1 3. For Holy Church is now clothed as it were with garments, IS many in number as the faithful, by whose veneration she s honoured. Whence also when the Gentiles were shewn to ler, it is said by the Lord through the Prophet; As I live, Is. 49, aith the Lord, thou shall surely be clothed with all these, ' with an ornament. But she is now arrayed, in ap- 310 Unstable profession. Liyht taken from the Wicked, Job 38,pcarance only, with many who seem to be faithful, but when '- — the assault of ])crsecution strikes them, she will be stripped of them and laid bare; of whose fate it is said, And it sitall stand an a garment, liut to * stand' is put in this place Ps. 1,1. for persisting in sin. Whence it is written. And.stood not in iJie ivay of sinners. Or certainly every reprobate is said to * stand as a garment,' to shew that he cannot stand at all.
Because, as a garment, when put on, is stretched by the body, in displaying its appearance, but when taken off is bent and folded together; so every one, who has fallen back from the stability of Holy Church, was stretched out, as it were, and beautiful, while being worn, but will lie afterwards, when stripped off, broken down and cast aside. But if by ' standing' we understand * continuance,' every reprobate person who endures a short time in this life, which he loves, stands as a garment. Whence also it is said by the Prophet, Ps. 102, All shall wax old as a garment^ and as a covering shall thou change them, and theg shall be changed. These points therefore, which he introduced veiled in a cloud of allegory.
he now makes known in plainer words, adding, From the wicked their light shall be taken away.
vii. 14. For neither does the light of God now illumine those, who veil the malice of their iniquity with the name of faith For while they neglect to live according to the preaching oi faith, and yet in appearance reverence it, they seek for the honour of this present life under the name of religion; and they gain this light from faith, as faith cherishes them in the sight of men. But there are some who sincerely believe the eternal truths which they hear, and yet contradict by evi living the very faith which they profess. These also have their light in darkness, for while they act perversely and ye think rightly about God, they are illumined in a measure b^ the shining of a light, so as not to be quite in darkness And while they love the things of earth more than those o heaven, those that they see more than those they hear of when the season of persecution assaults them, they lose tha sound belief they seemed to possess. And this is specially the case, in a greater degree, at that time, when the head o the wicked himself arising, in the last persecution, agains Holy Church, his boldness attacks it with unrestraine( Men join themselves to Antichrist before his tinie. 311 strength. Then is the heart of each one laid open, when Bock whatever lay concealed is exposed, and they who are now ^^ _ holy in words, but unholy in heart. Tall headlong, on their wickedness being made public, and lose the light of faith which they had in appearance possessed. But it is neces- sary, amidst all this, for each of us to return to the hidden recess of his heart, and to fear at the fatal results of his doings, lest he fall, as his merits demand, into the number of such men, by the strict justice of the judgmenls of God.
15. But let no one inconsiderately Halter himself, and believe that he therefore is exempt from such a fall, because he thinks that he does not reach to the storm of this tempest. O how many have beheld not the times of that temptation, and yet are involved in the storm of his temptation. Cain saw not the time of Antichrist, and yet was deservedly a limb of Antichrist. Judas knew not the fierceness of that persecution, and yet yielded to the might of his cruelty, by the persuasion of avarice. Simon was far removed from the Acts 8, times of Antichrist, and yet joined himself to his pride, by * perversely seeking for the power of miracles. Thus a wicked body is united to its head, thus limbs to limbs, when they both know not each other in acquaintance, and yet are joined together by wicked doings. For neither had Pevgamos known the books or the words of Balaam, and yet, following his wickedness, it heard in a voice of reproof from above; ThouB.e\.2, hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, tvho taught * Balac to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat and to commit fornication. Both times and places sepa- rated the Church of Thyatira from the knowledge of Jezebel; but because equal guilt of life had enthralled it, Jezebel is said to dw^ell therein, and to persist in perverse doings, as the Angel bears witness, who says; I have a few things against ih. 20. thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce My servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. Behold, because they could be found, who followed the con- duct of Jezebel in their reprobate deeds,.Jezebel is said to have been found there: because an agreement of habits makes a corrupt body one, even if times or places sever it asunder. Whence it is that every wicked person, who has already gone 312 Envy^ prides ambittun^ make members of Satan.
Job 38, by, survives in bis pervcrs:e imitators, anrl tbat tbc aulbor of inifjiiity, wlio lias not yet come, is abeady visible in tbose wIjo Alleg.
1 John do bis works. J lence John says; Now are Ihere become many ^' ^' Anlichrists, because all wicked persons are even now bis members, wbicb being in trutb born in wickedness, bave 2 Thess. prevented tbeir bead, by evil livin^^ Hence Paul says, TJiat ' he mi()hl he revealed in Jiis time; for tJie mystery of imquily doth already work. As if" be were saying; Then Anticbrist will be manifestly seen; for be now secretly works bis bidden works in tbe bearts of tbe unrigbteous. For, to say notbing of more open crimes, bebold one man secretly envies bis brotber in bis beart, and if he find an opportunity, strives to supplant bim. Of wbat olber is be a member, but of him, "Wisd.2, of whom it is written, Tlirough envy of the devil came death ^'*' into the world'? Another, thinking himself a person of great desert, preferring bimself to all, tbrougli swelling of heart, believes all to be inferior to bim. Of wbat other is he a Job 41, member, but of bim of whom it is written, He heholdeth every high thing, and is a king over all the children of pride? Another seeks for the power of this world, not that be may profit others, but tbat he may not be subject to an- other. Of what other is he a member, than of him, of whom it Is. 14, is written, Who said, I trill sit in the mount of the testament, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the Most High? For tbe Most High alone so rules over all things, as to be unable to be subject to another. Whom tbe devil perversely wished to imitate, when seeking dominion of his own, be refused to be subject to Him. Whoever therefore seeks for power of his own, imitates the devil, because he loathes to submit to bim who is placed over him by Divine ordinance.
16. There are many things besides, to proclaim certain persons to be faithless, though established in the peace of the. Church. For I see that some persons so accept tbe person of the powerful, as not to hesitate, when requested by bim, to deny, for his good will, the truth in the cause of a John neighbour. And who is Truth, but He who said, / atji the ^^' ' Way, the Truth, and the Life? For John the Baptist died not, when questioned about his confession of Christ, but about tbe truth of justice; but because Christ is the Trutb, Christ denied hy doing wrong for fear of man. 313 he therefore went even to death for Christ, because namely Book for the truth. Let us suppose that a person has, when ques ^— tioned, accepted the person of tlie powerful, and has denied the trutli, that he might not sutler the wrong even of a word. What, I pray you, would he do in the pain of punishments, who was ashamed of Christ among the scourges of words? Behold, even after this he is still a Christian before the eyes of men, and yet if God resolved to judge him strictly, he is one no longer.
17. But I see others, to whom are assigned, through their position as teachers, the duties of exhorting and reproving, who behold some unlawfulness committed, and who yet, when afraid of losing the good will of certain powerful per- sons, presume not to reprove it. What else doth he, who- ever he be, but see the wolf coming, and flee away } He flies, because he was silent; he was silent, because he despised eternal grace, and preferred temporal glory. Be- hold he hid himself within the concealments of his silence before the face of a powerful man, and gave way as to open persecution, so also to secret fear. It is well said of such; They loved the praise of men more than the praise jahn of God. If these things are strictly judged, whoever is such, ^^' ^^* even though public persecution was wanting, yet denied Christ by his silence. There are not wanting then, even in the peace of the Church, the temptations of Antichrist. Let no one then dread those times of the last persecution, as though the only ones. For the cause of Antichrist is con- tinually promoted among the ungodly, because he is even now secretly working his mystery in their hearts. And even if many, now seemingly established within the Church, pretend to be what they are not, they will yet at the coming of the Judge be exposed, as they are. Of whom Solomon well says, I saw the wicked buried, icho even ichen they lived Eccles. here, were in the holy place, and were praised in the city, as^' ^^* men of just works. After it was said then of the wicked; The seal shall be restored as clay, and shall stand as a garment, and their light shall be taken axcay from the wicked, (which is certainly to take place in that persecution of Antichrist,) he presently, consoling us concerning the de- stniction of the same Antichrist, says; 314 Kxtreme pride, and fall ^ of Anticlirint.
Job 38, And the hvjk arm shall he broken.
— ~ — 18. For, for what else is the higli arm taken, but the proud Alleo If^^li^css of Antichrist, who is so cxalb.'d over the reprobate minds of men with the pride of worldly glory, that though a sinful man, and yet scorning to be counted a man, he pre- tends falsely that he is God aV)ove men? Wlience the 2 Thess. Apostle Paul says; Ho Ihat he sitleth in the temple of God, ^> *• shewing himself, as if he were God. And to shew his pride more fully, he stated before, Who opjpjoseth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshippjed. For even a man can sometimes be called God, according to Exod. that which is said to Moses, See, I have made thee a god to '' ^* Pharaoh. But a mere man cannot be worshipped as God. But because Antichrist sets himself up over all holy men, and over the power of the Godhead Itself, he endeavours to surpass that which is called God, and that which is worshipped as God, by demanding for himself the name of glory. But we must observe into what a depth of pride he has fallen, who remained not in that degree of ruin, in which he fell. For both the devil and man fell, by pride, from the state of Is. 14, their own creation, either for him to say, / will ascend above ^^' the height of the clouds, I will be like the Most High, or for Gen. 3, the Other to hear and to believe. Your eyes shall be opjened, ^' and ye shall be as gods. They fell, therefore, both of them, because they desired to be like God, not by righteousness. but by power. But man who had fallen, by perversely aiming at the likeness of God, discerning, when freed by grace, that he was very different from God, through the guilt P5.89,8. of sin, exclaims, O Lord, who is like unto Thee? But the devil, having been justly cast aside in his sinful lapse, con- tinued not in his own degree of ruin; but the longer he was deprived of the grace of the Almighty; the more did he adc to the guilt of his sins. For he who fell, because he wished inverting the order of things, to be like God, was brought sc far, that entering into Antichrist, he scorned to seem lik( God, and, when condemned, counts Him as his inferior Whom he could not in his pride regard as his equal. Foi when this, which we have stated before, is said of him 2 Thess. Exalting himself above all that is called God, or that it ^' ^* worshipped; it is openly shewn, that by seeking at first th( i God^a mercy in convertiny men from sin at the last. 315 likeness of God, he wished, as it were, to exalt himself Book Y Y T 'ST against God, but that increasing m the sin of pride, he now — __ -' sets himself iij) above all that is called God, or that is worshipped. Because then this his pride will be smitten by the coming of the strict Judge, (as it is written, Who7n the 2ThesB, Lord Jesus shall slay icith the spirit of His mouth, and shall^^ ^' destroy vnth the briyhtness of His coming j) it is rightly said, And the high arm shall be broken.
1J>. But all these expressions, which have been twice dis- Mor. cussed, can be still understood in another sense. For the words of God are conserves S as it were, to give us strength. ' pig- And just as, the more a conserve is ground, the more does™^"** its virtue increase in the cup; so the more we bruise the Divine words by expounding them, the more, when we hear them, are we benefited, as if by the draught. Because there- fore the merciful God long bears with the sins of men, and frequently converts the minds of sinners, when He sees the end now approaching, He rightly says of Himself, as suggest- ing the might of so great affection, Ver. 13. Hast thou held and shaken the ends of the earth, and hast thou shaken the wicked out of itf 20. For by 'earth' is designated man, who savours of ix. things below; to whom it was said in his sin; Earth thou Gbq, 3, art, and to earth shall thou go. But because the merci-^^* ful Creator forsakes not His own work. He both bears with the sins of men, by His wisdom, and at last remits them by their conversion. But, when He beholds hard and insensi- ble minds. He scares them at one time vvith threats, at another with blows, at another with revelations: in order that those which had become hardened by most fatal security may be softened by wholesome fear, so that they may, though at last, return, and blush at least at this, that they have long been waited for. For thus the Lord, because He judges more severely the ends of our life, therefore purges also His Elect more carefully at the close. For it is written; God shall fudge the ends of the earth. He therefore watches i Sam. more anxiously over our closing deeds, the more He con- ' ' siders that the beginnings of our coming life depend upon them. And because He docs this of His mercy; by bringing forward His tenderness, with which He receives even those sinners who have been converted at the last, He instructs 316 Man returned to duy^ and laid hy as a rjarmevt.
Job 38, the rigliteousiiess of blessed Job, saying; Ilast t/iou held ^* * _- and shaken the ends of the earth, and hast thou shaken the wicked out of it^ Thou uiKhrstandest, As I,\Vho frequently arouse sinners by alarming them at tlieir last moments, hold them fast by converting them, and pluck from their hearts the wicked motions of their thoughts. And the Lord ri^^htly teaches blessed Job, how He converts sinners at the end. As if He openly said. Observe the power of My mercy, and bring down the pride of thy righteousness. But, that that punishment of former sin accompanies these closing hours of a man, through the death of the flesh, even when he is con- verted. He immediately teaches, saying; Ver. 14. Tlie seal shall be restored as clay, and shall stand as a garment. X. 21. For the Lord made man, whom He fashioned after His own likeness, as a kind of seal of His power. But yet it shall be restored as clay; because, though he may by conversion escape eternal sufferings, yet he is condemned by the death of the flesh, in punishment of the pride he has committed. For man, who has been formed from clay, and adorned with the likeness of the Divine image, having received the gift of reason, forgets, when swelling with pride of heart, that he was formed of the basest materials. Whence it hath been ordered by the marvellous justice of the Creator, that, because he became proud in consequence of that rea- sonable sense which he received, he should again by death become earth, which he was unwilling humbly to regard himself. And because he lost the likeness of God by sin, but returns by death to the substance of his own clay, it is rightly said; The seal shall be restored as clay. And because, when the spirit is summoned from the body, it is stripped, as it were, of its kind of covering of flesh, it is fitly subjoined of the same clay; and shall stand as a garment.
For, for our clay to stand as a garment is for it to remain empty and stripped off, even till the time of the resurrection. But because even they do not escape this punishment of pride, who overcome this very pride by living humbly, He subjoins what is the special punishment of the proud, saying; Ver. 15. From the wicked their light shall be taken away, and the high arm shall be broken.
The high brought down. Chrisfs descent into Hell, 317 2'2. For the deatli ol the flesh, which restores the Elect to Book their light, takes away their light from the reprobate. For^-— i— the light of the proud is the glory of this present life. And ^** that light is then withdrawn from it, when it is called by the death of the flesh, to the darkness of its own retributions. For then is the high arm there broken, because loftiness of heart, which has been violently seized on, beyond the order of nature, is scattered by the weight of Divine justice which overwhelms it, in order that how' wickedly it had'Oxf. exalted itself for a while, it may learn when it is crushed forq^ajj^ ever by the weiglit of judgment. But none of us would know what was to follow after death, did not the Creator of om* life come even to the punishment of our death. For did He not of His own mercy seek the lowest condition. Ho could not justly bring back to the highest, us, w^ho were lost ifter we had received His likeness. Whence it is rightly subjoined; Ver. 16. Hast thou entered into the depth of the sea, and hast thou walked in the lowest parts of the abyss?
'23. As if He said, As I, Who not only sought the sea, that xii. s this world, by assuming the flesh and soul of a man, but dso descended by that flesh voluntarily subjected to death, :o the bottom of the pit, as if to the depths of the sea. For f the ' sea' must be understood to mean the world after the nanner of Scripture language, nothing hinders the ^ depths )f the sea' from meaning the bars of the pit. But the Lord iought this depth of the sea, when He entered the lowest )arts of the pit, in order to rescue the souls of His Elect. vVhence also it is said by the Prophet, Thou ha^t made thela.Sif lepths of the sea a nay, for the ransomed to pass over. For his depth of the sea was, before the coming of the Redeemer, lot a way, but a prison, because it confined within it even he souls of the good, though not in places of punishment, iut the Lord made this depth a way, because He, by coming hither, granted His Elect to pass over from the bars of he pit to heavenly places. Whence it is there fitly said, or the ransomed to pass over. But that which He had ailed the depths of the sea, repeating in other words He alls the lowest parts of the abyss: because as the abyss of raters is not comprehended Vjy our sight, so are the secrets 318 Christ not bound by sin. His sight of t J le dark doors.
Job 38, of the ])it not peiK.'lratod by us witli any sense of our '— understandiniT. For we behold who are withdrawn hence, but we see not wliat retriV)ution of punishments awaits them according to their desert.
24. But we must carefully notice, that He says that He had walked in the lowest parts of the abyss. For to walk belongs not to one who is bound, but to one who is free.
For fetters impede to a like extent the steps of him whom they bind. Because then the Lord endured no bonds of sin, He walked in the pit. For He came unfettered to those Ps. 88, who were bound. Whence it is written, / am become as a man without Jteljj^free among the dead. For the Lord then to walk in the lowest parts of the abyss is for Him to find nothing to detain Him in the place of damnation, as Peter Acts 2, bears witness, who says. Having loosed the pahis of death, because it was not possible for Him to be holden of it. Or certainly, (because, when we are led in walking from place to place, we are found present here and there,) the Lord is said to have walked in the pit, in order to shew that He was present to Elect souls in their several places, by the power Wis(3.7, of His Godhead. Whence also the spirit of wisdom is ^ * described as full of motion, that by means of that which is no where absent. He might be described as meeting us every where. And this descent of His, our Lord regards as more marvellous the more frequently He makes mention of it tc ransomed man. For repeating it again, He subjoins; Ver. 17. Have the gates of death been opened unto thee and hast thou seen the gloomy doors? xiii. 25. For the * gates of death' are the adverse powers. Whicl the Lord descended and opened, because by dying H( overcame their strength. Which are by another appellatior called the ' gloomy doors,' because while they are not seen, b^ reason of their crafty concealment, they open to deceivec minds the way of death. Which gloomy doors the Lore beholds; because He both observes and represses the crafty malice of unclean spirits. And did He not, by beholding restrain them, while we know them not, our mind would botl know nothing of their snares, and would be taken and perisl by them. But even we behold these gloomy gates, when w< are illumined with rays of heavenly light. Whence also it ii ^1 A Breadth of the spiritual earth in the end. 319 said by tlie Prophet, The Lord is my helper, and I shall see Book mine enemies. He therefore Himself beholds our enemies, ^^^^' Who by His gift makes our enemies visible to us. Or 7. * ' certainly, the Lord then beheld the gloomy gates, when penetrating the barriers of the pit, He smote the cruel spirits, and by His death condemned them that presided over death. Which is here spoken of no longer as of a future, but as of a past event; for this reason, because that which He intended to do in deed. He had already done in predestination. But because the Church increased after His death and resurrec- tion, and was extended in all nations, it is fitly subjoined; Ver. 18. Hast Ihou considered the breadth of the earth?
26. For whilst the Lord sought the narrowness of death, xiv. He spread abroad His faith in the nations, and extended Holy Church to numberless hearts of believers. To whom it is said by the Prophet, Enlarge the place of thy tent, is. 54^ and extend the curtains of thy tabernacles; spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes: for thou shall penetrate to the right hand and to the left, and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles. But this breadth of the earth would surely not exist, had He not first despised, in dying, the life which we know, and pointed out by His rising again, the life which we know not. For He opened by His death the eyes of our minds, and shewed us what Avas the life which was to follow. Whence also, observing this order in the Gospel, He says to His disciples. Thus it behoved Christ <(?Luke24, suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day, and that^ ' repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name through all nations. For few of the people of Israel believed at His preaching, but numberless peoples of the Gentiles followed the way of life, on His death. For He endured the proud, while He was still living in a suffering condition, but He overthrew them when dead to a life of suffering. Which Samson long before well typified in himself, for he slew but few during his life; but on the Judges destruction of the temple he slew a host of enemies, at his ' death. Because the Lord doubtless killed but few from their pride and haui,ditiness* when alive, but more, when the * as we Temple of His body was broken in pieces: and the Elect ^Yead from the Gentiles, whom He endured in His life. He "°t°