Ver. 15. / have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and covered my flesh with ashes. xix. 22. What ought to be understood by ' sackcloth and ashes,' but penance; what by * the skin' and ' the flesh,' but sin of the flesh? And so whereas there are persons who after the backsliding of the flesh are brought back to penance, it is as if ' sackcloth were sewn upon the skin,' and ' the flesh covered with ashes;' because the guilt of the flesh is ' covered with ashes' by penance, that it should not be seen for its avenging in the inquest of the strict Judge. But Holy Church, when she withdraws her weak members from sins, and conducts them to the remedy of penance, these she surely aids with her tears, that they may recover strength to receive the grace of their Maker, and in the strong she be- wails what she has not done, which yet in her weak members she has as it were done herself. Hence it is well added yet further; Ver. 16. My face is swelled with weeping. XX. 23. For ' the face' of Holy Church are those, who being set in posts of governorships appear the foremost, that in their goodly appearance should be the honour of the faithful people, even if there were aught deformed in the body hidden from sight. Which same persons that are set over the people bewail the sins of those that go weakly, and so chasten themselves for the downfall of others as if for their own. And often when they see some returning to pardon after sin, and others persisting in wickedness, they marvel at the secret counsels of Almighty God, but cannot fathom them. For they are dumb at the things which they do not under- stand. And hence it is fitly added; And mine eyelids have become darkened. xxi. 24. For they are rightly entitled * eyelids,' who are on their watch for the fore-ensuring the paths of the feet; but when not even the rulers on the watch can understand the Christ suffered without sin. His Blood never hidden. 101 secret judgments of God, * the eyelids' of Holy Church are Book * darkened;' but, as I remember that I have already often - said, blessed Job, while bearing a type of Holy Church, uses at one time the voice of the body, and at another time the voice of the Head; and while he is speaking of her members, he is raised on a sudden to speak the words of her Head. Whence here too it is added; Ver. 17. / have suffered this without the wickedness of mine hand, whilst I made pure prayers to God.
25. He suffered without the wickedness of His hand, Whol Pet. did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth, and yet ' * endured the pain of the Cross for our redemption. Who only above all others ' made pure prayers to God,' in that even in the very anguish of His Passion He prayed in behalf of His persecutors, saying. Father, forgive them, for theg Luke know not what they do. For what can be described, what ^^» ^^* can be conceived more pure in prayer, than when the merci- fulness of intercession is vouchsafed even those, from whose hands pain is undergone? Whence it was brought to pass, that that Blood of our Redeemer, which His persecutors in raging had spilt, afterwards in believing they drank, and proclaimed Him to be the Son of God. Concerning which same Blood it is fitly subjoined; Ver. 18. O earth, cover thou not my blood; and let my cry find no place to lie hid in thee, 26. It was said to man on his committing sin, Earth xxiii. thoiL art, and unto earth shall thou return; and this ' earth'?if"* ^' does not ' cover the blood' of our Redeemer: in that each several sinner taking to himself the price of his redemption makes confession and sings praise, and publishes it to all of his neighbours that he is able. Moreover, ' earth did not cover His blood,' in that Holy Church has now preached the mystery of His redemption in all parts of the world. And observe what is added: And let my cry find no place to lie hid in thee. For the very blood of redemption that is taken is itself * the cry' of our Redeemer. Hence Paul too says, And to the Blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better ijeh.\2, things than that of Abel. It had been said of the blood of ^^* Abel; The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto Me from Gen. 4 the ground. But ' the Blood of Jesus speaketh better things ^^- 102 Christy not known of men, had His Witness above.
Job 16, than the blood of Abel,' because the blood of Abel brought the death of his fratricidal brother, but the blood of the AliLEG.
Lord won life for His persecutors. So then that the Sacra- ments of our Lord's Passion may not be ineffectual in us, we are bound to imitate that which we take, and to preach to others what we adore. For ' His cry does find a place to lie hid in us,' if what the mind has been brought to believe the tongue is silent about. But that His cry may not lie hid in us, it remains that each one of us according to his small measure should make known to his neighbours the mystery of his own quickening. It is good to recall the eyes of the interior to the hour of the Lord's Passion, when the Jews raged against Him in persecution, and the Disciples fled from Him in alarm. For He that appeared to die in the flesh was not in any wise believed to be God. Hence it is properly added in this place, Ver. 19. Also, now, behold my witness is in heaven, and ^^consci-my hearts associate^ is on high.
meus ' '^'^' ^^^' when the Son was brought to His downfall on lit.' w^ earth, there was a witness to Him in heaven. Since the OCCOVlplice,' Father is the witness of the Son; concerning Whom He *^^^'^^ Himself saith in the Gospel, A7id the Father Himself.
mj/ Which hath sent Me, hath home witness of Me. Who is also ^^^.'^ rightly called ' mine heart's associate,' in that with one will, John 5, and with one counsel, the Father acts always in union ?J\i, with the Son. Whose witness too He is, in that 9io man 27. knoweth the Son but the Father. Thus He had then ' a witness in heaven,' and His * heart's associate' on high, when they, who saw Him dying in the flesh, had their eyes closed to see the power of His Divine nature; and whereas men did not know, yet in the hour of death the Mediator between God and man did know, that the Father was working together with Himself. Which perhaps may be likewise applied to the voice of His Body. For Holy Church for this reason undergoes the miseries of this life, that the grace above may lead her on her way to the rewards of eternity. She slights the death of her flesh, because she is intent on the glory of the resurrection; and what she suffers is transitory, what she expects everlasting, concerning which same everlasting blessings she has no misgiving, in that she has already a 1 Our Lord * knows our frame' as having taken it on Him. 103 faithful testimony in the glory of her Redeemer. For she Book sees with the mind the resurrection of His flesh, and is - strongly fortified to have hope, in that what she sees already brought to pass in her Head, she hopes without doubting will also follow in His Body, which is herself. Which same Church the Psalmist seeing destined to continue in everlast- ing perfection, describes her under the title of the moon. A P^- 89, perfect moon for everlasting. And whereas the Resurrection of the Lord heartens her to entertain the hope of a Resur- rection, he properly added. And a faithful witness in hea- ven. Forasmuch as that she may not tremble for her own resurrection, she has Him in heaven for a witness, Who rose again from the dead; and so let the faithful People when it suffers adversity, when it is harassed with sore tribulations, lift up the mind to the hope of the glory to follow, and trusting in the resurrection of the Redeemer, let it say. Also now behold my witness is in heaven, and mine associate on high. W^ho is also rightly called ' an associate,' in that He was acquainted with our nature, not only by creating, but by taking it upon Himself. For His knowing is His having undertaken what belongs to us. Whence too it is said by the Psalmist, For He knoweth our frame. For what won- Ps. 103, der is it if He is said emphatically * to know our frame,' ^'^* when it is plain that there is nothing that He does not know? But His ' knowing our frame,' is His having taken it upon Himself out of pitifulness.
28. Yet this voice may together with blessed Job suitably apply to each one of ourselves as well; for every man who in what he does aims at human praises, seeks a * witness' on earth; but he that is eager to please Almighty God by his deeds, takes thought that he has a ' witness in heaven.' And it often happens that the very good things themselves in us are found fault with by inconsiderate men; but he that ' has a witness in heaven,' has no need to fear men's reproofs. Hence it is yet further added; Ver. 20. My friends are full of words; but mine eye poureth out tears unto God.
29. For what is denoted by the eye, but the intent of the xxv. heart? as it is written, if thine eye be single ^ thy whole body Matt. 6, shall be fidl of light. For when any thing is done with a^^* i 04 Job's wish to know why God thus dealt with him.
JOB 16, good intention, the enacting of that intention contracts no ^ — ■*— soil in the sierht of God; and so when friends are full of Moral.. v Hist, words, i. e. when the very same persons detract that are joined with us in faith, ' the eye' must needs ' pour out tears to God,' that so the whole bent of our heart may run out in the piercing of interior love, and lift itself up to the things of the interior, the more exactly that being forced back by external reproaches, it is driven to turn back within, lest it should vanish away without. It proceeds; Ver. '>]. Oh! that a man were so judged with God, as a son of man is Judged with his fellow!
xxvi* 30. We acknowledge indeed always that we are sinners, ' yet often, when laid under the rod, we do not know for what sin in particular we are stricken, and we sift ourselves with minute examining, that if we might in any way be able we might trace out the cause of our being struck; and whereas this is for the most part hidden from us, our blindness becomes a load upon us, and we are the more pained at what we are suffering. But any one that ' comes to judg- ment with his neighbour,' both says w^hat he thinks, and knows w^hat answer is made in return, and strikes a blow where he will, and know^s from what quarter he is struck. But he that is smittten with the visitation of God, while he knows indeed that he is beaten, but knows not why he is beaten, as it were himself says what he thinks, but does not know what may be said against him; seeing that he himself indeed groans under the rod, but God does not declare openly for what cause of vengeance He strikes him. There- fore it is said now. Oh! that a man were so judged with God, as a son of man is judged with his neighbour! As if it were expressed in plain words; * As in all, that I say, 1 am heard, so would that I heard all that is said concerning me.' Which, nevertheless, can never be brought about in this life, in that there is a great obstruction before the eyes of our heart, against our beholding the subtle nature of God, even our mere frailty by itself; but we shall then see Him with clearness by Whom we are now searchingly beheld, when this frailty laid aside, we attain to the gi'ace of the 1 Cor. interior contemplation, of which Paul saith, For then shall I 13, 12. know, as also I am known. Hence blessed Job, seeing that This life returns not. Wasting of spirit through fear. 105 that knowledge can never be in the fullest way perfected Book V TT J here, groans indeed over the blindness of the present life; yet consoles himself by the shortness thereof, saying, Ver. 2*2. When a few years are come, then I shall go the tvay whence I shall not return.
31. Every thing that passes is short, even though it should xxvii. seem slow in being finished, but in the way of death we ' go, and do not return by it,' not because we are not brought back by rising again to the life of the flesh, but because we do not come again to the labours of this mortal life, or to earn rewards by our labours.
Chap. xvii. ver. 1. My spirit shall be wasted to tJdmiess, 32. ' The spirit is wasted to thinness,' by the fear of judg-xxviii. ment; in that the minds of the Elect, the more they feel themselves to be approaching the final Judgment, tremble so much the more fearfully in the searching of their own selves; and if they ever find in themselves any carnal thoughts, they consume them by the fervour of their penance; nor do they suffer their thoughts to expand with carnal delight, in that they pass sentence and inflict punishment on themselves more rigorously in proportion as they are awaiting the strict Judge close at hand; whence it comes to pass, that they look upon their departure as always near. For the minds of the lost do many things wickedly on this account, because they suppose themselves living here for long; and so ' the spirit of the righteous is wasted to thinness,' but the spirit of the wicked is thickened. For in proportion as they swell out in self-elation, they have not the wearing down of the spirit: but the righteous, whilst they consider the shortness of their life, eschew the sins of pride and impurity. And hence it is added; My days shall be shortened, and the grave only is left me, ?3. For he that bethinks himself what he will be in death, xxix. is always rendered fearful in practice, and from the very cause that henceforth he does not as it were live in his own eyes, he does genuinely live in the eyes of his Creator; he goes after nothing of a nature to pass away, he withstands all the desires of the present life, and views himself as almost dead, in that he is not unaware that he is destined to die. For 1 06 Job^ not sinning wickedly, a type of Him Who sinned not.
Job 17, a perfect life is an imitation of death, which while the '- — righteous diligently enact, they escape the snares of sins.
Ecclus. Whence it is written, Whatsoever thou takest in hand, re- Hist, 'mewtber thy latter end, and thou shall never do amiss. And Alleg. jjgj^(,g blessed Job, because he sees that his ' davs are shortened,' and reflects that ^ the grave only is left him,' fitly subjoins, / have not sinned, and mine eye ahideth in bitternesses.
XXX. 34. As if he expressed himself in plain words; ' I have not been guilty of sin, and I have undergone scourges.' But on this point, seeing that in many passages of this history he confesses himself to have been guilty of sinning, is the mind moved by the thought with what reason he now denies him- self to have committed sin? But with reference to this the reason quickly occurs, in that neither did he sin to such an extent as to deserve strokes of the rod, nor yet was capable of being without sin. For that he was stricken not for the correcting of sin, but the increasing of grace, the Judge Himself bears witness, Who praises while He strikes. And again, that he was not without sin neither does he himself deny, who is commended by the Judge, and therefore com- mended because he denies it not. But I think that we shall make out these words the better, if we understand them as spoken in the voice of the Head. For our Redeemer, in coming for our Redemption, at once did not sin and did * undergo bitterness,' in that being without sin He undertook the punishment of our sin, in Whose voice it is added, Ver. 3. Set me free, and put me beside thee, and let the hand of any one fight against me.
xxxi. 35. For He did not sin either in thought or deed; He was made to ' abide in bitterness' by His Passion, He was ' set free' by the Resurrection, He was ' put beside' the Father by His Ascension; in that having gone up into heaven He sitteth on the right hand of God. And because, after the glory of His Ascension, Judaea was stirred up in the persecuting of His Disciples, it is rightly said here. Let the hand of any one fight against tne. For the madness of the persecutors did then rage on His members, then the flame of cruelty blazed out against the life of the faithful; but where should the II The wicked keep far from discipline^ and in loiu pursuits. 107 wicked go, or what should they do, whilst He Whom they Book persecuted ou earth was now seated in heaven? Concerning _i 1 whom it is yet further added; Ver. 4. Thou hast removed their heart far from discipline.
36. For if they had been acquainted with the keeping of xxxii. discipline, nor ever despised the precepts of our Redeemer, the mere mortal condition of their flesh by itself would have excited them to the love of the life immortal; for this very thing, even our being subject to corruption in this life, is of the scourge of discipline. For to be made to feel annoyance from heat and cold, from hunger and thirst, to be afl3icted with diseases, and one day even to be put out of existence, what else are all these, but the scourges of sin? Now there are some that both undergo scourges, and yet never fashion anew their life by the fear of Him Who scourges them. WTience it is rightly said now, 2'hou hast removed their heart far frorn discipline; in that though the body is under discipline, yet the heart is not under discipline, so long as a person is stricken with the rod, and yet not brought back to humbleness of mind. Nor yet is this spoken in such a sense, as if the Almighty and Merciful God 'removed the heart of man far from discipline,' but that having fallen away of his own accord, there in executing judgment He suf- fered him to remain, where he had fallen; as we also say to Him in praying. And lead us not into temptation, i. e. ' do not ever suffer us to be led into temptation.' It proceeds; Therefore they shall not be exalted.
37. For if the heart were under discipline, it would seek xxxiii. after things above, it would not be openmouthed to obtain transitory good things. Of those, then, whose heart is not under discipline, it is rightly said. Therefore they shall not be exalted, in that while let go at large in the lowest enjoy- ments, they are ever longing for the good things of earth, they never lift the heart to the delights of heaven; for they would be exalted, if they lifted their minds to the hope of the heavenly country; but they, who do not make it their business to guard their way by discipline, ever in their desires lie grovelling in things below, and, what is more grievous, in lying low set themselves up, in that they are uplifted on the ground of things transitory. And they may 108 SatarCs delusive promises to his followers.
Job 17, be uplifted, but cannot be exalted, in that they are sunk the — deeper below, by the very act by which they are rendered A li L E O higher to themselves; and so the heart that is without disci- pline cannot be exalted, in that the human mind, as when elevated amiss it is forced down below, so forced down aright is lifted up on high. It proceeds; Ver. 5. He promiseth prey to his friends; and the eyes of his children shall fail, xxxiv. 38. After that blessed Job had uttered a sentence relating to the multitude of the wicked, i. e. the body of our old enemy; he directly shifts the sentence to the very leader of them, i. e. the head of all the children of perdition, and retunis from the plural to the singular number: for the devil and all wicked people are so one body, that it very often happens that the body is rated with the name of the head, and the head designated by the title of the body. Thus the body is rated with the name of the head, when it is said of a bad John 6, man. And one of you is a devil. And again the head is ^^* designated by the title of the body, when it is said of the Mat.13, apostate Angel himself, A man^ that is an enemy hath done ^^', this. Thus the prince of all the wicked has some for * inimi- ^ associates' and some as ' children.' For who are his ^Q> associates, but those apostate Angels, who fell with him from the seat of the heavenly country? or what others has he as children, saving bad men, who are begotten by his evil per- suading in the practice of wickedness. Whence too it is Johns said by the voice of Truth to unbelievers, Ye are of your ^^' father the devil.
39. So that evil author of enor promises ' prey' to his ' associates,' in that he promises the evil spirits the souls of bad men to be seized at their latter end; and the eyes of his children shall fail^ in that while he sets on the aims of men to look for earthly things only, he causes them to love that which they cannot keep for long: for neither can the bent of misdirected love remain, when it appears that both that which he loves, and he himself, who loves it, are tending to nought at a rapid rate. It may also be, that by ' the associates' perhaps are understood all those that are most cruel and already full of every kind of wickedness; but by the sons, those who being still deluded by beguiling promises, are Seeming Judgments against the Righteous perplex many. 109 being nourished up to increasing of wickedness; that hence- Book forth the devil should as it were by the title of wickedness, — have these as his * associates,' who now no longer have whereunto to grow in perdition, while these he has as sons, whom he suckles with promises, that they may go on ad- vancing to worse. But ' the eyes of his children shall fail,' in that the aims of the wicked fall to the ground, when all. that they go after here, they leave behind, and there suffer without end what is fitted to fill them with grief It proceeds; Ver. 6. He hath made me^ as it were, a hytvord of the people, and I am an example before them, 40. This let blessed Job say in his own person, yea andxxxv. in the voice of all of the Elect. For every one that is stricken with the rod, is, as it were, * made a byword of the people,' in that every fool, when he desires to curse any one, takes up his cursing in a likeness to him, whom he sees stricken with a temporal stroke, and wishes that punishment for his adver- sary, which he sees to have befallen the righteous man. And so it comes to pass that with persons not endowed with a right perception, the upright man is brought into an ex- ample, while both the punishment of the just passes current for the condemnation of him, and the glory that is in store for him is not foreseen by any expectance of faith. It proceeds; Ver. 7. Mine eye is dim, for indignation, and all my members are as it were brought to nothing.
41. For ' the eye is dim for indignation,' when those veryxxxvi. persons likewise, who in the Lord's Body, i. e. in the Church, are endued with the light of truth, whilst they see themselves too long despised and disdained by the wicked, are con- founded in astonishment at the inscrutable judgment, and fail to fathom the secret of God; for what reason it is that the wicked are suffered to prevail against the innocence of the good? For who is not amazed, when Herodias by her daughter's dancing obtains at the hands of the drunken king, that the head of that Friend of the Bridegroom, that * Pro- phet, and more than a Prophet,^ should be brought before the faces of his guests upon a charger? Now when the just are * dimmed in indignation,' the weak very commonly go head- 1 1 0 The ' Innocent'' lioio ' stirred against tlte hypocrite.^ Job. 17, long into actual infidelity; whence it is added, And my mem- " ' hers are as it were hr ought to nothing. For by the terra of *^ members,' we have the tenderness of the weak set forth, who, while they behold bad men flourishing, and good men tormented, are sometimes brought to this pass, that they regret that they even began in good things, and so speedily fall back to doing evil things, as if the good they had begun were a detriment to their life. But this that he says, Mine eye is dimmed in indignation, he unfolds in plainer words, when he adds; Ver. 8. Upright men shall he astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite. xxxvii. 42. In this place, ' the innocent' is taken for the as yet im- ^^'^' perfectly righteous, who, as yet but commencing in good ways, though he is not minded to do mischief to others, yet is not at all able himself to do things that are perfect; and because the hearts of the little ones, while they see the wicked flourish- ing in the present life, are set on fire with the brands of envy; (for a man the more envies others present good in proportion as he less despises it himself Since of that which cannot be possessed by all men all of it together, what »«desit' this one has would be so much lacking^ to the other.) Now fit ' or ' ^ ^^^ innocent is kindled against the hypocrite,' when even he 'deficit.' who is not used to injure any one, envies the glory of the dissembler. But if in this passage the innocent means any one perfect in goodness, ' the innocent is moved against the hypocrite;' when he both sees him flourishing, and contemns him and all his flourishing, and by preaching the things that are right plainly says that he ought to be despised by others, the more in proportion as he sees him eagerly in quest of things, which cannot abide with him for long, and in this point of view it is yet further added;