bl. Though the ' calling' and ^ answering"' may likewise xlii. be understood in another way. For God's ' calling' ns is His having respect to us in loving and choosing us, and our * answering' is the yielding obedience to His love by good works. Where it is fitly added. Or let me speak, and answer Thou me. For we ' speak,' when we beg for God's face in desire, and God answers our speaking, when He appears to us that love Him. But because whoever pants with longing for the eternal world, examines his doings, taking himself to task with great exactness, and searches lest there be aught in him, whereby he might offend the face of his Creator, he rightly adds. How many are mine iniquities ayid my sins? Make me to know my crimes and offences. This is the task of the righteous in this life, to find out themselves, and on finding out to bring themselves to a better state by weeping and self-chastening. And though John the Apostle tells us that there is no odds between iniquity and sin, when he says, i John iniquity is sin; yet in the simple usage of speech, * iniquity' ' * sounds something more than ' sin,' and every one confesses himself a ' sinner,' but he is sometimes ashamed to call himself an iniquitous person. Now between ' crimes' and ' offences' there is this difference, that * crime' over and above exceeds the weight and measure of sin, but an ' offence' does not exceed the weight of sin; for thus, when a sacrifice is commanded to be offered under the Law, it is doubtless enjoined, as for a ' sin,' the same for an ' offence' too. And crime is never done but in deed, whereas offence is most 36 Misery of fallen wan in not seeing God.
Job 13, commonly committed in thought alone. Hence it is said by ^^' the Psalmist, Who can undersland his offencea? seeing Ps. 19, that sms of practice are known the quicker, in proportion as ^^* they appear externally, but sins of thought are the more difficult to apprehend, that they are committed out of sight. Hence any one, who being made solicitous by the love of Eternity, has it at heart to appear clean before the Judge that shall come, examines himself so much the more exactly now, in proportion as he bethinks himself how he may then present himself free to His terribleness; and he beseeches to have it shewn him, wherein he offends, that he may punish that thing in himself by penance, and by judging himself here, may be rendered unobnoxious to judgment.
58. But herein it is needful to observe, how great is the punishment of our pilgrimage which has fallen upon us, who have been brought to such a degree of blindness, that we do not know our own selves. We do evil, and yet do not quickly find it out, even when done. For the mind, being banished from the light of truth, finds in itself nothing else than dark- ness, and very often puts out the foot into the pit of sin, and knows it not. Which it is subject to from the blindness of the state of exile alone, seeing that, being driven away from the illumining of the Lord, it even lost the power to see itself, in that it loved not the face of its Maker. Hence it is added; Ver. 24. Wherefore Iddest Thoa Thy face, and holdest me for Thine enemy? xliii. 59. Man enjoyed the light of inward contemplation in Paradise, but by gratifying himself, as he departed from himself, he lost the light of the Creator, and fled from His face to the trees of Paradise, seeing that, after his sin, he dreaded to see Him, whom he had used to love. But mark, after sin he is brought into punishment, but from punishment he returns to love, because he finds out what was the conse- quence of his transgression, and that face, which he feared in sin, being awakened to a right sense, he seeks afresh by punishment, that he may henceforth flee the darkness of his blind condition, and shrink with horror from this alone, that he does not behold his Creator. Pierced with which long-^ ing the holy uian exclaims. Wherefore hidest Thou Thy fact and tahefit me for Thine enemy '^ ' since, if Thou didst regar( Man in temptation like a leaf driven by the wind. 37 me as a friend, Thou wouldest not deprive me of the light of Book XI Thy vision.' And going on, he adds the fickleness of the ^ human heart, saying, Ver. 25. Wilt T/ioit sJieiv Thy power against a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt Thou pursue the dry stubble?
60. For what is man but a leaf, who fell in Paradise from xliv. the tree } what but a leaf is he, who is caught by the wind of temptation, and lifted up by the gusts of his passions } For the mind of man is agitated as it were by as many gusts, as it undergoes temptations. Thus very often anger agitates it; when anger is gone, empty mirth succeeds. It is driven by the goadings of lust, by the fever of avarice it is made to stretch itself far and wide to compass the things which belong to the earth. Sometimes pride lifts it up, and sometimes excessive fear sinks it lower than the dust. Therefore seeing that he is lifted and carried by so many gusts of temptation, man is well likened to a ' leaf Hence it is well said too by Isaiah, And we all have fallen as a leaf and our iniquities ls.6i,6. like the wind have taken us away. For ' our iniquity like a wind has taken us away,' in that being steadied by no weight of virtue, it has lifted us into empty self-elation. And it is well that, after a leaf, man should be called ' stubble' likewise. For he that was a ' tree' by his creating, was by himself made a ' leaf in his tempting, but afterwards he appeared ' stub- ble' in his fallen estate. For in that he fell from on high, he was a leaf, but, whereas by the flesh he was fellow to the earth, even w^hen he seemed to stand, he is described as ' stubble.' But because he lost the greenness of interior love, he is henceforth ' dry stubble.' So let the holy man reflect both what meanness man is of, and what severity God is of, and let him say, Wilt Thou shew Thy power against a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt Thou pursue the dry stubble? As if he openly bewailed, saying, ' Why dost Thou run him down with so much force of righteousness, whom Thou knowest to be so frail in temptation?' It goes on; Ver. 26. For Thou writest bitter things against me.
61. For seeing that every thing we speak passes away, ^'^' but what we write remains, God is said not to ' speak,' but to * write bitter things,' in that His scourges upon us last for long. For it was said once to man, when he sinned, Du^t 38 Severity of God. Sins of youth feared in Manfiood.
Job 13, thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return? And Angels many — — ^ times appearing gave commandments to men. Moses, the lawgiver, restrained sins by severe means. The Only-Begot- ten Son of the Most High Father, Himself came to redeem us, He swallowed up death by dying. He announced that everlasting life to us, which He exhibited in Himself; yet that sentence which was given in Paradise concerning the death of our flesh remains unaltered from the very first be- ginning of the human race up to the end of the world. For Ps. 89, what man is he that liveth. and shall not see death? which Ps. 7Q t^^ Psalmist considering well saith again. Thou, even Thou, 7- art to be feared: and who may stand in Thy sight when once Thou art angry? Who being ' once angry,' when man sinned in Paradise, fixed the sentence of the mortality of our flesh, which now even to the very last may never be changed a whit. Therefore let him say, Thou writest bitter things against me. Hence it is further added; And wouldest waste me with the iniquities of my youth. xlvi. 62. Observe, that whereas the holy man finds not that he ijuven- has ever sinned in his manhood^, he dreads the sins of his Sadoles-joiit^^^- Now it is necessary to know, that as in the body, so centise ^^q there advances of age in the mind also. Thus the first age of man is infancy, when, though he lives in innocence, he cannot speak*" the innocence which is in him; and then follows boyhood, in which he has henceforth the power of speaking what he wishes; to which youth succeeds, which we know is the first age in active life, which is followed by manhood, i. e. that which is suited to hardihood; and after- wards old age, which from mere time even is now fellow to maturity of mind. Therefore, as we have called the first age fit for good actions * youth,' and as the righteous when they are far advanced in perfect maturity of mind, sometimes recall to recollection the beginning of their deeds, and blame themselves for their first commencement in an equal degree as they have advanced deeper in gravity of mind, because they find that they were once void of discretion, in proportion as they afterwards more thoroughly attain possession of the stronghold of discretion, it is rightly that now, in the words of ^ In allusion to the etymology of the ance,' from ' in,' privative, and ' fari' ' to word * infant,' i. e. ' not having utter- speak.'
Holo God retains our sins, and marks our very intentions. 89 the holy man, the sins of his youth are dreaded. But if tliis Book is to be held after the bare letter, we ought from this con — sideration to infer how grievous the sins of grown men and the aged are, if the just so greatly fear even that which they did wrong in the years of weakness. It goes on; Ver. 27. Thou puttest my foot also in the stocks, and lookest narroivly into all my paths; Thou markcst the prints of my feet.
63. God ' set man's foot in the stocks,' in that he bound xlvii. fast his wickedness with the strong sentence of His severity. And He ' looketh narrowly into all his paths,' in that He judges with minute exactness all the several particulars that belong to him. For a ' path' is usually narrower than a ' way;' but as by ' ways' we understand actions, so by ' paths' we not unjustly understand the mere thoughts of them. So God * looketh narrowly into all our paths,' in that in all our several actions He takes account of the thoughts of the heart too; and He * marketh the prints of our feet,' in that He exa- mineth the intentions' of our works, how far they are placed aright, lest that which is done a good work, be not done with a right object. But it is possible that by the prints of the feet the several things done badly may be understood. For a foot in the body is a print in the way. And very commonly, when we do some things wrong, whereas our brethren see it, we are setting them a bad example, and our foot being as it were turaed out of the way, we leave to those that follow our footsteps all awry, while by our own deeds we lead the way for other men's consciences to stumble. But it is very hard for man to keep on his guard, that he never presume to do evil, that in his good actions he be not unsteady in the intention, and amidst upright deeds let no wrong purpose deceive him. Yet all these particulars Almighty God minutely examines, and weighs each one of them in judgment. But when can man, bound about as he is by the frailty of the flesh, have power to rise up against all of them with exact particularity, and to maintain the line of uprightness with the thought of the heart unmoved? Hence it is properly added; Ver. 28. Who am as a rotten thimj to he consumed, and as a garment that is moth eaten.
• "Which he often considers to be represented by the putting forth of (lie foot.
40 Sin eats into the soul as a moth. Man\ frail origin. Job 13. 6*4. For as a garment is eaten by the moth sprung out of itself, so man containeth rotteimess in himself, whereby he l^--j*consumeth, and that which he is, is that whereby he con- sumeth that he should not be. Which may be taken in another sense also, if it be said in the voice of man when tempted; And I as a rotten thing am to consume^ as a gar- ment that is moth eaten. For man ' as a rotten thing con- sumeth,' in that he is wasted by the corruption of his flesh. And because im])ure temptation springs up to him from no other source than from himself, like a moth, temptation con- sumes the flesh, as a garmejit from which it issues. For man contains in himself the occasion whence he is tempted. Therefore as it were ' the moth consumeth the garment,' whilst it proceeded from that very same garment. However, we ought to bear in mind that the moth digs its way through the garment without any sound, and it very often happens that thought pierces the mind in such a way, that the mind itself is not sensible of it, until after it has been pierced by its sting. Therefore it is well said that man ^ consumeth like a garment that is moth eaten,' for sometimes we do not know the wounds of temptation, unless after we be pierced thereby within our souls. Which same frailty of ours the holy man yet further considering justly adds; Chap. xiv. 1. 3Ian that is born of a woman liveth a short time^ and is full of many miseries. xlix. 6o. In Sacred Writ ' woman' is taken either for the sex.
Gal. 4, or else Ibr ' frailty.' For the * sex,' as where it is written, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman ^ made under the Law.
Ecclus. But for frailty, as where it is said by the Wise Man, Better ' * is the iniquity of a man than a woman doing well. For ' a man' is the term for every strongminded and discreet person, but ' a woman' is understood of the weak or indiscreet mind. And it often happens that even the discreet person suddenly falls into a fault, and that another weak and indiscreet man exhibits good practice. But he that is weak and indiscreet is sometimes lifted up the more on the score of what he has done well, and falls the worse into sin; but the discreet per- son even from that which he' sees that he has done amiss, takes occasion to recall himself with closer application to the rule of strictness, and advances the further in righteousness Man*s short life how full of miseries at best. 41 from the same act, whereby he seemed to have fallen from Book righteousness for a time. In which respect it is rightly said, — — — Better is the iniquity of a man than a woman doing ivell; in that sometimes the very fault of the strong becomes occa- sion of virtue, and the virtue of the weak occasion of sin. In this place then by the name of* a woman,' what else but ' frailty' is denoted, when it is said, Man that is born of a womanf As if it were said in plainer words, ' What strength shall he have in himself, who was born in frailty?'
QQ. Liveth a short time, and is full of many miseries. Ob- serve by the holy man's words we have the punishment of man briefly set forth, in that he is at once stinted in life and filled out in misery. For if we consider with exactness all that is done here, it is punishment and misery. For to minister to the corruption of the flesh by itself in things necessary and permitted is misery, in such measure that clothing should be sought out against cold, food against hunger, coolness against heat. That the health of the body is kept only with great care, that even when kept it is lost, when lost it is recovered not without great difficulty, and yet after being restored is always in risk; what else is this than the misery of the life of mortality? That we love our friends, mistrusting lest they may be offended with us; that we dread our enemies, and truly are not secure touching those whom we dread; that we often talk to our enemies as confidentially as to friends, and often take the sincere words of our friends, and those, perhaps, that love us very much, as the words of enemies; and that we, who wish never either to be deceived or to deceive, err the more by our caution; what, then, is all this but the misery of man's life? That after the heavenly country has been lost, banished man is delighted with his exile, that he is weighed down with cares, and yet shuts his eyes to considering how great the burthen is, in that he is full of a multitude of thoughts; that he is deprived of the interior light, and yet in this life wishes to prolong his state of blindness; what else is this but misery, the offspring of our punishment? Yet though he desire to stay here for long, still he is driven on by the mere current of his mortal life to depart out of it. Hence the holy man rightly adds; Ver.2. He cometh forth like a flower ^andis crushed: hejleeih also as a shadotc, and never continueth in the satne state.
Job 14, 67. For, ' as a flower, he conieth forth,' in that he shews ,-— -- fair in the flesh: but he is * crushed,' in that he is reduced ] to corruption. For what are men, as born in the world, but a kind of flowers in a field? Let us stretch our interior eyes over the breadth of the present world, and, lo, it is filled as it were with as many flowers as there are human beings.
So life in this flesh is the flower in grass. Hence it is well Ps. 103, said by the Psalmist, As for man, his days are as grass: as \^',iQQ,ci flower of the field, so he flour isheih. Isaiah too saith. All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof is as the flower of the field. For man cometh forth like a flower from concealment, and of a sudden shews himself in open day, and in a moment is by death withdrawn from open view into concealment again. The greenness of the flesh exhibits us to view, but the dryness of dust withdraws us from men's eyes. Like a ioneMs. flower we appeared, who were not; like a flower' we wither, grass.' who appeared only m time.
68. And whereas man is daily being driven into death moment by moment, it is rightly added, He fleeth also as a shadow, and never continueth in the same state. But as the sun is unceasingly going through his course, and never stays himself in a state of stedfastness, why is the course of man's life likened to ^ a shadow* rather than to the ' sun,' ex- cepting that, when he parted with the love of the Creator, he lost the heat of the heart, and remained in the coldness of his iniquity alone? Since according to the voice of Truth, Matt. Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax ' ' cold. He, then, who hath not warmth of the heart in the love of God, and yet keepeth not the life, vvhich he loves, assuredly he * fleeth like a shadow.' Hence it is well written Ecclus. concerning him, that he hath followed a shadow. Now it is well ' said, and never continueth in the same state. For whereas infancy is going on to childhood, childhood to youth, youth to manhood, and manhood to old age, and old age to death, in the course of the present life he is forced by the very steps of Tiis increase upon those of decrease, and is ever wasting from the very cause whence he thinks himself to be gaining ground in the space of his life. For we cannot have a fixed stay here, whither we are come only to pass on; and this very circumstance of our living is to be daily passing out of life. Which same flight the first man could not have known before Fallen man home downward. God's looking on man. 43 the transgression, seeing that times passed, himself standing. Book But after he transgressed, he placed himself on a kind of '— slide of a temporal condition, and because he ate the for- bidden fruit, he found at once the failure of his stay. Which liabiUty to change man suffers, not only without, but also within him, when he strives to arise to better works. For by the weight of its changeableness the mind is always being driven forwards to some other thing than it is, and, except it be kept in its stay by stringent discipline in self-keeping, it is always sliding back into worse. For that mind which deserted Him, Who ever standeth, lost the stay in which she might have continued.
Henceforth now when he strives after better things, he has as it were to strain against the force of the stream. But when he relaxes in his bent to ascend, without effort he is carried back to the lowest point. Thus whereas in ascent there is effort, in descent rest from effort, the Lord warns us that we have to enter by a narrow gate, saying. Strive to enter in at the strait qate; for when about to Luke mention ' the entering in of the narrow gate,' He premised, ' Strive, since unless there be an ardent striving ^ of the heart, the water of the world is not surmounted, whereby the soul is ever being borne down to the lowest place. And so whereas man ' springeth up like a flower and is cut down, and fleeth also as a shadow, and never continueth in his place,' let us hoar what he further subjoins in this train of reflection. It goes on; Ver. 3. And dost T/iou deign to open Thine eyes upon such an one, and to bring him into judgment with Thee?
69. For he surveyed above both the power of Almighty H. God and his own frailty; he brought before his view himself and God, he considered Who would come into judgment, and with whom. He saw on the one side man, on the other side his Creator, i. e. dust and God; and he rightly exclaims. Dost Thou deign to open Thine eyes upon such an one? With Almighty God, to open the eyes is to execute His judgments, to look whom to smite. For as it were with eyes closed He does not wish to look at him, whom He does not wish to smite. Hence it is immediately added also about the ^ al. " unless the purpose of the soul be fervent.''
44 God only can cleanse man conceived in uncleanncss. Job 14, judgment itself, To bring him into judgment with Thee?
, -— ^ — But whereas he had viewed (Jod comini' to iudi'mciit, he ]jj^ again takes a view of his own frailty. He sees that he can- not be clean of himself, who, that he might be able to be, came forth out of uncleanness. And he adds, Ver. 4. JVho can make clean a thing conceived of unclean seed? Is it not Thou, Who only Art?
lii. 70. He That alone is clean in Himself can cleanse the unclean thing. For man, who lives in a corruptible flesh, has the uncleannesses of temptation engrained in him, seeing that he derived them from his birth. For his very conception, for the sake of fleshly gratification, is uncleanness. Hence Ps.51,7. the Psalmist saith, Behold, I was shapen in wickedtiess, and in sin hath my mother conceived ma. Hence it is therefore that he is very often tempted even against his will. Hence it is that he is subject to impurities in imagination, even though he strive against them by reason, because being con- ceived in uncleanness, whilst he follows after cleanness, he is striving to get the better of that which he is. But whoever has mastered the motions of secret temptation, and overcome uncleanness of thought, must never ascribe his cleanness to himself, in that none can make clean a thing conceived of unclean seed, save He Who alone is clean in Himself. Let him, then, that has already reached in mind the place of cleanness, cast his eye upon the way of his conception, which he came by, and thence satisfy himself, that in his own power he has no cleanness of life, the beginning of whose existence was made in uncleanness. But the meaning here may be that blessed Job, regarding the Incarnation of the \ Redeemer, saw that That Man only in the world was not ' conceived of unclean seed. Who so came into the world from the Virgin's womb, that He had nothing derived from unclean conception. For He did not proceed from the man and the ' w^oman, but from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. He only then proved truly clean in His Flesh, Who was incapable of being affected by the gratification of the flesh, seeing that it was not by the gratification of the flesh that He came hither.
BOOK XII.
Wherein after the fourteenth chapter of the Book of Job has been ex- plained, beginning at the fifth verse, the fifteenth chapter entire is explained for the most part in a moral sense.
It is the practice of the righteous, to think of the present Lit. life, how transitory it is, so much the more heedfully in proportion as they are taught more earnestly to take thought of the eternal blessings of the heavenly Country; for by those things, which they see lasting within, they more exactly mark the flight of things passing away without. Whence blessed Job, when he had delivered a sentence on the transi- tion of man's time, saying, 3Ian that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live; and again. He fleeth also as a shadow, and never continueth in the same state; further adds of the shortness of his life; Ver. 5. The days of man are short, the number of his monihs is with Thee.
1. For he sees that that as it were is not with us, which runs by with such great rapidity, but seeing that even things passing away stand with Almighty God, he declares that ' the number of our months is with Him.' Or, indeed, by the ' days,' the shortness of time is denoted, but by the ' months' the spaces of the days are multiplied. Thus to ourselves * the days arc short;' but seeing that our life is further extended afterwards, ' the number of our months' is recorded , to be with God.' Hence also it is said by Solomon, Length^rov.s, of days is in her right hand. It goes on; Thou hast appointed his bounds^ that he cannot pass. *2. Of the things that happen to men in this world, none ii. come to pass without the secret counsel of Almighty God; for God, foreseeing all things that should follow, before the ages of the world decreed how they should be ordered in the 4G God*s seeming changes of purpose foreseen.
Job 14, ages of the world. Since it is already appointed to man '- — both to what extent the prosperity of the world shall attend