hence do four rivers of Paradise water the earth. For while the heart is watered with these four virtues, it is cooled from all the heat " K. ' Steals on U3,' which is justified by the mention of hidden impulfles' at the end of the paragraph.
Cornersofthe house, Cardinal Virtues. Children, sei'etiGi/ts.\\9 of carnal desires. Yet sometimes when idleness steals on " Book the mind, prudence waxes cold; for when it is weary and '— turns slothful, it neglects to forecast coming events. Some- times while some delight is stealing on** the mind, our r temperance decays **. For in whatever degi'ee we are led to take delight in the things of this life, we are the less temperate to forbear in things forbidden. Sometimes fear works its way into the heart and confounds the powers of our fortitude, and we prove the less able to encounter adversity, the more excessively we love some things that we dread to part with. And sometimes self-love invades the mind, makes it swerve by a secret declension from the straight line of justice: and in the degree that it refuses to refer itself wholly to its Maker, it goes contrary to the claims of justice. Thus ' a strong wind smites the four comers of the house,' in that strong temptation, by hidden impulses, shakes the four virtues; and the corners being smitten, the house is as it were up- rooted; in that when the virtues are beaten, the conscience is brought to trouble.
77. Now it is within these Xour corners of the house that the sons are feasting, because it is within the depths of the mind, which is carried up to the topmost height of perfection in these four virtues especially, that the others like a kind of offspring of the heart take their food together. For the gift of the Spirit, which, in the mind It works on, forms first of all Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, Justice, in order that the same mind may be perfectly fashioned to resist every species of assault, doth afterwards give it a temper in the seven virtues, so as against folly to bestow Wisdom, against dulness. Understanding, against rashness, Counsel, against fear. Courage, against ignorance. Knowledge, against hardness of heart. Piety, against pride. Fear.
78. Hut sometimes, whilst the mind is sustained with the plenitude and richness of a gift so large, if it enjoys unin- terrupted security in these things, it forgets from what source it has them, and imagines that it derives that from itself, ° ' Surripit menti,' but K. ' surrepit,' also, p. 114, where K. does not. which has been followed here as giving P or ' stealing from,' as above, the better sense. Ed. Par. 1523, has 4 S. Aug. Conf. x. 44. describes this the same, and it professes to be from sort of temptation in eating, three ancient Msa. But it reads thus r20 Seeming loss of Gifts teaches whence they come. Job 1, which it sees to be never wantine: to it. Hence it is that Moral ^^^^ same grace sometimes withdraws itself for our good, and shews the presumptuous mind how weak it is in itself. For then we really learn whence our good qualities proceed, when, by seemingly losing them, we are made sensible that they can never be preserved by our own efforts. And so for the purpose of tutoring us in lessons of humility, it very often happens that, when the crisis of temptation is upon us, such extreme folly comes down upon our wisdom, that the mind being dismayed, knows nothing how to meet the evils that are tlireatened, or how to make ready against tempta- tion. But by this very folly, the heart is wisely instructed; forasmuch as from whatever cause it turns to follv for a moment, it is afterwards rendered by the same the more really, as it is the more humbly, wise; and by these very means, whereby wisdom seems as if lost, it is held in more secure possession. Sometimes when the mind lifts itself up in pride on the grounds of seeing high things, it is dulled with a remarkable obtuseness in the lowest and meanest subjects; that he, who with rapid flight penetrated into the highest things, should in a moment see the very lowest closed to his understanding. But this very dulness preserves to us, at the very time that it withdraws from us, our power of understanding. For whereas it abases the heart for a moment, it strengthens it in a more genuine way to understand the loftiest subjects. Sometimes while we are congratulating ourselves that we do every thing with grave deliberation, some piece of chance takes us in the nick, and we are carried off with a sudden precipitancy; and we, who believed our- selves always to have lived by method, are in a moment laid waste with an inward confusion. Yet by the discipline of this very confusion we learn not to attribute our counsels to our own powers; and we hold to gravity with the more matured endeavours, that we return to the same as if once lost. Sometimes while the mind resolutely defies adversity, when adverse events rise up, she is struck with violent alarm. But when agitated thereby, she learns to Whom to attribute it, that on any occasion she stood tirm; and she afterwards holds fast her fortitude the more resolutely, as she sees it now gone as it were out of her hand the moment that terror The Virtues of good men never really destroyed. 121 came upon her. Sometimes whilst we are congratulating Book ourselves that we know great things, we are stunned with a _ blindness of instantaneous ignorance ^ But in so far as the eye of the mind is for a moment closed by ignorance, it is afterwards the more really opened to admit knowledge, in that in fact being instructed by the stroke of its blindness, it may know also from Whom it has its very knowing. Some- times while ordering all things in a religious spirit, when we congratulate ourselves that we have in abundant measure the bowels of pious tenderness, we are struck with a sudden fit of hardness of heart. But when thus as it were hardened, we learn to Whom to ascribe the good dispositions of piety which we have; and the piety, which has been in a manner ex- tinguished, is recovered with more reality, seeing that it is loved with fuller affection as having been lost. Sometimes while the mind is overjoyed that it is bowed under the fear of God, it suddenly waxes stiff under the temptations of pride. Yet immediately conceiving great fears that it should have no fear, it speedily turns back again to humility, which it recovers upon a finner footing, in proportion as it has felt the weight of this virtue by seeming to let it go.
79. When the house, then, is overthrown, the sons perish; because when the conscience is disturbed under temptation, the virtues that are engendered in the heart, for any ad- vantage from ourselves knowing them, are speedily and in the space of a moment overwhelmed. Now these sons live *1 This passage will remind the and study, for God will endue thee with reader of whai is related of Albertus such abundance of His wisdom, that Magnus by LouisofValleoletum, "while by the books of thy learning the whole Master Albert, spent with age, was one Church will be enlightened. And lest day lecturing in the schools in the thou shouldest have the power to waver monastery at Cologne in the presence in the faith, before thy death all sylloof a full auditory, and wa-s bringing gistic cunning shall be taken from together and urging certain arguments, thee, and God shall remove thee from his memory wavered. All were asto- this world in thy boyish innocence and nished at this not a little; he however sincerity and truth of faith. Thou but for a little while remaining silent, shalt know the time from this, that then with rallied spirits said before thy memory shall fail thee in public tliem all," Listen, dearest brethren,...lecture,' &c. &c. This said, amid the when I was but young 1 entered this tears of all, he descended from the chair, order of Preachers at the admonition of and thenceforth never wrote or lectured the glorious Virgin Mother of God"...again, but as if a boy lived for five years (norne sentences follow involving prayers among the brethren all his remaining to St. Mary which cannot fitly be in- time, innocent and dove-like, devoting troduced here,) " She deigned to say, himself to continual prayers," &c. * Be faithful and persevering in virtue 122 Joli's risifig is the mind's awakening by trial.
Job 1, inwardly by the Spirit, though they perish outwardly in the -jrr-^ — ^ flesh: because, forsooth, althouojh our virtues in the time of temptation be disordered in a moment, and fall from the safety of their seat, yet by perseverance in endeavour they hold on unimpaired in the root of the mind. With these the three sisters likewise are slain, for in the heart, sometimes Charity is ruffled by afflictions, Hope shaken by fear, Faith beaten down by questionings. For oftentimes we grow dull in the love of our Creator, while we are chastened with the rod beyond what we think suitable for us. Often while the mind fears more than need be, it weakens the confidence of its hopes. Often while the in- tellect is exercised with endless questionings, faith being staggered grows faint, as though it would fail. But yet the daughters live, who die when the house is struck. For not- withstanding that in the seat of the conscience the disorder by itself tells that Faith, Hope, and Charity, are almost slain, yet they are kept alive in the sight of God, by perseverance in a right purpose of mind; and hence a servant escapes alone to tell these things, in that discretion of mind remains unhurt even amid temptations. And the servant is the cause that Job recovers his sons by weeping, whilst the mind, being grieved at what discretion reports, keeps by penitence the powers which it had in a manner begun to part with. By a marvellous dispensation of Providence are w^e thus dealt with, so that our conscience is at times struck with the smitings of guilt. For a person would count himself possessed of great powers indeed, if he never at any time within the > see S. depth of his mind felt the failure of them ^ But when the riug mind is shaken by the assaults of temptation, and is as it Horn, were more than enough disheartened, there is shewn to it the defence of humility against the arts of its enemy, and from the very occasion, whence it fears to sink powerless, it receives strength to stand firm. But the person tempted not only learns from Whom he has his strength, but is made to understand with what great watchfulness he must preserve it. For oftentimes one, whom the conflict of temptation had not force to overcome, has been brought down in a worse way by his own self-security. For when any one awearied relaxes himself at his ease, he abandons his mind without restraint Rending the mantle^ chastening our actions. 1*23 to the corrupter. But if, by the dispensations of mercy Book from above, the stroke of temptation falls upon him, not so as to overwhelm him with a sudden violence, but to instruct him by a measured approach, then he is awakened to foresee the snares, so that with a cautious mind he girds himself to face the enemy in fight. And hence it is rightly subjoined, Ver. 20. Then Job arose.
80. For sitting betokens one at ease, but rising, one in a con- 1. flict. His rising, then, when he heard the evil tidings, is setting the mind more resolutely for conflicts, after the experience of temptations, by which very temptations even the power of discernment is the gainer, in that it learns the more perfectly to distinguish good from evil. And therefore it is well added, A?icl rent his mantle.
81. We * rend our mantle,' whenever we review wiih a li. discriminating eye our past deeds; for unless with God our deeds were as a cloak that covered us, it would never have been declared by the voice of an Angel, Blessed is he that Her. 16, watcheth, and kcepeth his garments^ lest he walk naked, and ^' they see his shame; for ' our shame' is then ' seen,' when our life, a])pearing worthy of condemnation in the eyes of the righteous in judgment, has not the covering of after good practice. But because, as often as we are tempted with guilt, we are prompted to mourning, and being stirred by our own lamentations, open the eyes of the mind to the more perfect perception of the light of righteousness, we as it were rend our mantle in grief, in that in consequence of our weeping discretion being strengthened, we chastise' all that we do with greater strictness, and with wrathful hand. Then all our high-mindedness comes down, then allour overcunning- ness is dropped from our thoughts; and hence it is added.
And shaved his head, and /ell down upon the ground, and worshipped.
8'i. For what do we understand in a moral sense by hair, lii. but the wandering thoughts of the mind? and hence it is elsewhere said to the Church, Thij lijjs are like a thread of Cant. 4, scarlet, and thy speech is comely; fur a thread ' binds the hairs i \.-^^^^ Vulg. ' vindicamus.' so some Msp. ap.Ben. camtiH, * we judge,' which hardly suits M well as A.D.C.D.H. Ben. has judi- ' irata inanu.'
124 Shaving the head, cutting off self-assurance.
Job 1, of the head. So the lips of the Spouse are like a thread, ^^' in that by the exhortations of Holy Church all dissipated °"^^' thoughts in the minds of her hearers are put in bands, that they may not roam at large, and be spread abroad amongst forbidden objects, and thus spread abroad, lie heavy on the eyes of the mind, but may as it were gather themselves to one direction, in that the thread of holy preaching binds them. Which also is well represented to be of scarlet; for the preaching of the Saints glows only with charity. And what is signified by the head, but that very mind, which is principal in every action? Whence it is else- Eccl. 9, where said. And let thy head lack no ointment; for oint- ^* ment upon the head is charity in the heart; and there is lack of ointment upon the head, when there is a with- drawal of charity from the heart. The shaving of the head then is the cutting off all superfluous thoughts from the mind. And he shaveth his head and falls upon the earth, who, restraining thoughts of self-presumption,, humbly ac- knowledges how weak he is in himself.
83. For it is hard for a man to do great things, and not to harbour confident thoughts in his own mind on the score of his great doings. For from this very fact, that we are living in strenuous opposition to our vices, presumptuous imaginations are engendered in the heart; and while the mind valorously beats down the evil habits without her, she is very often inwardly swoln within herself; and now she accounts herself to have some special merits, nor ever imagines that she sins in the conceits of self-esteem. But in the eyes of the severe Judge she is so much the worse delinquent, as the sin committed, in proportion as it is the more concealed, is well nigh incorrigible; and the pit is opened the wider to devour, the more proudly the life we lead glories in itself. Hence, as we have often said before, it is brought to pass by the merciful dispensations of our Creator, that the soul that places confidence in itself is struck down by a providential temptation; that being brought low it may find out what it is, and may lay aside the haughtiness of self-presumption. For as soon as the mind feels the blow of temptation, all the presumption and swelling of our thoughts abates.
Grace kept by confessing our own?iakedness. 125 84. For when the mind is lifted up in pride, it breaks out Book as it were into usurpation'. And it has for the attendants '— of its tyrannical power, its own imaginations that flatter it. But if an enemy assaults the tyrant, the favour of those attendants is speedily at an end. For when the adversary finds entrance the attendants fly, and fall away from him in fear, whom in time of peace they extolled with cunning flattery. But, when the attendants are withdrawn, he remains alone in the face of the enemy; for when high thoughts are gone, the troubled mind sees itself only and the temptation, and thus upon hearing of evil tidings, the head is shaved, whensoever under the violent assault of temptation the mind is bared of the thoughts of self-assurance. For what does it mean that the Nazarites let their hair grow long, saving that by a life of special continency proud thoughts gain gi'ound? And what docs it signify, that, the act of devotion over, the Nazarite is commanded to shave his Numb. head, and cast the hair into the sacrificial fire, but that we^'°' then reach the height of perfection, when we so overcome our external evil habits, as to discard from the mind even thoughts that are superfluous.'' To consume these in the sacrificial fire is, plainly, to set them on fire with the flame of divine love; that the whole heart should glow with the love of God, and burning up every superfluous thought, should as it were consume the hair of the Nazarite in com- pleting his devotion. And observe that he Jell upon the earth and worshipped; lor he sets forth to God the true worship, who in humility sees that he is dust, who attributes no goodness to himself, who owns that the good that he does is from the mercy of the Creator; and hence he says well and fitly, Ver. 21. Naked caiiie I out of my motheis womb, and naked shall I return thither.
85. As if the mind when tempted and taken in the power- liii. lessness of its weak condition were to say, * Naked I was by grace first begotten in the faith, and naked I shall be saved by the same grace in being taken up into heaven ^' For it is' >n assurap- • * Tyranniclprn.' The natural ex- the Emperors. St. Chrysostoiu calU pression for a rebellion that would set Absalom's rebellion bv this name, on up a new king, such as were all under Stat. Horn. xiv. Tr. p. 244, 126 We 7nay take all of extraordinary Gifts.
Job 1, a great consolation to a troubled mind, when, smitten with - — -^ the assaults of sin, it sees itself as it were stripped of all virtue, to fly to the hope of Mercy alone, and prevent itself / being stripped naked in proportion as it humbly thinks itself i to be naked and bare of virtue, and though it be perchance bereaved of some virtue in the hour of temptation, yet acknowledging its own weakness, it is the better clad with humility itself, and is stronger as it is laid low than as it was standing, in that it ceases to ascribe to itself without the aid of God whatever it has. And hence it also at once owns with humility the hand of Him Who is both Giver and Judge, saying, '^ The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.
liv. 86. Observe how he grew great by the discipline of tempta- tions, who both in the possession of the virtue acknowledges the bounty of the Giver, and in the disorderment of his fortitude, the power of the Withdrawer: which fortitude nevertheless is not withdrawn, but is confounded and loses heart, that the assaulted mind, while it dreads every instant to lose the quality as it seems, being alway made humble, may never lose it.
As it hath pleased the Lord, so is it done; Blessed be the Name of the Lord. Iv. 87. In this circumstance, viz. that we are assaulted with inward trouble, it is meet that we refer the thing to the judgment of our Creator, that our heart may resound the louder the praises of its Maker, from the very cause that makes it, on being smitten, the more thoroughly to consider the impotency of its frail condition. Now it is justly said, Ver. 22. Ln all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly: Ivi. 88. In that the mind in grief ought to watch with wari- ness and diligence, lest, when the temptation prompts it within, it break forth inwardly into the utterance of forbidden words, and murmur at the trial; and lest the fire, which burns it like gold, by the excesses of a lawless tongue, may tura it to the ashes of mere chaff.
89. Now nothing hinders that all that we have said concerningvirtues,be understood of those gifts of the Holy Spiritwhich > vid. are vouchsafed in^ manifestation of virtue, for to one is given chap.9l.
The Spirit tiluays fully in Christ alone. 127 the gift of Prophecy, to another different khids of tongues, to Book another the gifts of heahng. I>ut forasniucli as these gifts are not always present in the mind in the same degree, it is clearly shewn that it is for our good that they are sometimes withdrawn, lest the mind should be lifted up in pride. For if the Spirit of Prophecy had always been with the Prophets, plainly the Prophet Elisha would never have said, Let >^^/" 2 Kings alo)ie,/or her soul is vexed within /ler, and the Lord hath ^^ ^^' hid it from me^ and hath not told me. If the Spirit of Prophecy had been always present to the Prophets, the Prophet Amos when asked would never have said, / am ^ Amos 7, no Prophet; where he also adds, neither a Prophefs son, i so but I am an hersdman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit, ^"^^g- How then was he no Prophet, who foretold so many true things concerning the future? or in what way was he a Prophet, if he at the time disowned the truth concerning himself? Why, because, at the moment that he was called in question'^, he felt that the Spirit of Prophecy was not with him, 2 requi- he bore true testimony concerning himself, in saying; / am ^^^^ not a Prophet. Yet he added afterwards. Now therefore hear ^er. 16, thou the word of the Lord. Therefore thus said the Lord, Thy " wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shall die in a polluted land. By these words of the Prophet it is plainly shewn, that while he was bearing that testimony about himself he was filled, and on the instant rewarded witli the Spirit of Prophecy, because he humbly acknowledged himself to be no Pro})het. And if the Spirit of Prophecy had always continued with the Prophets, the Prophet Nathan would never have allowed King David, when he consulted him about the building of the Temple, what a little while after he was to refuse him.
90. And hence, how justly is it written in the Gospel, Upon Whom thou shall see the Spirit descending, and re- John \, maiuing on Him, the same is He Which baptizeth with ihe^^' Holy Ghost. For the Spirit descends into all the faithful, but remains in the Mediator alone, in a special manner. For \ He has never left the Human Nature of Him, from Whose Divine Nature He proceedeth. He remains therefore in Him, Who only can both do all things and at all times.
12SGi/ts of Virtue necessary^ of Power sometimes withdrawn.
Job 1, Now the faithful, who receive Him, since they cannot always '- — retain the gifts of miracles, as they desire, testify that they have received Hira as it were in a passing manifestation. But whereas on the other hand it is said by the mouth of JohnU, Truth concerning the same Spirit to the Disciples, For He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you, how is it, that this same abiding of the Holy Spirit is by the voice of God declared to be the sign of the Mediator, where it is said, Upon Whom thou shall see the Spirit descending, and abiding on Him? If then according to the words of the Master He abideth in the disciples also, how will it be any longer a special sign, that He abides in the Mediator? Now this we shall learn the sooner, if we discriminate between the gifts of the same Spirit.
91. Now there are some of His gifts, without which life is never attained; and there are others whereby holiness of life is made known for the good of other men. For meekness, I humility, faith, hope, charity, are gifts that come from Him, and they are such as man can never reach to life with- out. And the gift of Prophecy, healing, different kinds 1 sermo- of tongues, the interpretation of tongues ^, are His gifts; yet such as shew forth the presence of His power for the im- provement of all beholders. In the case of these gifts then, without which we can never attain to life, the Holy Spirit for ever abides, whether in His preachers, or in all the Elect; but in those gifts whereof the object is not the preservation of our own life, but of the lives of others through the manifesta- tion of Him, He by no means always abides in the Preachers. For He is iudeed always ruling their hearts to the end of good living, yet does not always exhibit the signs of miracu- lous powers by them, but sometimes, for all manifestation of miracles, He withdraws Himself from them, in order that those powers, which belong to Him, may be had with greater humility, in the same degree that being in possession they cannot be retained.