C. xxvi. 1, 2. But Job answered a?id said, Of whom art thou the helper? whether of one that is powerless? or dost thou sustain the arm of him that is 7ioi strong?
xviii. 26. To help one that is weak is an act of charity, to wish to help one that is powerful, of pride; and so because his friends, whilst bearing the likeness of heretics, on the plea of helping God, endeavoured to make a display of their own wisdom, Bildad is justly found fault with, that it should be said. Of whom art thou the helper? whether of one that is powerless? or dost thou sustain the arm of him that is not strong? As if he said in plain words; ' While thou settest thyself to help Him, under Whose greatness thou dost sink to the earth, all the encouragement which thou affordest comes of ostentation, not of piety.'
27. But herein it is requisite to be known, that even God, Who surely is not ' powerless,' we help whilst acting with I Cor. 3, humility. And hence it is said by Paul, For we are helpers of God. For when to him, whom He doth Himself by inte- rior grace pervade, we by the voice of exhortation contribute, this which He through the Spirit brings to pass within, we outwardly by the office of the voice do assist, and then only is our exhortation brought to completion, when God was in '^* '^' the heart, to be aided. Hence He saith elsewhere; So then neither is he that planfeth any thing, neither he that loater- eth; but God that giveth the increase. For to * plant' and ' water' is to * help,' both which will be but a void ministra- tion, if in the heart God * giveth not the increase.' But they His frienda presumed in lakimj God^s part. 297 who have high thoughts olthuir own power of mind, will not Book be helpers of God with humility; because whilst they reckon: * themselves to be of use to God, they are making themselves strangers to the fruit of usefulness. And hence it is said to the disciples by the voice of Truth, When ye shall /i«wLuke done all those things that are commanded you, say, IVe are ' unprofitable servants, we have done that ichich was our duty to do. It proceeds; Ver. 3. To whom hast thou given counsel^ perchance to him that hath not wisdom?
28. To * give counsel to one that is foolish' is an office of xix. charity, to give it to one that is wise, of ostentation; but to give it to Wisdom Itself, of wrongmindedness; and because those who we have said bear the likeness of heretics, by their mode of speech, were administering to ostentation rather than to usefulness, it is yet further added rightly against Bildad, And shewn thine own prudence overmuch.
To one to whom there is right prudence it is not over- much, because according to Paul's declaration, he seeketh not to he wise above the degree that he ought to he wise. But to whomsoever there is overmuch prudence, there is not light prudence- For whilst it is carried beyond due mea- sure, it is made to turn off on one side or another of offence. Now they shew their prudence to be * overmuch,' who aim to appear fuller of prudence in comparison of others; whence it very frequently happens that whilst they have not the art to be wise in moderation, they even speak things that are foolish. On account of which circumstance, the actual excess of prudence is yet further subjoined, that it should be said, Ver. 4. Whom wonldest thou have taught? Was it not Him Who made the breathway?
29. By the ' breathway' we live, by prudence we are wise. xx. But it is ours first to live, and afterwards to be imbued with wisdom; because in order that we have the power to be wise, it is first brought to pass that we should have being. He, then. Who bestowed life, the same doubtless gave pru- dence as well. But because Bildad thought blessed Job was scourged for sin, that secret judgment of God which he should have adored in humility, he set himself with over- 298 Proud spirils un(thle to rise up.
Job 26, weening temerity to penetrate to the bottom. And so that — — ^ — very One he preferred himself before in respect of prudence, Whose judgment without understanding it he judged. That very One he preferred himself before in prudence, from Whom he received the breathway of life, as though he were wise more than He, the very Being from Whom he had it given it him that he should be. But because blessed Job whilst bearing a type of Holy Church delivered a few things in the rebuking of proud men, who, he was not igno- rant, bore a likeness of heretics, according as he said above; Job 13, / desire to reason with God; Jirst shewing that ye are ' ' forgers of lies, and followers of wrong tenets; he suddenly lifts himself up to instruction, and in opposition to the igno- rance of the highminded, he opens wide the breadth of his knowledge in sentences, saying, Ver. 5. Lo, the giants groan, under the icaters. xxi. 30. For it was fitting that by rebuking he should first beat down the swelling of earthly wisdom, and by instruction afterwards pass on to words replete with mysteries. Thus by * giants,' either apostate Angels, or all proud men may without objection be understood. For hence it is said by Is. 26, the Prophet, The diead shall not live, the giants shall not ^' rise up again. For whom does he call * the dead' saving sinners, and whom does he designate ' giants' save those, who over and above take pride in sin. Now the former do ' not live,' because by sinning they have forfeited the life of righ- teousness; these latter too 'cannot rise up again' after death, because, after their transgression being swoln with pride, they do not have recourse to the remedies of penitence. Hence Prov it is written again. The man that wandereth out of the way ' 'of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead. For whosoever forsakes the way of righteousness, to whose number does he join himself, saving to the number of the proud spirits \ Now it is well said in opposition to the high-minded, Lo, the giants groan under the waters* As if it were expressed in plain speech; * Wherefore on the score of knowledge should man be proud, when the abyss of igno- rance keeps at the bottom the very proudest of the spirits of the Angels?'
31. But if by the name of ' the giants' the })0werful ones Earthly power hrings burdens and dangers. 299 of this world are denoted, in ' the waters' we may have the Book .. XVII multitudes represented, as John beareth witness, who saith, - The waters, ivJiich thoa seest, are peoples. Now agamst Rev. 17, him that is filled with pride it is well spoken; Lo, the giants groan under the waters; because all that are high and lifted up, while in this life they long to attain the highest pitch of honours, groan under the burthens of peoples. For in pro- portion as a man is the higher lifted up here, he is burthened with so much the heavier cares. And to those very same people in mind and thoughts he is put under, whom in dignity he is put over. And by these words it is well shewn in brief that all pride lies prostrate on the ground by the mere act by which it lifts itself up on high, so as to be the more effectually bowed down beneath all things from the same cause, that it would fain be set above all. For man when he is lifted up in high stations, bears so many in number over him, as he rules persons put beneath him. But those, that are associated with such persons, are by fellowship in their labour themselves also weighed to the ground. For together with them they likewise bear the toilsomeness of the burthen, whilst along with them they go after the gloriousness of the honour. Hence whereas he said, Lo, the giants groan under the waters; he directly added; And they that dicell along with them.
32. As though he said; ' Equally with them do they xxii. groan,' who by taking delight are associated to their glory. Now the very employment of worldly dignities is borne down with readier vices in proportion as it is charged with heavier cares. For would that the mind of man even at rest might be able to see and eschew sins! And so because he saw that the longed for heights of affairs cannot be administered without sins, and because it is not hidden from the wrath of God, whatsoever is committed of an unlawful kind, he fitly subjoined in pursuance; Ver. 6. Hell is naked before Him, and destruction hath no covering.
33. Which same Paul likewise saith. But all tilings are xxiii. naked and opened unto His eyes. But by the title of * hell' ^eb. 4, and ' perdition' he denoted the devil and all the associates of 300 God puis solid yood in the void where Satan dwelt.
Job 26, his condemnation; but Who that One is before whom ' liell j^— is naked,' he goes on with telling; Ver. 7. He slretcheth out the north over the empty place, xxiv. 34. By the title of the ' north,' in Holy Writ the devil is used to be designated, who with the thought to bind up the hearts of the nations with the iciness of insensibility, said, Is. 14, J will sit also upon the mount of the Covenant, in t!ie sides TO ' of the north. And he is ' stretched over the empty place,' because he has possession of those hearts, that are not filled with the grace of the love of God. Yet is it competent to Almighty God, that even those vessels of the devil, empty of every virtue. He may fill with the gift of His grace, and deposit the solid substance of Divine fear in those persons, whom He does not see stablished by any conduct of righ- teousness. Hence it is fitly added; And hangeth the earth upon nothing. XXV. f35. For what is denoted by the title of ^ earth,' saving Holy Church; who, whilst she receives the words of preach- ing, renders back the fruit of good works 1 Whereof it is Deut. said by Moses, Let the earth hear the words out of my lips, ' ' 'let my speech he looked for like the rain. And what but the several gentile peoples are denoted by ' nothing,' of whom it Is. 40, is spoken by the Prophet, All nations before Him aie as nothing, and they are counted to Him less than nothing. In that ' nothing,' then, is * the earth hung suspended,' which before, being a void place, was occupied by the ' north;' because those hearts of the Gentiles became filled with the love of God, which had been aforetime weighed down by a deadness of the devil. But it may be that both by this ' empty place,' the infidelity of Judsea is denoted, and by ' the earth,' as we said, the propagation of Holy Church. Thus let the holy man look at the fall of Juda3a in her perishing, and espy the privileges of the gentile world brought back to pardon, and let him say. He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. For because the hearts of the Gentiles, being void of faith, were made subject to the devil, ' He stretched the north over the empty place;' and because, there being no Ps. 56, merits forthcoming, (as it is said. For nothing shall Thou ^^^' save them,) upon the Gentiles the Lord founded His Church, He stays too ijrcatjloods of knowledge from the weak. 801 which same Gentiles are by the Prophet called ' nothing,' in Book pursuing the subject he rightly adds, And hangeth the earth — ^ u'pon nothing. Now in what order this thing was done, he continues in subjoining with wonderful method. For he saith, Ver. 8. He hindeth up the waters in his thick clouds, that they should not hurst forth alike beneath.
36. For what does he call ' the waters' in this place but xxvi. knowledge; what ' clouds' but the Preachers? For that in Holy Writ * water' may sometimes be a term used for know- ledge, we have been taught by Solomon bearing witness to it, who says. The words of a marCs mouth are as deep Prov. waters, and the ivell-spring of wisdom as a flowing brook, ' ' That, by water knowledge is denoted, the Prophet David bears witness, saying. Dark itater in clouds of the sky, i. e.Ps. 18, secret knowledge in the Prophets, who before the Advent of the Lord, whilst, pregnant with secret sacraments, they were bearing in them boundless mysteries, to the eyes of beholders had their meaning obscured. But by the name of ^ clouds,' what else is denoted in this passage but the holy Preachers, i. e. the Apostles, who being dispatched in every direction through the regions of the world, both knew how to shower in words, and to flash forth ^ in miracles? Whom the Prophet ^ corus- Isaiah beholding long before, said. Who are these that fly Is.qo^q. as clouds? Thus because this man, filled with the spirit of prophecy, in this utterance of his voice longs that for the praise of God the rise of Holy Church may commence, he betakes himself to tell the order of her rise from the preaching of the Apostles, who took the greatest pains to preach to uninstructed people what was plain and comprehensible, not what was high and arduous. For holy knowledge, which is here set forth by the title of water, if in the same way that they drew it from the heart, so they poured it forth from the lips, by the immensity thereof they would overwhelm rather than water their hearers. Hence his knowledge being un- bound within, that it should not burst forth alike beneath, in nourishing his hearers with the dropping of words, that ' cloud' spake, saying, And I brethren could not speak unto i Cor. you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes ' ' * in Christ. I have fed you with milk and not ivith meat. For who could have borne it if he that was caught uj) to the 302 Christ taught the weak not from earthy nor too far ojf.
Job 26, third heaven, tliat was caught into paradise, even hearing -y:^ — unutterable words, which it was not permitted to man to Myst. ' i speak, had opened such unbounded depths of celestial knowledge? or what hearer's power would he not overwhelm, if all that he might have been able to draw within, as far as tongue of flesh may suffice, overflowing without the mighty flood of this water had poured forth?
37. But that uninstructed hearers might be comforted not by an inundation of knowledge, but by the tempered dropping of preaching, God tietJt up the waters in the clouds, that they may not burst forth alike beneath. Because He tempers the preaching of the teachers, that so the infirmity of the hearers, being nourished by the dew of the things spoken, may be made strong. Which is well described in the Gospel by a mystical mode of representation, where it is Luke 6, said, Jesus entered into the boat of Peter, and prayed him /hat he would thrust out a little from the land; and he sat down thus, and taught the people. By Peter's ship what else is denoted but the Church committed to Peter? and that the Lord may preach to the crowds flocking together out of this ship, He orders it to be * thrust out a little from the land.' Which same he neither bids to be carried into the deep, and yet does bid that it be thrust out from the land, signifying, surely, that to uninstructed people His preachers ought not to preach either what is too deep relating to the heavenly world, nor yet what is earthly. And so * water is bound up in the clouds,' because the knowledge of the Preachers, speaking to the minds of the frail, is forbidden to teach as much as it is able to see.
38. Since, for the most part, if the heart of the hearers is spoilt by the vastness of the utterance, the tongue of the persons teaching is mulcted in the damage of indiscretion.
Ex. 21, Whence it is written; And if a man shall open a cistern, or if a man shall dig a pit and, not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein, the owner of the pit shall make it good. For what is it ' to open a cistern,' saving with strong under- standing to penetrate the mysteries of Holy Writ } And what is understood by an ' ox' and an ' ass,' viz. a clean and an unclean animal, save every believer and unbeliever.? Ac- cordingly, let him that * diggeth a cistern cover it, lest an ox The ilrony cannot bea}\ all, still less the weak. 303 or an ass tumble headlong therein/ i. e. let him, who already Booic makes out deep things in Holy Writ, by silence cover over his lofty perceptions before those that do not reach that compass, lest by a stumbling-block to the soul he kill either the believing little one, or the unbelieving, who might have been led to believe. For upon the death of the beasts of burthen there are damages due, plainly because he is con- victed of having done that, whereby he is held a debtor for the exercising of penance \ Accordingly, ' the cistern must be covered,' in that before little minds, deep knowledge requires to be veiled, lest by the same cause that the heart of the teachers is lifted up to the highest things, the infirmity of the hearer fall away to the lowest. Accordingly let it be said with justice. He blndeth up the waters in His clouds, thai they should not burst forth alike beneath. For ' the waters w'ould burst forth alike,' if, in the presence of weak hearers, the knowledge came forth from the lips of the speaker as great as it is, if all the whole fulness of preaching poured itself out at once, and reserved nought to itself together with those making progress. For it is fitting that he that preaches should have an eye to the measure of him that hears him, so that the preaching itself may grow with his hearers' stages of grovvth. I'or so does it behove every single preacher to do, as it is dealt with himself from heaven; never to tell to the weak all that he has the perception of, because he himself too, so long as by flesh of mortality he is weak, does not perceive all those things that belong to heaven. And there- fore he ought not to preach to the ignorant as much as he is acquainted with, because even he himself, touching heavenly mysteries, cannot have his eyes open to see how great they are. For hence it is that Paul the Apostle, after he was admitted to the mysteries of heaven, saith, For?iow we see\ Cor. through a glass darkly; but then face to face. And hence ^^' ^^* it here follows in continuation; Ver. 9. He holdeth back the face of His Throne, and spreadeth His cloud upon it.
" Some editions add, ' For whoso, words a clean soul or an unclean be when he cometh to deep streams of taken in mischief.' This passage is knowledge, covereth them not hefore hardly found in any Mss. and seems the brutish hearts of his hearers, is to have been introduced into the text held bound to a penalty, if through his from the margin. Ben.
304 God ' withholdeth the face of Hia Throne' at present.
Job 26, 39. In the face there is wont to be shewn forth acquaint- anceship. Thus ' the face of His Throne is held back,' in xxvii. ^^^ ^y ^^ "^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ gloriousness of His kingdom is not perceived, so <,^reat as it is had within; 'upon which the cloud' is rightly said ' to be stretched;' because that glory Wisd. Qf t}jg heavenly kingdom is not seen such as it is. For the corruptible body presseth down the soul; and the earthy tabernacle weiyheth down the mind that museth upon many things. And so against seeing it we are besprinkled with a mist, for we are darkened by the mere cloudiness of our ignorance. Whence it is rightly said by the Psalmist, Ps. 18, j^tid darkness u-as under His feet; and He rode above the Cherubim, and, did fly; He did fly above the wings of the wind: He made darkness His secret place. For there is ' darkness to Him under His feet,' in that by those beneath He is not seen in that brightness, wherewith He exercises dominion among those above. For He * rode above the Cherubim, and did fly;' since the ' Cherubim' is a term used for the fulness of knowledge. By consequence he is said above the fulness of knowledge to have ' ridden, and to have flown,' because the loftiness of His Majesty there is no knowledge doth compass. ' He did fly,' because He trans- ported Himself on high, far from the reach of our under- standing. * He did fly above the wings of the wind,' because He transcended the knowledge of souls. He made darkness too His secret place, because whereas we are dimmed with the mists of our infirmity, by virtue of our ignorance He is hidden from us, that He should not be seen by us now in eternal and interior Brightness. Hence in the Song of Songs Cant. 8, also it is said to Him by the Spouse, Escape, my Beloved, ^^' escape. ' It escapes us,' we say, as often as that does not occur to our minds which we wish to remember. ' It escapes us,' we say, when that which we wish we do not retain in our recollection. So Holy Church, after that she sets forth the Death and Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord, cries out to Him, full of the Spirit of Prophecy, Escape, my Beloved, escape. As though she said; ' Thou That art made by the flesh comprehensible, do Thou by Thy Divine Nature transcend the comprehension of our percep- tion, and in Thine own Self remain to us Incomprehensible.'
God hideth His Majeslt/, utid boundeth men\s doings, 305 x\nd so He ' holdeth back the face of His throne,' because Book XVII He hideth the power of His Majesty from mortal beings. — ^ 40. But if we render His ' throne' the Angelical Powers, for on these same Powers He sitteth enthroned as on a royal seat, ' He keeps back the face of His Throne' from us, because so long as we have our subsistence in this mortal flesh, what and how wonderful those ministrations of the Angels are, we do not perceive. ' And He spreadeth His cloud upon it' assuredly because He both lifts up our heart for making search, and yet it is brought to pass by a secret mode of control, that by the very endlessness of its searching it is kept back. Whence it is written, The deep uttered its voice at the Hab. 3, loftiness of its imagining. For the mind of man is forced to cry out in admiration, when, in loftiness of survey, it is straitened in its searchings by the very act by which it is enlarged. Or, surely, because we are ourselves the ' throne' of God, He is said not unjustly to ' keep back the face of His throne,' when our knowledge is prevented advancing to things of a higher range. Upon which same throne God is said ' to spread His cloud,' because remaining Himself invisible. He puts forth secret judgments upon us, that at once a thing should be done in prominency, that we should be able to see, and yet the origin of the deed be hidden in con- cealment, so that the reason wherefore it be done, we should needs not know. Hence too it is filly added; Ver. 11. He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the light and darkness come to an end.
41. Because very often in Holy Writ, as we said above, by xxvdii. the name of ' waters' peoples are denoted; the Lord compasseth the waters with bounds; because He so tempers the knowledge of mankind that until the successions of the changing seasons pass away, it cannot perfectly attain to the knowledge of the Interior Brightness. But if by the name of ' light' we under- stand the righteous, and by the designation of ' darkness' sinners; (and hence Paul saith. For ye were someti?nes Eph. 5^ darkness, but now are ye light,) there is nothing to hinder ' this same thing that we said being understood, ' that the perfect knowledge of eternity is vouchsafed to no one, until the course of the righteous and of the unrighteous is brought to an end.' But because it is not wonderful that carnal people know nothing of things above, the holy man lifts VOL. II. X .•306 Even they that are * Pillars' tremble before Ood.
Job 26, himself up in astonishment at that same Divine power, and ~ — '— considers that it surpasses the very knowledge of Angels and perfect men as well, saying, The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at his nod.
xxix. 42. What else does he call ' the pillars of heaven' but the holy Angels, or the principal preachers of the Church, over whom in the heavenly world the whole structure of the spiritual edifice increasing arose, as Holy Scripture elsewhere Rev. 3, bears witness, saying, Him that overcometh will 1 make a pillar in the temple of my God. For whoever is established firmly by a right purpose of mind in the work of God, is set up as a pillar in the structure of the spiritual edifice; that being placed in this temple, which is the Church, he should be both for usefulness and ornament. But Job calls those * pillars of heaven' whom the Apostle calls ' pillars' of the Gal. 2, Church, saying, Peter, and James, and John, which seemed ^' to he pillars, gave me the right hand.
43. We may also not inappropriately interpret the * pillars of heaven' the Churches themselves, which being many in number, constitute one Catholic Church spread over the whole face of the earth. Hence too the Apostle John writes to the seven Churches, meaning to denote the one Catholic Church replenished with the Spirit of sevenfold grace, and Prov. 9, we know that Solomon said of the Lord, Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars. And the same, to make known that it was of the seven Churches he had spoken that, in going on sedulously introduced the Prov. 9, very Sacraments themselves too, saying, She hath killed her sacrifices, she hath mingled her wine, she hath also set forth her table; she hath sent forth her maidens, that they may cry to the citadel and to the walls of the city. If any be a little one, let him come to me. For the Lord ' killed the sacrifices' by offering Himself on our behalf. He ' mingled the wine,' blending together the cup of His precepts from the historical narration and the spiritual signification.
Ps. 75, Whence it is elsewhere written. For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture. And ' He set forth His table,' i. e. Holy Writ, which with the bread of the word refreshes us when we are wearied, and Wisdom for the humble. Fear hejitshoth men and Angels. S07 come to Him away from the burthens of the world, and by Hoc: its effect of refreshing strengthens us against our adversaries. '- Whence too it is elsewhere said by the Church; 7%owPs. 23, preparesl a table before me, against them that trouble me. ' He ' sent forth His maidens,' i. e. the souls of the Apostles, being in their actual beginning infirm ', ^ that they might i i. e. cry to the citadel and the walls of the city;' in that whilst ^^^^^^'^ they tell of the interior life, they lift us up to the high walls waWms, of the City Above, w^hich same walls, surely, except any be jq^(j°|"2. humble they do not ascend. Whence it is there added bv^. i.§.
that same Wisdom; If any be a little one, let him come unto^,\i\ Me. As if she said in plain terms; ^ Whosoever accounts himself great in his own eyes, contracts the avenue of his approach unto Me; for there is a loftier reaching unto Me in proportion as the mind of each one is in himself the more truly abased.'
44. But with whatever degree of goodness a man may be advanced, with whatever knowledge he may be made to grow, he cannot fathom to the bottom, what a governance of judg- ments the Lord rules us with. Therelbre let him say, The pillars of heaven tremble, a}id are astonished at his nod; because in most things not those even are able to reach the lofty height of His will, who whilst announcing see the re- wards of that will. Which, as w^e said above, there is nothing hinders being interpreted of the Holy Angels as well; because the very Powers of the heavenly world themselves, which behold Him without ceasing, in that very contemplation of theirs are made to tremble. But that that should not be a trembling of woe to them, it is one not of fear, but of admira- tion. Now because he had brought in how great the conster- nation of his wonderment was, he now relates the order of our salvation. It follows; Ver. 12. In His might the seas are suddenly gathered together, and His wisdom hath struck the proud one.
45. What else is denoted by the title of the sea save the xxx. present world, wherein the hearts of men seeking after earthly things swell with the diverse billows of the thoughts? which same being stirred up by the exaltation of pride, whilst with cross sway they thwart one another, do as with con- fronting waters dash themselves together. But henceforth 308 God confoundeth Satan by wisdom, not mere force.
Job 26, ' the seas are gathered together in His might/ because on p^„ the Lord being made Incarnate, the discordant hearts of worldly men believe in agreement. Henceforth Peter ' walks on the sea,' because to the preachers of Christ, these once swelling hearts are by lowly hearing bowed down to the earth, so that in the Gospel too it justly represented the gentleness of this world, that the stormy water of the sea, its swelling being forced down, was trodden by the feet of the Lord. Now in what manner that was done is disclosed, when it is said, His wisdom^ hath struck the proud one.
46. Who else is here called ' proud,' saving he who said, Is. 14, / will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will he like