the Most High; and concerning whom it is spoken by the Job 41, voice of God, Who is made that he should fear none, and ' ' himself is king over all the sons of pride. With reference to whom moreover the prophet David agrees with this Ps.89, sentence, saying, Thoit hast abased the proud man, like one wounded. But though to the simple nature of Deity it is not one thing to be, and another thing to be wise, nor one thing to be wise, and another to be strong, forasmuch as the strength is identically the same that the wisdom, and the wisdom that the essence of the Deity is, yet I consider it a thing to be regarded with lively attention, that this man being filled with the prophetic spirit, chose to describe the proud devil as stricken by * the wisdom' rather than the power of God. For he saith not, ' His might,' but, * His wisdom hath struck the proud one.' For, as we have said, although by right of simple Nature, the Might of God is the Wisdom of God, yet as to the appearance, the Lord overcame the devil, not by power, but by reason; for the devil himself, by over- throwing us in that root of our first parent, as it were right- fully held man under his thraldom, who whilst he was created with free will, yielded consent to him, when he prompted what was unjust. For when created to life in the freedom of his own will, he was of his own accord made the debtor to death. Therefore such a transgression was to be done away; but saving by sacrifice it could not be done away. A sacrifice was to be sought after, but what sacrifice could be found for the setting men free.? For neither was it just that for reasoning man there should be slain sacrifices of brute beasts.
Satan'^s pride beaten dow?i by our Lord as Man. 309 Whence the Apostle says, It was therefore necessary that Book the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with '- these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices 23. ' ' than these. And so if brute creatures on behalf of a rational animal, i. e. in the stead of man, were not proportionate victims, a man was to be sought out, who should be offered for men, that for a reasoning being committing sin there might be offered a reasoning victim. But what of the fact, that a man without sin could not be found? And the victim offered in our stead, when could it cleanse us from sin, if the actual victim itself was not without sin's contagion? Since it being defiled could never have cleansed the defiled. Therefore that it might be a rational victim, Man was to be offered, but that it might cleanse man from his sins, Man and that Man without sin. But who might there be man without sin, if he was descended from a combination in sin? There- upon in our behalf the Son of God came into the womb of the Virgin; there for our sakes He was made Man. Nature, not sin, was assumed by Him. He offered a sacrifice in our behalf. He set forth His own Body in behalf of sinners, a victim void of sin, that both by human nature He might be capable of dying, and by righteousness be capable of purifying. This One, then, when the ancient enemy saw after the Baptism, then directly fell upon Him with tempta- tions, and by diverse avenues strove to insinuate himself into His interior; he was overcome and laid prostrate by the mere sinlessness of His unconquerable mind.
47. But because to the interior his strength did not reach, he betook himself to His outward man, that because he was subdued by the prowess of the soul. Him, Whom he had not the power to deceive by temptation, he might at all events by the death of the flesh seem to vanquish. And, as it has been said before us, he had leave granted to him against that, which the Mediator had taken from us mortals. But where he had power to do something, there he was vanquished utterly on every side; and from the same cause that he obtained the power outwardly to kill the flesh of the Lord, his interior power, whereby he held us fast, was killed. For he was himself vanquished within, whilst in seeming he vanquished without; and he, who of 310 The mystic ^Heavens'' otre their adorniiKj to the Spirit.
Job 26, ijcrht held us the debtors of death, of right lost in us the -ryji — ^riglit of death; because by means of his ministers, he sought for the flesh of Him to be done to death, in Whom he found no whit of the debt of sin. Thus our Lord did in our behalf pay death not due, that death due might not injure us; and so it is well said. And His wisdom hath struck the proud one; because our old enemy by the excess of his presumption lost even him, whom by the law of wicked persuasion he got possession of; and whilst he audaciously went after Him, in Whom there was nought at his command, by right he lost him, whom he as it were justly Ijeld bound. Therefore he was ' stricken by wisdom,' and not by power, in that while he is let loose for the tempting God, he is unfastened from possessing man; so that him that was under him, he should lose by the same act, whereby he had ventured to come to an encounter with Him, Who is over him. But upon the Lord being killed in the flesh, what gloriousness of powers came upon his Preachers is related, when it is added, Ver. 13. His Spirit garnished the heavens. XXXI. 48. What ' heavens,' saving those concerning whom it is Ps.19,1. written, The heavens are telling the glory of God? Which ' heavens His Spirit garnished' then, when It ' filled' them. Acts 2, Which we have learnt by Luke's relating, who saith. Suddenly there came a sound from heaven^ as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting; and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them: and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. From Him, then, they received the adornments of prowess, whom an exceeding disfigurement of fear before had possession of. For we know that first one of the Apostles, i. e. of the ' heavens,' how often, before the grace of the Holy Spirit was vouchsafed, whilst he feared to die, he denied ' the Life;' who not by punishments, not by inflictions, not by the dreadful power of any one, but by the simple inten-ogation of a single slave, was brought to the ground. And truly that that slave the sterner sex might not exhibit as an object to cause alarm, it was by a maidservant putting the question that he was tried. Again, that the weakness of such a sex, by the lowness of her Glory (}f the Apostles after Pentecost. 311 office as well might be made contemptiblej he was questioned Book not by a maidservant only, but by a maidservant keeper of the door. See how contemptible the person is that is sought 17. out for the purpose of trying him, that it might be plainly brought to light, what excessive weakness of fear possessed him, who even before the voice of a maidservant of the door could not stand fast.
49. But this one a little before so full of affright, what after the Coming of the Holy Spirit he became, let us now see. Surely we have learnt by Luke's attesting it, with what an authoiitativeness he preached the Lord, in opposition to the priests and rulers. For when upon a miracle being wrought inquiry had arisen, and the rulers from among the priests, the elders, and the scribes laid their hands together in the persecution of the Apostles, setting those persons in the midst, they busied themselves to ask in wliat power they had wrought the miracle. Unto whom Peter being filled with the Holy Spirit spake. Ye rulers of the people and elders; Acts 4, if we be this day examined of the deed done to the impotent^' ^^' man, by what means he is made whole; be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Whom ye crucified, Whom God raised from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand here before you whole. And when the rage of the persecutors against this grew to a head, and the priests and rulers forbade those men to preach Jesus, with what independent power Peter rose in height against the wrath of the rulers, is made plain, when it is there added directly, But Peter and the y-^^- Apostles answered and said unto them. It is right to obey God rather than man. But when the commands of those withstanding did not repress the influence of the persons preaching, it comes to scourges. For it is added. And when Acts 5, the chief priests had beaten them, they commanded that they^^' should not speak i?i the Name of Jesus, and let them go. But that the prowess of the Apostles not even scourges had power to restrain, is openly shewn, when it is immediately introduced next, And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the Name of Jesus. And immediately even after the rejoicing of their scourges what they did we have pointed 312 The Sdlitls adorned by the Spirit witJi sundry Gifts.
Job 26, out; And daily hi the temple, and in every house, they ceased _i_ ffQi ffj teach and to preach Jesus Christ. Mark, that man, a little while before full of fears, now speaks with tongues, flashes forth with miracles, with free voice rebukes the unbelief of the priests and rulers, gives to the rest for the preaching of Jesus an example of independence. That he should not speak in His Name, he is restrained by scourg- ings, and yet is not withheld. He sets at nought the strokes of those that scourged him, who a little while back had dreaded the words of those that questioned him. And he that when asked a question shrunk in consternation from the powers of a maidservant, when beaten with the rod forces back the powers of the rulers. For being henceforth established by the efficacy of the Holy Spirit, the heights of this world he trod down with the heel of liberty, that he should see that that was low down on the earth, whatever it was that swelled high against the grace of the Creator.
50. These are the ornaments of the heavens, these are the gifts of the Spirit, that are used to be manifested by divers powers, which as divided by the bestowal of secret distri- 1 Cor. bution Paul reckons up, saying, For to one is given by the s-lio. Spirit the 7cord ofioisdom; to another the word of knowled.ge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues. All which directly afterwards including in one by a general statement he says, But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will. Of these ' heavens' Ps.33,6. too it is said in the Psalm, By the hand of the Lord were the heavens set fast. Of these ornaments of the Spirit also it is added, And all the power of them by the Spirit of His mouth.
Therefore it is well said. His Spirit hath garnished the heavens; because the holy Preachers, except they received the gifts of the Paraclete, that were promised to them, would not have shone with any comeliness of might. But because when the Holy Apostles were beautified with the grace of the gifts of virtue, the preaching of life gained ground against the hearts of unbelievers, and our old enemy being expelled Satan lurks like a serpent in the wicked heart. 313 by the voices of the preachers, abandoned the minds of the Book unbelievers, which he had close beset; after the ornaments of '- the heavens it is fitly subjoined; And hy the midwifery of His hand the crooked serpent is brought forth.
51. For who is described by the designation of the 'ser-xxxii. pent,' but our old enemy, at once slippery and crooked, who for the deceiving of man spake with the mouth of a serpent? Of whom it is said by the Prophet, Leviathan the har-ser-ls.il,^. pent, the crooked one; who was for this reason allowed to speak with the mouth of a serpent, that by that very vessel of his man might learn what he was that dwelt within. For a serpent is not only crooked but slippery as well; and so because he stood not in the uprightness of truth, he entered into a crooked animal, and because if to his first suggestion resistance be not made, in a moment whilst it is not per- ceived he slips in entire into the interior of the heart, he made speech to man by a slippery animal. Now ' the dens' of this serpent were the hearts of wicked men. Which same because he drew on to his own depravity, he as it were rested in the dwelling place of them. But ' by the midwifery of the Lord's hand, the crooked serpent is driven out of his own dens,' in that whilst the Divine grace heals us, he that had held possession of us, our old enemy, is cast out of us, as Truth Incarnate says. Now shall the prince of this wor Id ^ohnl2y be cast out. Hence all the Saints now already he does not possess by holding, but persecutes by tr^'ing. For because he does not reign in them within, he fights against them without, and because he has lost his dominion in the inte- rior, he sets on foot wars in the exterior. For him That One drove forth from the carnal hearts of men, Who for the sake of men came to the state of Incarnation; and whereas He took seisin of the hearts of unbelievers. He as it were put His hand to the dens of the serpent. Whence it is rightly said by the Prophet; And the sucking child shall play o;ils. n, the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice'' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My Holy Mountain. For whom does he call ' the sucking child,' or ' the weaned child,' saving the Lord } And what did he denote by * the hole of the asp,' and * the cockatrice 314 Our Lord dragged Salart from his dwelling in man. Job 26, den,' savinu: the hearts of wicked men? Because our old — — ^- enemy, whereas he gat himself wholly into their consenting, as a crooked serpent in his own hole, he gathered and wound up the coils of his craftiness; whom he both designates with the title of ' asp' as covertly ravening, and of a ' cock- atrice' as openly wounding. And so the Lord * put His hand upon the hole of the asp and the cockatrice,' when He took seisin of the hearts of the wicked by Divine power. And the asp and the cockatrice, being seized, i. e. the devil, he drew away therefrom a captive, that * in His Holy Mountain,' which is the Church, he might not ' harm' His Elect believers.
Thus it is hence said in the Song of Songs, on the coming Cant. 4, of the Spouse; Thou shall be crowned from the top of ^' Amana^ from the top of 8henir and Hermon, from the lions'' dens. For what else is denoted by the title of the lions but the devils, W'hich rage against us with the fury of the deadliest cruelty } And because the sinners are called to faith, whose hearts were once ^ the dens of lions,' when by their confession the Lord is believed to have overcome death, it is as if He were ' crowned from the lions' dens.' For a crown is the recompense of victory. So often then do the faithful offer a crown to Him, as they confess that He has overcome death by virtue of the Resurrection. And so ' the lion is driven from his den,' because * by the midwifery of the Lord's hand,' ' the crooked serpent is hindered from dwelling in the dens,' which he had possession of For he went forth defeated from the hearts of believers, who had aforetime ruled over them with the sceptre of unbelief 53. Observe how in a few short sentences the holy man related the order of the Lord's Advent, set forth its weighty charges, and in admiring described what by His Incarnation was possible to be done. But Pie, Who wrought marvellous things when He came in humility, cannot be viewed with all the great terribleness He shall come with, when He appeareth in the mightiness of His Majesty. The order of His first Advent might be viewed and estimated, in so far as in coming to redeem carnal beings. He abated the greatness of His Divinity to carnal eyes. But who might bear the terrors of His Highness, when with the power of the Second Advent God aheu.s a little of His ways. We could not hear all. 315 in exercising jndiyment by fne, He shall glow in the Majesty Book of His power? Whence the holy man describes His first - Advent, but is exhausted for the second, saying, Ver. 14. Zo, these things have been spoken for part of His ways; and whilst v:e scarcely hear a little drop of His words, loho shall be able to look on the thunder of His Majesty?
54. What is meant in this place by the designation ofxxxiii. the ' ways,' but the Lord's modes of acting } Hence too the Lord saith by the Prophet; For My icays are not as yourls.55,8. ways. Accordingly in telHng of the Advent of the Lord, he had described the ways of God in part; because His method of acting by which He created us was one thing, and that by which He redeemed us another. Thus those things, which he told touching the Lord's way of acting, making light of by comparison with the final Judgment, he says, Lo, these things are spoken for part of His ways. Which he also calls ' a little drop of His words,' for whatsoever thing that is high, whatsoever thing that is terrible, we whilst set in this life are brought to know by the contemplation of Him, from the vast ocean of the secrets of Heaven wells out to us like a slight drop of the liquid element Above. And who shall be able to look on the thunder of His Majesty f As though he expressed himself in plain words; ' If we scarce endure the wonders of His humility, the loud and dreadful Advent of His Majesty with what nerve do we encounter?' This thundering of His Advent the Psalmist also sounds out, saying, Our God shall come in state, our God, and shall^^-^o,^- not keep silence, a fire shall devour before Him, and a mighty tempest round about Him. Hence Zephaniah the Prophet tells it out, saying, The Great Day of the Lord is '^^^v^-^, near; it is near and hasteth greatly. The voice of the Day of ~~ the Lord is bitter: the mighty man shall be troubled there. That Day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress y a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of cloud and whirlwind, a day of the trumpjet, and of a dreadfid sound. The terror then of the Strict Inquest, which Zephaniah calls ^ the Trumpet,' blessed Job designates ' thundering.' Which Joel also viewing saith. Let all the inhabitants of the land be troubled: /f^r.Jqel 2.
•^ \ COLLEGE y V 316 First and second Advent contrasted.
Job 26, the Day of the Lord cometh; for it is nigh at hand^ a day 11: of darkness and of gloominess^ a day of cloud and whirl- Proph ' wind. For the Day of the Lord is great, and very terrible, and who shall sustain it? But how incomprehensible and unimaginable that Greatness wherewith He shall come in His Second Manifesting, in some degree we estimate aright, if we consider with heedful reflection the weighty particulars of His first Advent. Surely that He might redeem us from death, the Lord came to die, and the impoverishment and punishments of our flesh He underwent in His own Body; Who before He came to the stock of the Cross, suffered Himself to be bound, to be spit on, to be mocked and to be beaten with blows on His cheek. Observe to what disgrace- ful treatment He for our sakes consented to come, and yet, before He permitted Himself to be laid hold of, He ques- tioned His persecutors, saying, Whom seek ye? To Whom they thereupon gave answer, Jesus of Nazareth. And when He said to them directly, / am He, He only uttered a voice of the mildest answer, and at once prostrated His armed persecutors to the earth. What then shall He do when He cometh to judge the world, who by one utterance of His voice smote His enemies, even when He came to be judged? What is that Judgment which He exercises as immortal, Who in a single utterance could not be endured when He was about to die } Who may sustain His wrath, Whose very mildness even could not be sustained? So then let the holy man consider it and say, And whilst we scarcely hear a little drop of His words, who shall be able to look an the thundering of His Majesty 7 i BOOK XVIII.
Contaius the exposition of the twenty- seventh and twenty-eighth chapters of the Book of Job, to the twenty-first verse and half through it, after manifold senses.
It is the case for the most part in Holy Writ that there are things of a mystical nature so represented, that neverthe- less they seem put forth in accordance with the historical relation. But oftentimes such sort of descriptions are mixed together in that same historical relation, whereby the whole outside of history is rendered null'; which same whilst they • casse- sound of nothing belonging to the history, oblige the reader*"^ to look for something else in them. For things being spoken that we suppose plain, when we find any particulars inter- j spersed with a more obscure meaning, we are as it were pricked by a kind of spurs, that we should both be alive for the understanding some things in a deeper sense, and that we sliould take even those things as put forth in a more obscure sense, which we looked upon as spoken in their plain import. Whereas, then, blessed Job was speaking of the Word of the Lord, and the greatness of His thundering, next in order to these words it is directly introduced; Chap, xxvii. 1. Moreover Job added taking up his parable, and said.
2. By which same verse it is shewn in how great mystery i. the words of this most saintly man are delivered, when ' a parable,' i. e. a simile, is described as ' taken up' by him, who utters nothing below in the way of simile or comparison. For be it far 'from us in this place to interpret a * parable' that musical instrument ". Since neither is it allowable to suppose that under infliction of chastenings he used music, when Truth saith by His Scripture, Music in mourning is Ecc\ns.
a ' We know of no musical instru- but one may imagine some so named ment so called either now or formerly; from their parabolic figure.' Ben.
318 Job declares, like Holy Church, his faith in God.
Job 27, as a tale out of season. The word ' parable,' then, having ~ been named, see how we now learn, the text itself telling it, Alleg.,,,...1 A 1 not by the text only to estimate his words. And so every thing must be drawn to turn to that likeness, by which the Church is denoted in a figure. And indeed in the very beginning of his speaking, the things said are put forth in a plain sense, but they are entwined with more obscure ones subjoined For he begins as he is used, with a plain mode of speech, but he finishes his words with a description preg- nant through mystical significations. And so he saith, Ver. 2. As God liveth, Who hath taken away my judg- ment, and the Almighty, Who hath brought my soul to bitterness. ii, 3. By which same words blessed Job at once tells his own circumstances, and represents the times of Holy Church under affliction, wherein she is borne down by the open frowardness of unbelievers, and vexed by the bitterness of persecution. For in two ways the Church is subject to be tried by her adversaries, viz. that she should suffer persecu- tion either by words or swords. Now Holy Church aims with the greatest diligence to possess wisdom and patience. And her wisdom is exercised when she is tried with words, her patience is exercised when she is tried with swords. Now, however, he is speaking of that persecution, wherein she is provoked not by swords, but by false statements. Now we know numbers, who when they encounter some things adverse in this life, do not believe that God is, but there are some that hold that God is, but does not concern Himself in the least with the affairs of men. For of the one Ps 14,1. it is said by David, The fool hath said in his heart. There is no God. But the latter say in him, Hotv doth God. know? And is there knowledge in the Most High? And again; Ps.94,7. Yet they say again; The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it. Thus this person who bore a type of Holy Church, whilst set fast in the veiy bitterness of his affliction, made answer against them both. For as life has ' being,' but death has not, to avow that God is, he saith. As God liveth, but that he might tell that God concerns Himself with the affairs of mortals, he added. Who hath taken atvay my judgment, and hath brought my soul to God permits Satan's ivrong for right ends. 319 bitterness. For these ills which he suffers he bears record riooK that he suffers not by accident, but by God Who ordereth '- all things, nor does he attribute the power for his bitterness to his tempter, but to his Creator.