Prov. ^vords only. For since it is written, 77ie just man in the bc(/inninf/ accuseth himself ''y he wished to gain credit, not to be humbled, by confessing his sin: he desired, by accusing himself, to appear humble, without being so. For did he really wish to be humble, by confessing his sin, he would not attack others when convicting him of the commission of it. The righteous then, in passing sentence on his own conduct, knows from the bottom of his heart, by the examples of holier men, that he really is what he professes to be. For he says, / have sinned, and have truly done wrong. And adds further of the very pain which he is enduring, and have not received as I deserved.
23. For every one when under the rod, thinks still less of his sins, if he considers that he has been smitten either aSj or more than, he deserved. But this man, because the more he considers the examples of greater men, the more strictly does he weigh and test himself, acknowledges that he was smitten less than he deserved. Because he sees, from their righteousness, how heinous is the guilt of his own erring, and does not feel his suffering to be severe, from having learned to pass a severe sentence on his own conduct. But it is very easy for a man, when suffering nothing on account of his sms, to confess himself a sinner. We fearlessly call ourselves un- righteous, when we feel no vengeance for our unrighteous- ness. For in a time of tranquillity we call ourselves sinners, but when chastened for these very sins, by the blow which falls on us, we murmur. Punishment then puts us to the test, whether we truly acknowledge our fault. Let a righteous man then, from regarding his fault severely, say, even under the rod, I have not received as I deserved. It follows, Ver. 28. For he hath delivered his soul from going onwards to destruction.
X. 24. Because when Divine Grace goes before us in good works, our free will follows it, we, who yield our consent to God Who delivers us, are said to deliver ourselves; and 1 Cor. hence Paul when saying, / laboured more ahundantUj than ' * theij all, for fear he should seem to ascribe his labours to ■^ E. V. He that \'& first in his own cause seGnxQihjicst.
Grace and free will. Light how seen. Alternaiions. 67 himself, immediately added, Yet not /, but the grace of God Book which was icilJi nic. For since he had followed with his free- * will the preventing grace of God in him, he properly adds, with me, that he might neither be unthankful for the Divine gift, nor yet remain a stranger to the merit of free-will. jBnt of him, who by gaining a knowledge of himself consented to Him Who set him free, he rightly saysS He hath delivered^!^\ \^'^ rightly his said from going onwards to destruction. It follows, said.
But that it should live, and see the light.
That is to say, the light of truth, which he could not see when dead in heart. Or certainly, because the Lord has said, / ajn the Light of the world, even the dead also shall John 8, behold the light, when all the ungodly shall have seen Him coming to judgment in the form of Manhood. But he lives, or beholds the light at that time, who has the eyes of his heart set free, and beholds Him in the form of the Godhead. It follows, Ver. 29. All these things Qod worketh three times with every man.
25. Of this man tempted and beaten by the scourge it had xi. been said before. His bread becomes abominable to him in his ver. 22. life, and his soul hath drawn nigh to corruption, and his life to the destroyers. But it was subsequently added, He shall pray unto Qod, and He will be favourable unto him, and he ver. 26. will see His face with joy; and he hath delivered his soul from going onward to destruction, but that it should live, and behold the light. In these expressions, then, now collected and accumulated together, the bitterness of sorrow precedes, the joy of security comes after. And it is presently added, All these things God worketh three times with every mail. As if he were to say. What I have said once of one person only, takes place three times in every person. But we must carefully consider what are these three times, wherein each man is affected with anxiety and sorrow, and is immediately after sorrow called back to the security of joy. For, as I before said, he had stated above, that grievous sorrow first depresses^ a afficit us, and that great delight raises us up afterwards. If we watch then attentively, we find that these three stages of soiTow and joy succeed each other, in the mind of each (iH P((uiJ'<}U<)n:(:d hij j(»u I luce tii/H'S; firsl in Converaiov.
Jon 33, of the Elect, in these following ways, that is to say, in hi^ ^-^ convcrsioi), his leniptalion, and his (l(;atli.
?0. For ill tlial first occasion of conversion, which \vc have mentioned, great is the sorrow of a man, when, from con- sideiing his own sins, he wishes to burst the fetters of worldly cares, and to walk in the way of God along the course of a secure conversation, to cast aside the heavy- burden of tcmpoj'al anxieties, and to bear the light yoke of the Lord, in a bondage akin to freedom. For as he thinks on these things, there occurs to his mind that old familiar y carnal pleasure, which, from having become inveterate, binds him the closer, the longer it has held him; and is the more loath to permit him to escape. And then what pain is there, and what anxiety of heart, when the Spirit calls him on one side, the flesh calls him back on the other, his love for his new life invites him on the one hand, his old depraved habits assail him on the other: on the one side he glows with longings for his heavenly country, and on the other has to bear in himself that desire of the flesh, which pleases him to a certain degree, even against his will? Of a man thus embittered it is rightly said. His bread becomes abominable to him in his life, and his soul hath drawn near to corruption^ and his life to the destroyers. But because Divine Grace does not suffer us to be long exposed to these difficulties, it bursts the chains of our sins, and leads us quickly by its consolation to the liberty of our new life; and the joy which succeeds makes up for the former sorrow. And thus the mind of every one when converted rejoices the more on attaining its wishes, the more it remembers the pain it has endured in its endeavours after them. Unbounded is the joy of the heart: because in its hope of security it now draws near to Him, Whom it desires; so that it can rightly be said of it, He shall pray unto God, and He will be favoiirable unto him, and he shall see His face with Joy. Or without question, He hath delivered his soul from going onvjarJs to destruction, but that it should live, and see the light.
27. But for fear a man should believe himself holy imme- diately on his conversion, and security should overthrow him, I The same aijai/i c.vperienced in Temptation. ()f) whom the contest with pain could not overpower, he is Book permitted, in the dispensation of God, after his conversion, -' to be wearied witli the assaults of teni])talions. The Red sea was already crossed by his conversion, but enemies still oppose liim to the face while in the wilderness of this present life. We leave already our past sins behind us, as the Egyptians dead on tlie shore. But destructive vices still assail us, as fresh enemies to obstruct the way on which wo have entered to the land of promise. Our former oflences, as enemies who were pursuing us, have been already laid low by the power of God alone. But the assaults of temptations meet us to our face like fresh enemies, to be overcome witii our own endeavours also. Conversion in truth produces security: but security is commonly the parent of negligence. To keep security from generating carelessness, it is written, My S071, in coming to the service of God, stand injustice and Ecclas. fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation. For he says, not ' for rest, but for temptation, because our enemy is the more eager to conquer us as long as we arc in this life, the more he discerns that we are rebelling against him. He cares not to buffet those, of whom he perceives that he can hold quiet possession. But he is excited the more vehemently against us, inasmuch as he is expelled from our hearts, as if from the rightful possession of his own habitation. It w^as this, which the Lord, in a kind of economv, typified in His own person. For he did not permit the devil to tempt Him till after His Baptism: suggesting to us thereby as a kind of sign Mat. 4, of our own future conversion, that His members would have * to endure more severely the wiles of temptation, after they were beginning to advance Godwards. After the first oc- casion then of sorrow and joy, which every one feels in his endeavour after conversion, does this second time suc- ceed. Because a man is assaulted with the attack of temptations, in order that he may not become relaxed by the carelessness of security. And he is generally welcomed with great sweetness of consolation, at the beginning of his conversion, but he experiences afterwards the severe labour of probation.
'28. There are in truth three states of the converted; the beginning, the middle, and the perfection. But in this 70 Oocfs dealiny in conversion like His wedding Israel. JoH 33, coinmcncemciit tlioy experience the charms of sweetness, in '- — the mid-lime the contests of temptations, but in the close the plenitude of perfection. Sweets then are first their portion, to comfort, afterwards })ittornessos to exercise, and at last transcendent delights to confirm them. For every man too first soothes his bride with sweet blandishments, though he tries her when now united to him, with sharp reproofs, and pos- sesses her, when she is proved, with thoughts of security. And hence also the people of Israel, on being summoned out of Egypt, when God betrothed Himself to the sacred marriage of the soul, was vouchsafed at first, in the place of pledges, the allurement of miracles; but, after marriage, is exercised with trials in the wilderness, and after trial, is confirmed in the land of promise with the plenitude of virtue. It first then tasted in the miracles that which it was to seek for; afterwards it w^as tried by hard trial, to prove whether it could keep safely what it had tasted; and at the last it also deserved to obtain a fuller enjoyment of that, which it had kept safe when put to the test of suffering. A gentle com- mencement therefore thus soothes the life of every convert, a rugged course proves it in the way, and afterwards full perfection gives it strength. / 29. For converts are frequently granted either the most ' perfect tranquillity in the flesh, or the gifts of prophecy^ j or the preaching of doctrine, or signs and wonders, or the grace of healing, immediately on their first commencement. Rut after this they are harassed by the severe trials of temptations, from which, when they first began, they believed ^ themselves entirely free. And it is thus ordained in the dispensation of Divine Grace, to keep them from being assailed with sharp temptations at their first beginning. For if bitter temptations were to befal them at the first, they would fall back with ease on the sins they had abandoned, as having removed but a little distance from them. For they would be again involved from their very nearness, in the sins they first despised. Whence it is also written,, Exodus When Pharaoh had let the people go. the Lord led them ' ' not through the tcay of the land of the Philistines, which is near, thinking lest perhaps they would repent, if they had seen ivar rising up against them, and might return ta Comfort granted Jirsl to prepare for trial. 71 Egypt. War' then is removed out of the way of those who Book wcro coming out of Egypt: because, to those who leave tlie ^^^^- world, there is ])resented at first a kind of trancjuillity, lcst<i)eila' from being alarmed in the tenderness of their first beginning, they should return, through fear, to that world from which they have escaped. They feel, then, first the sweetness of security, they are first nurtured in quietness and peace. But having tasted this sweetness, they endure more patiently the contests with temptations, as they have found in God a liigher object of affection. Whence also Peter is first Mat.i7, led up into the mountain, first beholds the brightness of^* the Lord's transfiguration, and then is afterwards suffered to be tempted by a maid who questioned him; in order that, Mat.26 having become conscious of his state by his weakness under ^^• trial, he might recur with sorrow and love to the sight which he had beheld; and that, when the wave of fear was sweeping him onwards to the ocean of guilt, there might be an anchor of former sweetness, to keep him back. But the struggles with temptations frequently last as long, as the allurements on the first commencement. But frequently there is greater pleasure given at first, and less trial in the season of labour: and frequently again less pleasure at first, and greater trial in the time of labour. But a disproportionate perfection of strength never succeeds the labour of temptation: because every one is rewarded with the plenitude of perfection, according to the result of the contest. But a convert commonly fails, from believing that he has received the con- firmation of perfection, when he is welcomed with certain gifts of grace, in the sweetness of his first beginning: and, from not knowing that they are only the comforts given to beginners, be regards them as the consummation of fulness. Whence it happens, that if assailed by any sudden storm of temptation, he suspects that he is overlooked by God, and lost for ever. But if he were not to place such full reliance on his first commencement, he would, when still prosperous, be preparing his mind for adversity, and would afterwards resist the assaults of sin with the more firmness, as having also foreseen them with greater sagacity. For, by foreseeing these evils, he bears them with greater cahnness. But though he fore- sees, he does not at all decline the contest with them, for the 7-2 TemptationH before un kit own fell after conversion.
Job 33, course of our journey is not brought to a close without going — throu^rli the dust of tein])tation.
t 30. Hut every convert is generally assailed with such ' temptations, as he never remembers to have been attacked witl), before the grace of conversion: not because this same root of temptation did not then exist, but because it did not shew itself. For the mind of man, when engaged with numberless thoughts, frequently remains in a man- ner unknown to itself, so as to be quite ignorant of what it is suffering: for while it is distracted with many matters, it is diverted from the inward knowledge of itself. But if it desires to have leisure for thinking upon God, and lops off the branches of distracting thought, it then beholds without obstruction, that which springs forth from the inmost depths of the flesh. For if a thistle is growing in the road, it is crushed by the feet of those who journey along it, and its surface is worn away by the constant passing of travellers, so as not to appear. But though the thorns do not shew them- selves above and bear fruit, yet the root still remains con- cealed beneath. But if the feet of travellers have ceased to bruise and tread it down, whatever living power remained buried in the root soon rises to the surface, and shews itself. It advances in its growth, and comes into view by the thorns that it bears. So also in the heart of the worldly minded, some secret root of temptations seems to grow up with diffi- culty; for placed as it were in the pathway of daily life, it is crushed by the feet of thoughts which pass over it, and is so trodden down by countless cares, as if by many travellers, as not to be seen. But if the crowd of anxieties is removed by the grace of conversion from the pathway of the heart, so that no importunity of business wears, nor any tumultuous thoughts oppress it, then that which was before concealed is discerned, then the thorn of temptation, springing from the root of sin, freely inflicts its wound. But the hand of the righteous so acts against.it, that, as far as may be, it is not covered and concealed, but torn up by the very roots. But till this is done, this thorn so troubles the mind of ever}^ convert, that he frequently feels as if nearly overwhelmed by sudden temptation, and fears that its wound has been inflicted with fatal effect to the very quick.
Joy (jive n again after the pains of temptation. 73 31. But these assaults of temptation are frequently pro- Book longed when they become comujon, and become, not sharper, ^_^: but of longer duration. And then they cause less pain, but do more hurt: for the longer they keep hold of the mind, the less terrrible do they become, the more usual they are. The mind therefore, when involved in these trials, is dis- tracted here and there, and is confused by the manifold assaults of temptations, and frequently, when summoned from one point to another, it knows not which assailing sin to oppose, or which first to assault itself. It is hence frequently the case that, while rebellious sins severely torture, while they drive to the very brink of desperation the mind of the [person who withstands them, a convert is afraid of this very heavenward path, which he chooses as a remedy, and that [he stumbles, as it were^ when brought to the summit, who used to stand more firmly at the bottom. But he is so hard pressed by the movements of temptations, which rage around him, that it may be riglitly said of him. His bread becomes ^^^^^^^^' aboniiiiable to him in his life, and to his soul the food which before it desired; or without question, His soid hath drawn near to corruption, and his life to the destroyers. But be- cause God in His mercy suffers us to be proved by ourprobari temptations, not to be cast away, (as it is written, But Qod is\^^^\^ faithful, who does not suffer you to be tempted above that ye ^ ^^\' are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape^ that ye may be able to bear it,) He speedily succours us with the aid of consolation, assuages the rising pangs of temptations, and calms with inward peace the emotions of the thoughts which rise up against Him. And then the mind soon derives great delight from its hope of heaven, on beholding the evil, which she had endured, overpowered. 80 that of this man tempted and delivered it may be justly said. He shall see His face with Joy; and, He fiath delivered his soul from going onward to destruction, hut that it should live and behold the light. When these two stages then, that is of conversion and probation, have been passed in sorrow and in joy, there yet remains the third, whose sorrow he has still to fear, and whose pleasures he has to obtain.
o*2. For after the struggle of conversion, after the jmin of 71 Tlie Elect f (tar Uie Judge for sins Ihey do nol know.
Job 33, probation, tliLie still remains a hard temptation; because : — he cannot arrive at the joys of perfect liberty, without the debt of human nature is first paid. But every convert, being careful and anxious for himself, ceases not to consider secretly with himself, with what strictness the eternal Judge is coming, and he daily looks forward to his own end, and before the approach of such severity of justice, considers what account he will have to render for his conduct. For though he has avoided all evil deeds, which he could tell to be such, yet as having to come before a strict Judge, he is the more afraid of those faults, of which he is not conscious in himself. For who can understand how many evils we commit every instant, by the irregular motions of our thoughts? For it is easy enough to avoid deeds of wicked- ness, but very difficult to cleanse the heart from unlawful Micah thoughts. And yet it is written, Woe to you who think on. Bom 2 ^^^^ which is unprofitable. And again, In the day when 16. the Lord shall Judge the secrets of men, after having said ib. 15. before, Their thoughts mutually accusing or excusing one Ps. 12, another. And again. Crafty lips in heart, and in heart 2; 58, 2. ^y-^^y lid'f^Q spoken evil. And again, For in your heart ye work iniquity on the earth. But when the soul has -oncel forsaken the stability of eternity, and has sunk down to the instability of temporal things, it is obliged against its will to endure, in endeavouring to rise, that fluctuation of alter- nating emotions, which it sought of its own accord when willing to fall. And thus it is punished by its former pleasures, because it endures, as converted, the labour of the contest, in the very same things in which it sought while perverted the delight of pleasure. And frequently that very sin, which they skilfully detect in themselves, and of whose grievous guilt they are conscious in the sight of God, steals into the thoughts of the Elect against their will. And though they are ever afraid of a strict judgment for all these things, they then especially dread it, when on coming to pay the debt of nature, they see that they are drawing near the severe Judge. And their fear is the more acute, the nearer their eternal retribution approaches. But no empty imagination from the fancy of the thought flits at that time before the eyes of the heart: because when every thing else has been removed, Even saints meet death with fear of Judyment. 75 tliey think of themselves only, and of Him, Whom they are Book approaching. Their fear increases, as the retribution of- -' righteousness approaches nearer. And as the dissolution of the flesh is luistening on, the more the strict judgment comes, as it were, within their reach, the more mightily is it dreaded by them. And though they never remember to have passed over the things they know, they are yet afraid of those sins of which they are ignorant. Because, namely, they are unable fully to understand, and pass sentence on themselves, and, as their end draws nigh, they are harassed by more subtle fear. Whence our Redeemer, approaching His dissolution, and maintaining a resemblance to His members, fell into an agony, and began to pray at greater length. For what could He be asking for Himself when in agony, Who used, when on earth, to confer heavenly gifts with power? But on the approach of death. He represented in His own person the struggle which exists in our minds; who suffer a violent fear and dread, on approaching, through the dissolution of the flesh, to the eternal judgment. Nor is a man's mind at that time unseasonably alarmed, when it finds, after this brief state of being, that it must remain unchanged for ever. 33. For we consider, that we have by no means been able to pass through the course of this present life without guilt. We