Job 22, clothed so long as the things which they themselves preached Alt^ they witness observed by them, and when any persons return to Holy Church from them, they immediately fancy that they have lost the garments of instruction. But whereas one that is naked cannot be spoiled, we have to enquire how they are first mentioned as 'naked,' and afterwards as ' strip- ped?' Now it is necessary to know that every one that enjoys purity of mind, by the very circumstance that he has not the cloak of double-dealing, is ' naked.' And there are some among the Heretics, who have purity of heart indeed, but yet take up the corrupt tenets of their teaching. These same are at once by their own purity ^ naked,' and by the preaching of those persons they are as it were clothed. And whereas all such are easily brought back to Holy Church, for this reason that they do not use the wickedness of double- dealing, those persons heretics acknowledge as naked, whom they call stripped by her of their clothing, because they look upon all the simple-minded as slow and dull, who, they see, have parted with their own corrupt tenets.
8. It follows; Thmi hast not given uater to the weary ^ and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry. Heretics in proportion as they hold not the solid substance of truth, so sometimes they busy themselves, that they may appear full of discourse, and against the faith of Catholics they are boastful as of the knowledge of learning; all that they see they seek to draw to them by their wicked discoursings, and by the very same act, whereby they are joining others to themselves for destruction, they think themselves doing something conducive to life. Now we call those ' weary' that are worn down under the wearisome load of this world. Mat 11, And hence Truth saith by Himself, Come unto Me, all ye thai labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And so whereas heretics never cease to preach their own doctrines, they mock at Holy Church as if for ignorance. TItou hasf not given water to the weary, and thou hast with-' holden bread from the hungry. For themselves they think they ' give water to the weary' when to persons travail- ing under their earthly load they supply the cuj) of their own error. And they look upon it that they themselves have not ' withholden bread from the hungry,' in that when ques- They say the Church hohhhack triith^and prevails hy power. 229 tioiied even touching things invisible and incomprehensible, Book they answer with pride and boldness; and they then set themselves down as learned above all men, when they most miserably presume to speak on things unknown. But Holy Church when she sees any one hungering for that which it would not be for his good to get, either on the one hand if they be things already known to her keeps them back with reserve, or if they appear to be unknown as yet, confesses it with humility; and such she recalls to a sense of well-regulated humility, when she bids every one of them bv her Preacher, not to be wise of himself above that he Rom.
ought to think, hut to think soberly. And again, Be not ^^ higliminded, hut fear. And again, Seek not out the tilings \i, 20. that are too deep for thee; neither search the things that^^^^^^' are above thy strength. And again. Hast thou found honey? -^^^^^ eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest perchance thou be^^i ^^' Jilled therewith, and vomit it. For to ' find honey,' is to taste the sweetness of holy intelligence. Which is eaten enough of then, when our perception according to the measure of our faculty is held tight under control. For he is ' filled with honey, and vomits it,' who in seeking to dive deeper than he has capacity for, loses that too from whence he might have derived nourishment. And so, seeing that Holy Church forbids it to feeble minds to dive into deep truths, it is said to blessed Job, And thou hast withholdeu bread from the hungry.
9. And her greatness also because heretics envy, because she keeps the companies of people every where in the true faith, when they meet with a season of earthly prosperity, they launch out against her in terms of pride, and by their upbraiding disclose how greatly before they secretly envied her power. Thus it follows; For in the might of thine arm thou didst possess the earth, and as the most powerful thou didst hold it. As if he said in plain words, ' Whereas thou didst take possession of the earth every where in thy preaching, it was the power of might, and not the reasonableness of truth. For whereas they see that Christian princes hold fast her preaching, all the credit which is given to her by the people, they look upon not as the efficacy of righteousness, but the account of secular power. It goes on; 230 The Church aaid to rob men of their teachers and their atremjtli.
Job 22, Ver. 9. Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms — '■ — - of the fatherless hast thou broken.
VI. 10. The common multitudes that are brouKht under to 'heretics on their preaching by a carnal understanding con- ceive the corrupt seeds of their false doctrine, and are joined to them in their condemnation. But when the preachers of errors themselves, Holy Church either receives into her bosom subdued by reason, or binds in under the fetters of her discipline, being hardened by attachment to evil; heretics, being deserted, when they see that the people remain left with themselves without preachers, what else do they but lament the ' widows' left empty by Holy Church? And whereas when the masters of heretics are withdrawn, they imagine that their disciples are enfeebled in their practice, they complain that the arms of the fatherless are broken by Holy Church as it were. Or in another way, because when Holy Church receives persons coming to her from heretics, it is plain without a doubt that she stands up against their former error. Thus there are some that are so attached to virginity of the flesh, that they condemn marriage, and there are some who so extol abstinence, that they abhor those that take necessarv nourishment. Concernino^ whom lTim.4,it is said by Paul, Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them winch believe. Those persons then seeing she recalls from the carnal bias of their super- stitious belief, when heretics see such living otherwise than they taught them, they bear witness that to the way of acting which they before maintained, their ' arms are broken' by Holy Church. And hence in this period of discipline, if any piece of misfortune chance to befall her, they suppose that it has come in meet retribution for her sins. For it is added; Ver. 10. Therefore snares are round about thee; and sudden fear troubleth thee. vii, 11. That man ' sudden fear doth trouble,' who neglects to consider what there is hanging over his head from the severity of the Judge, when He comes. Therefore, whereas heretics look upon the faithful people as borne down by sins of mis- belief, they make it a charge that * snares arc round about Troubles taken for judgments. Charge of low thoughts of God. 23 1 them.' And because they believe that it does not foresee Rook the future, they suppose this people under the smiting to - be 'troubled witli sudden fear;' which persons adding yet further insult subjoin, Ver. 11. And thou thoughtest^ thou wouldest not see dark-^^-^nd fiess; and that thou tcoiildest not he home down with the c^t thou? force of overflowing waters.
As if he said in plain speech; ' Thou didst promise thyself security of peace in hope, and therefore thou wast glad for thine assurance as for the light, nor ever thoughtest for thyself to be oppressed with tribulation. But see, whilst thou art afflicted with evils coming upon thee, whether what thou maintainest be right, the very darkness of trouble which weighs upon thee makes plain; which same troubles Eliphaz compares to ' overflowing waters,' in that whilst one set rushes in over another, as in swoln waters waves follow waves. It goes on, Ver. 12 — 14. Dost thou bethink thee that God is in the height of heaven, and high above the height of the stars f And thou sayest, How doth God know? and, He judgeth as in the dark. Thick clouds are a covering to Him, that He seeth not our matters; and He walketh in the circuit of heaven.
12. There are very many so dull that they cannot dread viii. aught, saving what they see in a bodily form. Whence it is brought to pass that they do not fear God, in that they cannot see Him. But heretics because they think themselves wise utter words of insult against Catholics, and imagine that He is not feared by them, because they are unable to see Him in a bodily shape, so that as it were from deadness of perception they think that their Maker, because He is higher than heaven and exalted above the tops of the stars, is not able to see from a distance, and that because between our- selves and the seat of heaven the regions of the air are inter- posed. He, *as it were buried in a cloud passes judgment out of the darkness,' and intent upon things above, the less considers those below, and whilst He holds together the hinges of heaven by encircling them, doth not see into the interior parts. But who that was out of his right mind even, could suspect such things of God. Who indeed, whereas 232 God partially hides IIimselJ\ as the Church well knous.
Job 22, He is always Omnipotent, so minds all things that He is present to each one individually, and so present to each that Lit.
His Presence is never wanting to all together. For though He forsakes persons when they sin, yet to those very persons He is present in respect of judgment, to whom He is seen to be wanting in respect of aidance. Therefore He so encircles what is without that He yet fills what is within, so fills what is within that He yet encircles what is without, so rules the heights above that He does not quit the depths below, is in such sort present to the parts beneath that He does not depart from those above, is so concealed in His own appear- ance that nevertheless He is known in His working, so known in His work that yet He cannot be comprehended by the calculation of the person knowing Him; He is in such a way present that yet He cannot be seen, in such a way impossible to be seen that yet His very own judgments bear witness to His Presence, so yields Himself to be understood by us that yet the very ray of the perception of Himself He overclouds to us, and again so holds us in by the darkness of ignorance that notwithstanding He shines into our minds with the rays of His brightness, so that at once by being lifted up it may see something, and made to recoil may tremble all over, and, because such as He is it is impossible to see Plim, may yet know Him by seeing Him some little. But all this heretics do not reckon Holy Church to be acquainted with, because by a foolish judgment they suppose that they alone are wise. In a type of whom it is yet further added; Ver. 15. Wouldest thou mark the old way, iohiclt wicked men have trodden? ix. 13. As the 'way' of our Redeemer is humility, so the way of the world is pride. And so wicked men tread the way of the world, in that by the desires of this world they walk in self-exaltation. Of which same wicked persons it is yet further added; Ver. 16. Which were taken away before their time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood.
X. 14. Whereas the period of our life is assuredly foreordained for us in the foreknowledge of God, it is a very important question on what princi})le it is said now, that the wicked are vvithdrawn from the present world ' before their time.' For God foreknous whom He will cut off before his time. 233 Almighty God though He often change His sentence, yet Book His counsel never. At that time, then, is every man 1- ' taken away' from this life, at which by Divine power he is foreknown to be before all times. But it is necessary to be known, that Almighty God in creating and disposing of us, according to the deserts of each one also appoints his bounds too, so that either that bad man should live a short time, lest he do mischief to numbers doing right; or that this good man should last longer in life, that he may prove a helper of good practice to numbers; or again that the bad man should be detained longer in hfe, to add yet more to his wicked deeds, purified by the testing whereof the righteous may live a truer life; or that the good man should be withdrawn more speedily, lest if he were to live long here, wickedness should spoil bis innocence. Yet it is to be borne in mind, that it is the loving-kindness of God, to vouchsafe to sinners space for repentance. But because the times vouchsafed they do not turn to the fruits of penance, but to the service of iniquity, what by the mercifulness of God they might have obtained, they let go out of their hands. Although Almighty God foreknows that time of each individual for death, at which his life is brought to an end; nor could any one ever have died at any time, saving at that actual time when he does die. For if to Hezekiah fifteen years are related to have been added for life, the time of his life was increased from thatend, indeed, in which of himself he deserved to die; for God's providence foreknew his time at that point whereat He afterwards withdrew him out of the present life. This then being so, what does it mean that it is said, that the wicked uere cut down before their time, but that all they that love the present life, promise to themselves longer periods of that life? But when death coming on withdraws them from the present life, the spaces of their life, which they were wont as it were in imagination to draw out to themselves longer, it cuts asunder. Of whom it is rightly said, whose foutidation was overjloicn with a flood.
15. For the wicked while they neglect in heart to go on to the things of eternity, and do not observe that all things present are fleeting, fix their heart on the love of the present life, and as it were therein construct for themselves the 234 The Elect Iiave their settlement hereafter^ the had here.
Job 22, foundation of a long abode, because by desire they are established in earthly things. Thus Cain is described the Gen. 4, first to have constructed a city upon earth, who thereby is ^*^' plainly proved an alien, in that the same set a foundation upon earth, who was alien to the stedfastness of the eternal world; for being a stranger to the things above, he has settled his foundation in things beneath, who has placed the settling of his heart in earthly delight. And hence, in the stock of that man, Enoch, which is by interpretation ' dedica- tion,' is born the first. But in the oifspring of the Elect Enoch is described to have been the seventh, in this way, because the sons of perdition by building dedicate themselves in this life which comes first, but the Elect await the dedica- tion of their building up in the end of time, i. e. the seventh number. For one may see great numbers minding temporal things alone, seeking after honours, open-mouthed after the compassing of good things, look out for nothing after this life. What then do these but ^ dedicate themselves' in the first generation? One may see the Elect seeking nothing of present glory, gladly bearing want, undergoing the ills of this life with a composed mind, that they may be crowned at the Gen. 5, end. And so to the Elect Enoch is born in the seventh 21 21 generation, in that the dedication of their joy they look for in the glory of the last retribution. And whereas by the daily lapse of time the mortal state in the present life itself runs to an end, and destroys the dedication of the children of perdition by removing those very children of perdition, it is rightly said of the wicked. Whose foundation, was over- Jlown with a Jiood; i. e. the mere course of changeableness overthrows in them the settlement of wicked rearing. It goes on; Ver. 17. Which said unto God, Depart from its. xi. 16. That this too blessed Job had said, who can doubt? Job 21, But what we have unfolded in his words, on account of wearying the reader, we forbear to repeat. It goes on; And as though the Almighty could do notJiing, so reckoned concerning Him.
In this part likewise the wording, and not the statement, is Job 21, changed. For what was expressed by blessed Job; What is the Almighty that we should^ serve Him? is expressed by T/ie n(/h(eous halehad mefi's wafjs, yet are not self-ex'tilted. 235 Eliphaz, And as though the Almighty could do nothing, so Book reckoned concerning Him. It goes on; - Vei\ 18. Yet He has Jilted their houses with good tilings.
17. The Lord ' filleth the houses of the wicked with good things,' in that even to the unthankiul He refuses not His gifts, that either they may blush at the loving-kindness of their Creator and be brought back to goodness, or altogether despising to return thereto, may from the same cause be there worse punished, that here they rendered an evil return for God's more bounteous good, so that severer woes should there chastise those whose wickedness here not even gifts overcame. It goes on; But let their setitence be far from me.
This too was expressed by blessed Job. For he says, Whose counsel he far from me. Though ' sentence' may Job 21, be taken for one thing paid ' counsel' for another; for ' * sentence' is in the mouth, * counsel' in the thoughts. And so whereas Eliphaz wished himself far from the * sentence' of the wicked, and blessed Job from the ' counsel,' it is plain without denial, that the first desires to be unlike the words of the wicked, but the other unlike their way of thinking even. It goes on; Ver. 19. The righteous shall see it and he glad; and the innocent one shall laugh them to scorn.
18. The righteous when they see the unrighteous erring xiii. here cannot be glad for the error of persons ruining them- selves. For if they rejoice in errings, they cease to be righteous. Again, if in the feeling of triumph they be glad, for this that they are not such as they see others are, they are altogether full of pride. Hence the Pharisee lost his justifi- cation, because being glad he set himself above the merits of the Publican, saying, / thank Thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican. Again, if we say that the righteous can triumph with a perfect joy over the death of the wicked, what sort of thing is joy for vengeance on sinners in this world, wherein the life of the righteous is still uncertain } Let us then dis- tinguish between the times of trembling and exulting. For the righteous see the unrighteous now, and pine at their wickedness; and when they see those smitten, they are made 236 The righteous shall rejoice in Cod's Jinal Judgment. Job 22, distrustful touching their own life too. When then shall the — ^righteous see the destruction of the wicked and be glad, saving when with the strict Judge they incorporate hence- forth with perfect sureness of triumphing, when in that final Inquest they shall see the condemnation of those, and shall now no longer have aught to fear for themselves ^. Now there- fore they see the children of perdition and groan, then they shall see them and laugh them to scorn, because in triumphing they shall set at nought those, whom now they neither see doing wickedness without groaning nor dying for their wickedness without fearing. Hence by that which is added it is proved that the thing is spoken as concerning their final condemnation. For the sentence is directly introduced, Ver. 20. Is not their erecting cut down, and the remnant ^2\.shallof them the fire hath consumed^?
consume ^Q, For here the wicked are erected, in that they are lifted up in bad deeds. For they both do wickedly, and yet for their wicked deeds they are not stricken. They sin and thrive, they add to their sins, and multiply earthly good. But * their erecting is cut down' then, when they are either dragged from the present life to destruction, or from the sight of the Eternal Judge to the eternal burning of hell. Which people, though here they quit their dead flesh, yet that same in the resurrection they receive again, that together with that flesh they may burn, in which flesh they did their sin. For as their sin was in mind and body, so the punish- ment shall be in spirit and flesh alike. Therefore, whereas not even that shall be quit of torment to them, which here they leave dead, it is rightly said now, the remnant of them the fire hath consumed. It goes on; Ver. 21, 22. Be at one then with Him, and he at peace; thereby thou shall have the best fruits.. Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay tip his words in thine heart. XV. 20. There is the sin of pride in teaching one better than Alleg. one's self, which heretics are often guilty of, who touching things which they have wrong notions of, take upon them as if to instruct Catholics. For such they think are then ' at one with God,' if it chance for them to assent to their bad ways; and to those thus * at one' they promise peace, in that they henceforth cease to quarrel with those Heretics presume to recall Holij Church to God. 237 who agree with themselves. Now * the best fruits' they Book promise to those agreeing with themselves, in that they '- believe that they only do good works, whom they triumph in themselves drawing in to their own tenets; which persons this also suits that he adds, Receive, I pray, the law out of His mouth; because the things they think of their own heads, they fancy proceed from the mouth of God. And lay up His words in thine heart; as if he asserted it in plain words, saying, ' which up to this present time in thy mouth thou hast held, and not in thine heart.' For because he^ rejected their corrupted tenets, they allege against 'al.Holy him^ that the words of God he had held not in the feeling, 2 ah her but in the shewing off. Whence, as if under a certain *c. appearance of sweetness, they insinuate the poison of pestilent persuading, so as to admonish the Church to lay up the words of God in the heart; which words, if they had ever departed from her heart, from those persons she would never have heard such things. It follows; Ver. 23. //' tJiou return to the Almighty, thou shall he built up, thou shall put away iniquity far from thy tabernacle.
21. That the faithful people have gone away from God is xvi. the opinion of heretics, because they see it opposed to their preachings; which same, when they see it afflicted with present calamities, they endeavour, as if by admonition, to draw to their Maker's Grace, saying, If thou return to the Almighty, thou shall be built up. As if they said in plain words; Whereas by gainsaying our doctrines thou hast gone away from the Lord, therefore to the building up of righte- ousness thou art undone. Now by a tabernacle we under- stand sometimes the habitation of the body, and sometimes the habitation of the heart; for as by the soul we inhabit the body, so by the thoughts w^e inhabit the mind. Therefore '' iniquity in the tabernacle' of the mind is an evil bent in the attachment of the thought. But ^ iniquity in the tabernacle' of the body is carnal doing in the fulfilment of the deed. Thus Eliphaz, forasmuch as he was the friend of a blessed person, seeing some things true, and yet in those points in which he departs from the right Hue, holding the likeness of heretics, not knowing that it was in consequence of good 238 Cod gives Ihe converted slremjlh^protectiou^and wealth. Job 22, qualities blessed Job was stricken, fancied that he had erred -r-^ — '- whom he saw smitten, and makes him promises if he would return to Almighty God, saying, Tliou filtalt put away iniquity far from thy tahernacles. As if he said in plain speech, ' Who- soever after erring ways is brought back to God, is purified both in thought and in deed together.' It follows; Ver. 24. He shall give the flint for earth, and for the flint golden torrents, xvii. 22. What is denoted by * earth' but weakness in conduct, what by the hardness of the flint but strength, what do we understand by ' the golden torrents,' but the instruction of interior brightness.? Now to those that turn themselves to Him Almighty God ' gives for earth the flint,' in that for weak conduct He bestows the strength of vigorous practice. He also gives ' for the flint golden torrents,' in that for vigorous practice He redoubles the instruction of bright preaching, that every converted sinner may from weak be enabled to prove strong, and in his strength rise up even to the uttering forth words of the inner brightness, so that in that person, both weakness of conduct, in which like earth he is crumbled, by strength of good living may be firmly settled, and whereas perception is derived from the life, from that same firmness torrents of gold may run out, seeing that in the mouth of those that live well brightness of teaching runs over. It follows; Ver. 25. Yea the Almighty shall be against thine enemies, and thou slialt have heaps of silver.
xviii. 23. What other enemies are we more subject to than evil spirits, who in our thoughts besiege us, that they may break into the city of our minds, and hold it, taken captive, under the yoke of their dominion } Now by the name of ' silver,' the Psalmist testifies the sacred oracles are denoted, when he Ps. i2, says, 27/6' ivords of the Lord are 'pure ivords, as silver tried in a furnace of earth. And often when we apply ourselves to the sacred oracles, we are more grievously subject to the artifices of evil spirits, in that they sprinkle upon our mind the dust of earthly thoughts, that the eyes of our heeding they may darken to the light of the interior vision. Which same the Psalmist had undergone when he said, Depart from me, ye evil ones, and I will search into the command- Inicard sense of Divine Truth stveei and engaying. '239 ments of my God; i. e. plainly teaching us that he could not Book search into the commandments of God, when he was suffer '- ing in mind the snares of the evil spirits. Which thing in the work of Isaac too we know to be represented under the evil doing of the Philistines, who with a heap of earth Gen.26, fdled up the wells which Isaac had dug. For these very "" same wells we ourselves dig, when in the hidden meanings of Holy Scripture we penetrate deep. Which wells however the Philistines secretly fill up, when to us advancing to deep things unclean spirits bring in earthly thoughts, and as it were take away the water of divine knowledge which has been discovered. But because no one can overcome these enemies by his own power, it is said by Ehphaz, Yea the Almiglity shall he against thine enemies, and thou shall have heaps of silvei'. As if it were said in plain words; ' While the Lord drives away from thee the evil spirits by His power, the shining talent of divine revelation within gains growth.' It proceeds; Ver. 26. Then shalt thou abound with delicacies over the Almighty.
24. To * abound with delicacies over the Almighty' is in xix. the love of Him to be filled to the full with the banquet of Holy Scripture. In Whose words surely we find as many delicacies, as for our profiting we obtain diversities of mean- ing, so that now the bare history should be our food, now, veiled under the text of the letter, the moral allegory refresh us from our inmost soul, and now to the deeper things contemplation should hold us suspended, already, in the dark- ness of the present life, shining in upon us from the light of eternity. And it is necessary to be known, that whosoever ' abounds with delicacies,' is released in a kind of loosening of himself, and slacks from devotion to labour as it were from weariness, because the soul when it has begun to abound with the interior delicacies, henceforth consents not ever to give itself to earthly employments, but being captivated by the love of the Creator, and by its captivity henceforth free, for the contemplating of His likeness fainting it draws breath, and as it were whilst giving over, is invigorated; because whereas sordid burthens it is now no longer able to bear, unto Plim through rest it hastens Whom it loves within. Hence also