78. But there are some who think humbly of themselves; VOL. III. s 'i5H Tino vmija of he hi f/ proud of fiumility.
JoH 37, because, vvlien placed in honour, tliey consider that tliey are ~~ — nothing but dust and ashes; but yet they shrink from ap- pearing contenn])tible before men, and, contrary to what they think of themselves within, they cover themselves, as it were, with a rigid cloak of beauty without. And there are some who seek to appear vile before men, and contemn every thing that they are, by exhibiting themselves as lowly; but they are yet puffed up in themselves within, as if by the very merit of the mean look they have displayed; and they are the more elated in their heart, the more thoy seemingly suppress pride. But both these warrings of the one sin of pride, David detected with great circumspection, overcame with wonderful virtue. For he teaches that, though thinking humbly of himself within, he seeks not honour from without, saying, / tvill play, and I will become more vile* And since he does not swell with pride within, because he made himself vile without, he adds. And I will he humble in mine own eyes. As if he said. Such as in self-contempt I represent myself without, such also do I keep myself within. What then should they do, whom teaching elates, if David knew that our Redeemer was to come from his flesh, and announced His joys in prophecy, and yet kept down in himself the neck of his heart, by the strong heel of discretion, saying, And I will be humble in mi}ie own eyes?
79. It is well said therefore by Eliu, Therefore men will fear Him, and all who seem to themselves to be wise will not dare to contemplate Him. For they who seem to themselves to be wise, cannot contemplate the wisdom of God; because they are the more removed from His light, the more they are not humble in themselves. Because while the swelling of pride increases in their minds, it closes the eye of contem- plation, and by considering that they outshine others, they thence deprive themselves of the light of truth. If, therefore, we seek to be truly wise, and to contemplate Wisdom Itself, let us humbly acknowledge ourselves to be fools. Let us give up hurtful wisdom, let us learn praiseworthy folly. For 1 Cor. 1, hence it is written, God hath chosen the foolish things of this ib.3 \s,world to confound the wise. Hence again it is said, If any man among you seemeth to be tcise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. Hence the words of the Wisdom of God known hy means of a ivise folly. 259 "^ Gospel history attest, that when Zaccheus could see nothing Book for the crowd, he ascended a sycamore tree, lo see the Lord ' Lukel9 as He passed by. For the barren* fig is called a sycamore. 4, ' Zaccheus therefore, being small of stature, ascended a syca-^^'f:, more, and saw the Lord, because they who humbly choose the foolishness of the world, do themselves minutely contem- plate the wisdom of God. For the crowd hinders small- ness of stature from beholding the Lord, because the tumult of worldly cares keeps the infirmity of the human mind from looking at the light of truth. But we prudently ascend a sycamore, if we carefully maintain in our mind that foolish- ness which is commanded by God. For what is more foolish in this world, than not to seek for what we have lost; to give up our possessions to the spoilers, to requite no wrong for the wrongs we have received, nay more, to exhibit patience, when other wrongs have been added? For the Lord commands us, as it were, to ascend a sycamore, when He says. Of him, thai taketh away thy goods, ask them?«of ib.6,30. again; and again. If any man smite thee on the right cheek. Matt. 6, turn to him the other also. The Lord is seen, as He passes ^^' along, by means of the sycamore, because though the wisdom of God is not yet steadily beheld, as it really is, by this wise folly, yet it is seen by the light of contemplation, as though passing by us. But they, who seem to themselves to be wise, according to the words of Eliu, cannot see it; for, hurried away in the haughty crowd of their thoughts, they have not yet found a sycamore, in order to behold the Lord.
PART VI.
BOOK XXVIII.
The first eleven verses of the thirty-eighth chapter are explained, in various senses, hut especially in a moral sense.
PREFACE.
1. After the loss of his goods, the death of his children, the wounds of his body, the words of his wife persuading him to evil, the insulting language of his comforters, and the darts of so many sorrows boldly received, blessed Job ought to have been praised by his Judge for such great power of constancy, if he had been now going to be called out of this present world. But after he is here about to receive back yet two-fold, after he is restored to his former health, tO; enjoy longer his restored possessions, Almighty God is^ obliged to reprove with strict justice him, whom He pre- serves alive, lest his very victory should lay him low with the sword of pride. For what commonly slays a soul more fatally than consciousness of virtue? For while it puffs i. up with self-consideration, it deprives it of the fulness o: truth; and while it suggests that it is sufficient of itself foi the attainment of rewards, it diverts it from the intention o improvement. Job, therefore, was just before his scourges but he remained more just after his scourges; and, havinf been praised before by the voice of God, he afterward; increased from the blow. For as a ductile tube is length ened by being hammered, so was he raised the higher ii praise of God, as he was smitten with heavier chastisement Job too great to he humbled by a human example. 261 But he who stood thus firm in his virtues, when prostrated Book XXVIII.
by wounds, needed to be humbled. lie needed to be — humbled, lest the weapons of pride should pierce that most sturdy breast, which it was plain that even the wounds that had been inflicted had not overcome. It was doubtless necessary to find out a person, by comparison with whom he would have been surpassed. But what is this, which is said of him by the voice of the Lord; Thou hast seen BIy servant ^^^^i'^'^ Job, that there is 710 man like him upon the eartlt. By com- parison with whom then could he be surpassed, of whom it is said, on the witness of God, that he cannot be equalled, on comparison with any man? What then must be done, except for the Lord Himself to relate to him His own virtues, and to say to him, Canst thou bring forth the^^^^^^f morning star in its season, and canst thou make the evening star to rise over the sons of men? And again, Have /A^ib. i7. gates of death been opened to thee, and hast thou seen the gloomy doors? Or certainly; Hast thou commanded the i^* ^2. dawn after thy rising, and hast thou shewn the morning its place? But who can do these things, but the Lord? And yet a man is asked, in order that he may learn that he is unable to do these things; in order that a man, who has increased with such boundless virtues, and is surpassed by the example of no man, may, that he should not be elated, be surpassed on comparison with God. But O how mightily is he ex- alted, who is so sublimely humbled! O how great is the victory of the man, to have been foiled on comparison with God! O how much greater is he than men, who is proved by testimony to be less than God! For he is very mighty, who is proved by such questioning not to be mighty. But since we are being led to discuss very obscure questions, let us now come to the words of the text.
Chap, xxxviii. ver. 1. But the Lord answered Job out of the wliirlwind, and said.
I. I see it must be obseiTcd, that if the speech were said i- to have been addressed to one in health and safety, the Lord would not be described as having spoken out of the whirl- wind. But because He speaks to one who has been scourged, He is described as having spoken out of the whirlwind. For the Lord speaks to His servants in one way, when He 262 God speaks in terrors to overawe, gently to comfort.
Job as, improves them inwardly by compunction, and in another, — ~ — when He presses on them with severity, lest they V)e puffed up. For by the gentle address of the Lord, is shewn His affectionate sweetness, but by His terrible, is pointed out His dreadful power. By the one the soul is persuaded to advance, by the other, that which is advancing is checked. In the one it learns what to desire, in the other what to fear. Zech. 2, By the one He says, Be glad and rejoice, O daughter of Sion,for, la, I come, and I will dwell in the inidst of thee. Is. 66, By the other it is said; Tlie Lord will come in a tempest, and in the whirlwind are His paths. For He in truth is gentle. Who comes to dwell in the midst of us. But when He makes His way by the tempest and whirlwind, He doubtless disturbs the hearts which He touches; and puts Himself forth to tame their pride, when He is made known as mighty and terrible.
2. It should also be known, that the Divine mode of speaking is distinguished in two ways. For either the Lord speaks by Himself, or His words are adapted to us by means of an angelic creature. But when He speaks by Himself, He is disclosed to us, solely by the power of His inward inspiration. When He speaks by Himself, the heart is instructed in His word, without words and syllables; be- cause His power is known by a kind of inward elevation. At which the mind when full is raised up, when empty is weighed down. For it is a kind of w^eight, to raise up every mind which it fills. It is an incorporeal light, to both fill the inner parts, and circumscribe them without, when filled. It is a discourse without noise, which both opens the ears, and yet knows not to utter a sound. For in that which Acts 2 ^s written concerning the coming of the Holy Spirit; {Snd- 2« 3. denly there was made a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind approaching, and it filled the whole house, where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them;) the Lord appeared indeed by the fire, but He spake to them by Himself within. And neither that sound nor that fire was God; but by that which He displayed outwardly. He expressed what He performed inwardly. For because He made the Disciples both to glow with zeal, and to be skilful Divers manners of His outumrd and inward speech, -263 in speech within, He displayed tongues of fire without. Book The elements, therefore, were applied with significance, that^i^i^lil: their bodies might feel the fire and the sound, but that their hearts might be instructed by the invisible fire, and the voice without a sound. The fire then which appeared was outward, but that which gave knowledge was inward. And when the eunuch of queen Candace was sitting in his chariot, and journeying, and was holding Isaiah in his hands, without understanding him, the Spirit had doubtless said to Philip in his heart. Join thyself to the chariot. And when Cornelius Acts 8, had sent soldiers who feared God to summon Peter, Peter ^^• doubtless heard in his mind by the Spirit, Behold three men Acts lo, seek thee. Arise therefore, get thee down, and go icith them, ^^• For, for the Spirit of God to say, as it were, certain words to us, is for Him to intimate by His hidden power what is to be done, and to instruct in an instant, without the medium of sound or the slowness of speech, the unlearned heart of man in hidden mysteries. For because the hearing does not comprehend at once all the sayings which are addressed to it; since it understands reasons by means of words, and words separately by syllables; but our sight apprehends suddenly and at once the whole object, by turning itself towards it; the words of God addressed to us from within are seen, rather than heard; because, while He insinuates Himself, without the delay of words, He illumines by His sudden light the darkness of our ignorance. Whence also when Baruch the son of Neriah was explaining, when demanded, how he had heard the words of Jeremiah pro- phesying, he said, He pronounced all these words from his j^^ gg mouth, as if he were reading, and I wrote them. For he ^8. who speaks when reading, looks in one direction, but utters his words in another; because he speaks that which he sees. The Prophets of God then, because they rather see than hear His words in the heart, speak as if reading.
3. But when God declares His will by an Angel, He points it out sometimes bywords, sometimes by things, some- times by words and things together, sometimes by images presented to the eyes of the heart, sometimes by images taken for the time from the air and presented even before the eyes of the body, sometimes by heavenly substances, sometimes 2G4 God.speaks Ijy Arujeh, in IVurd, or in action.
JoH 38, by earthly, and sometimes by earthly and heavenly together. '- — But sometimes God so speaks even by an Angel to the hearts of men, that the Angel Himself is presented to llio siglit of the mind.
4. For God speaks in words by an Angel, when nothing is displayed in outward appcaranee, but the words of the John 17, Heavenly saying are heard; as on the Lord saying, Father^ glorijy TJty Son, that Thy Son may ylorlfy Thee; it is Johni2, immediately replied, / have glorijied, and will fjlorify Him again. For God, Who speaks without time, by the power of inward impulse, uttered not in time that voice by His own Substance, which voice, circumscribed by time. He made plain by human words. But speaking doubtless from heavenly places, He fashioned, by the ministry of a rational creature, those His words which He wished to be heard by men.
5. But sometimes God speaks through Angels by things, when nothing is said in word, but future events are announced by an object taken from the elements; as Ezekiel, hearing Ezek. i,no words, saw the appearance of amber in the midst of the ^* fire; in order, namely, that while he was looking on this single object, he might understand the things which were to ^ elec- come to pass in the last times. For amber ^ is a mixture of ^""^ the metals of gold and silver, by which admixture the silver indeed is rendered more brilliant, but the brightness of the gold is softened down. What then is pointed out by amber, but the Mediator between God and men.? For while He presented llimself to us as a union of the Divine and human natures. He both rendered His human nature more glorious by His Godhead, and tempered the Divine Nature to our sight by His Manhood. For since human nature shone forth with so many miracles by the virtue of the Godhead, the silver was improved by the gold; and because God could be recognised through the flesh, and because He endured therein so many adversities, the gold was, as it were, tempered by the silver. And it is well represented also in the midst of the fire, because the flame of the judgment | which follows attends the mystery of His Incarnation. Forj John 5, it is written. The Father judgeth no man, hut hath given \ all judgment to the Son.!
IVhat meant by actions toward Adam, Jacob, c$c. 265 G. But sometimes God speaks by Ani^els in words and I3ook deeds at once, when He teaches by certain gestures, that which He declares in words. For neither could Adam, after his sin, hear the Lord in the Substance of His Divinity, but he heard the words of reproof by the Angel, of whom it is written; IVhen he had heard the voice of the Lord God, Gren. 3, 8 nalking in the yarden at the wind after mid-day, he hid himself among the trees of the garden. For what is it, that God after the sin of man no longer stands, but walks in the garden, except that He points out that He has been driven from the heart of man, by the inroad of sin? What by His so doing at the wind after mid-day, except that the more glowing light of truth had departed, and the frosts of his sin were congealing his sinful soul? He reproved, therefore, Adam, when walking, that He might make known to be- nighted souls their wickedness, not by words only, but also by His doings; so that sinful man might both hear by His words what he had done, and perceive, by His walkhig, the inconstancy of his changeableness, on having lost the stability of eternity, and by the wind might observe his own torpor, when the warmth of charity had been driven away, and learn by the declining of the sun that he was drawing near to darkness.
7. Sometimes God speaks through Angels by images presented to the eyes of the heart; as Jacob when sleeping Cren. 28, saw a ladder leaning against heaven. As Peter caught up ^J^.^^^^ in trance saw a linen cloth full of reptiles and quadrupeds; lo. n. for he would not have been in a trance, unless he were beholding these things with other than bodily eyes. As a man of Macedonia appeared to Paul in a vision of the night, ib. 16.9. who asked him to come over into Macedonia. vSometimes God speaks through Angels by images taken for the time from the air, and presented before the eyes of the body. As Abraham was able not only to behold three men, but also to <^en. 18, receive them into an earthly habitation, and not only to receive them, but to supply also food for their use. For unless the Angels, when announcing some inward truths, assumed for a time their bodies from the air, they would not, in truth, appear to our outward sight; nor would they take food with Abraham, unless they were bearing for our sake '26() God speaks hy Antjels in oufuxird oJjects, or in the soul.
Job 38, some solid su)>stance from the heavenly element. Nor is it '- — any wonder that they who are there received, are called, at Eaod.3, one time ' Angels,' and at another ' the Lord,' because they, who were ministering outwardly, are designated by the word * Angel;' and He Who was ruling them within, is pointed out by the appellation * Lord;' that by this the power of Jlim Who was ruling, and by the latter the office of these who were ministering might be clearly displayed.
8. Sometimes God speaks through Angels by heavenly substances, as it is written, that when the Lord had been Matt.3, baptized, a voice sounded from the cloud, saying. This is My beloved Son, in Whom I have been well pleased. Some- times God speaks through Angels by earthly substances.
Numb, as when He reproved Balaam, He formed human words in * * the mouth of a she ass. Sometimes He speaks through Angels by earthly and heavenly substances together. As when He declared to Moses the words of His command in Exod.S, the Mount, He brought together the fire and the bush, and added one from above, and the other from below. But this is done, only when something is signified by this very con- junction. For what else did He point out by addressing Moses, through the burning bush, except that He would become the ruler of that people, which would feel the flame of the Law, and yet would not avoid the thorn of sin? or that there would come forth from that people. He Who would take away by the fire of His Godhead the sins of our flesh, as the thorns of the bush; and would preserve the substance of our manhood unconsumed, even in the very flame of the Godhead?
9. But sometimes God pours the virtue of His inspiration into the hearts of men, through Angels, by their secret Zech. 1, presence. Whence also Zechariah says. And the Angel ^^' who was speaking in me, said to me. By saying that the Angel was speaking in him, and yet to him, he clearly proved that he who was speaking to him, was not without him by any bodily appearance. Whence also he added a little ibid. 2,3. after. And, behold, the Angel that was talking in me was going out. For often they appear not outwardly, but, as they are angelic spirits, they make known the will of God to the senses of the Prophets, and raise them up to sublime 2'he Son when called an Angel. Banks of Angels. 267 thoughts, and whatever events are still future they set forth Book as present in their original causes. For the heart of man. xxviii> burdened with the very weight of corruptible flesli, enduring this its bodily part as an obstacle, penetrates not into in- ward things, and lies as a heavy burden without; because it has no hand within to raise it up. Whence it results, as has been said, that the subtilty of angelic virtue appears itself, as it really is, to the senses of the Prophets, and that their mind is raised up as it is touched by the subtle spirit, and that it is no longer slothful and sluggish below, but, filled with inspiration within, ascends on high, and thence beholds, as from a lofty eminence, the things which are to come, be- neath it. But lest any one should think that, in the aforesaid words of Zechariah, either the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit, is designated by the word ' Angel,' if he considers the text of Holy Scriptm'e, he quickly amends his opinion. For it never calls the Father, or the Holy Spirit, an ' Angel,' nor the Son, except when preaching His Incarnation. Whence it is plainly shewn in the words of the same Zechariah, that an Angel, that is a creature, was really speaking in him, when it is said. And, behold^ the Angel that was talking in me was going ont. And it is immediately subjoined. And another Angel was going on to meet A/??/, Zech. 2, and he said to him, Speak to this young man, saying, Jerusa- ^' ^' lem shall he inhabited without a walU The Angel therefore who is sent, who is ordered by an Angel what words he ought to speak, is not God. But because, in the sight of their Creator, the ordained ministrations of Angels are distin- guished by the position of their ranks, (in order that after the common happiness of their blessed state they may rejoice together beholding their Creator, and yet minister to each other according to the position of their dignity,) an Angel sends an Angel to the Prophets, and both teaches and directs him, whom he beholds rejoicing in God in common with himself; because he surpasses him both by his superior wis- dom, in power of knowledge, and, by more distinguished grace, in height of power.