Wherein S. Gregory unfolds the historical, allegorical, and
moral sense of the eighteenth and nineteenth chapters of the Book of Job.
[i]
[HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION]
1. In a
former part of this work we have handled the point, that Almighty God, in
order to amend the hearts of those under the law, brought forward the life
of blessed Job for a testimony, who knew not the law and yet kept it, who
observed the precepts of life, which he had not received in writing. This
man’s conduct is first extolled by God’s bearing witness to it, and is
afterwards suffered to be put to the proof by the devil’s plotting against
it, that he might prove by the trials of tribulation, how much he had
attained before in a state of peace. This man’s life the adversary of the
human race, evil disposed after his manner, both knew to be commended by the
attestation of God, and yet asked for to prove it. And when he could not
succeed in bringing him to the ground, smitten with so many losses in his
substance, so many bereavements, he set on his wife against him in the
goading of mispersuasion, that at all events by the words of his own
household he might ruin him, whom he could never bring down by so many
torments of tidings. But whereas what by woman’s aid he won against Adam
first in paradise, he could not make good against this second man sitting on
a dunghill, he betook himself to other appliances of tempting, that he
should bring in his friends as if administering consolation, and yet stir up
their feelings in bitterness of upbraiding, that him whose patience scourges
had failed to subdue, at least bitter words in the midst of those scourges
might succeed in overcoming. But the adversary, while laying his plots with
craft, was a victim to the deceit, which he had contrived against the holy
man, in that for all the occasions of ruin that he brought upon the holy
man, he supplied him with as many occasions of victory. For against
torments he maintained patience, against words, wisdom, in that he at once
sustained the pains of stripes with resignation, and restrained the
foolishness of ill advisers with wisdom. But whereas in those very
sufferings and well-instructed speeches he bears a figure of Holy Church, by
his friends, as we have already often said, uttering some things right and
some foolish, heretics are not unjustly represented who in respect of this,
that they are friends of the holy man, say many things right of the wicked,
but in respect of this, that they bear a likeness of heretics, very often
transgress in the excesses of the lips, and they smite the breast of the
holy man with the darts of their words, but are tired out by their very own
smiting against his indomitable spirit. So then it is our business to
distinguish with exact discrimination, both what there is in their words
that they think aright concerning the lost, and what that they sound that is
foolish as directed against blessed Job.
Ver. 1, 2.
Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said, Unto what end will ye cast
abroad words? understand first, and so let us speak.
[ii]
[ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
2. All
heretics think that in some things that are known to her Holy Church is full
of pride, while some things they fancy that she does not even understand.
Whence Bildad the Shuhite, as it were, asserts that blessed Job had broken
out into pride, when he declares [fatetur is used thus] that he
‘casts abroad words.’ But he gives a token with what pride he was himself
swoln, who supposed that blessed Job spoke things that he did not
understand; and whereas all heretics complain that they are despised by Holy
Church in her estimate of them, it is fitly subjoined,
Ver. 3.
Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed as vile in your sight?
[iii]
3. It is
natural to the human mind to suppose that the thing that it does is done to
itself. Thus they believe themselves to be despised, who are used to
despise the ways of the good; and whereas in such things as are capable of
being understood by reason, the Church proves against heretics that what
they make up is unreasonable, they imagine themselves to be counted as
‘beasts’ in her view. On which supposition of their being despised, they
directly break out in disdain, and are urged to abuse of that Church.
Whence it is added;
Ver. 4.
Why dost thou ruin thy soul in thy fury?
[iv]
4. Heretics
esteem whether a strong feeling for the rule of right, or the spiritual
grace of holy preaching, not as good weight of virtue, but as the madness of
fury. By which same fury they believe that ‘the souls of the faithful are
ruined,’ in that they imagine that the life of the Church is destroyed by
the very same means whereby they see she is made to kindle against
themselves. It goes on;
Shall the
earth be forsaken for thee?
[v]
5. For they
think that they themselves worship God every where, that they themselves
have occupied the whole world. What is it then to say, Shall the earth
be forsaken for thee? but what they often say to the faithful, viz.
‘that if this thing which you say be true, all the earth is forsaken by God,
which we ourselves already occupy from the multitude of us.’ Now the holy
Church universal proclaims that God cannot be truly worshipped saving within
herself, asserting that all they that are without her shall never be saved.
But conversely heretics, who are confident that it is possible for them to
be saved even without her pale, maintain that the Divine aid is rendered to
them in every place. Whence they say; Shall the earth be forsaken for
thee? i.e. ‘is it so, that whosoever is out of thee cannot be saved?’
Whence it is added further;
And shall the
rocks be moved out of their place?
[vi]
6. Heretics
call those persons ‘rocks’ who in their views by the sublimity of their
thoughts stand out in the human race, which same they glory that they have
for teachers. But when Holy Church addresses herself to the task of
gathering together the different erring preachers within the bosom of the
right faith, what else is this but that she ‘removes the rocks from their
places,’ that having a right view of things, they may lie down in humility
within her, who aforetime were standing stiff in their own wrong notions?
But heretics altogether make against the doing of this, and withstand the
‘rocks being moved out of their places’ on account of her voice, because
they are averse that they, who among themselves, being lifted up in their
thoughts, were embued with false doctrine, by coming to her should think
what is true in a humble spirit.
7. Now, it
very often happens that heretics, when they see any persons within the bosom
of Holy Church travailing whether with want or calamities, lift themselves
up directly in the presumption of righteousness, and whatsoever they see to
have happened of an adverse kind to the faithful, they suppose it is done
for their iniquities, not knowing doubtless that the complexion of the
present life does not in the least degree prove the worth of men’s conduct.
For very often both good things befal the bad, and bad ones befal the good,
on the very principle that real goods are reserved for the good, and real
ills for the bad, in the season of the eternal recompensing. Thus Bildad
bearing a figure of heretics, who lift themselves up on the grounds of this
life’s good fortune, swells against the strokes of blessed Job, as if with
their voice in opposition to the reproach of the righteous, and expressly he
is arguing against the ungodly indeed, but how wickedly he speaks in such
terms against a good man, he is not aware. Thus he added, saying,
Ver. 5.
Shall not the light of the wicked be put out, and the flame of his fire
cease to shine?
[vii]
8. If he says
this in describing the present life, he is mistaken; in that very often both
the light of prosperity is seen in the ungodly, and the darkness of ignominy
and poverty envelopes the godly. But if his discourse points to this, viz.
to shew what the ungodly meet with in their end, it is said with truth,
Shall not the light of the wicked be put out, and the flame of his fire
cease to shine? Which if it might have been rightly spoken in regard to
an ungodly man, ought never to have been delivered against a holy man set
fast in the midst of scourges. But let us, considering well the powers of
his arm in delivering sentences, reflect how strongly be hurls the darts,
and let us cease to look at him whom, while so hurling them, he aims to hit,
knowing surely that he strikes a stone with foiled blows. So let him say;
Shall not the light of the wicked be put out? For even the ungodly
have their ‘light,’ i.e. the good fortune of the present life. But ‘the
light of the wicked shall be put out,’ in that this present life’s good
fortune is speedily terminated along with life itself. Whence it is fitly
added; and the flame of his fire shall not shine.
[MORAL
INTERPRETATION]
9. For every
ungodly man has a ‘flame of his own fire,’ which he kindles in his heart
from the heat of temporal desires, whilst he burns now with these now with
those lusts, and fans his thoughts into a bigger flame by the diverse
flatteries of the world. But if a fire has no flame, it does not shine by
shedding any light. And so the flame of the fire is his outward beauty or
power, which comes from his burning within. For what he anxiously desires
to get, he very often wins, to the heaping up of his own ruin; and whether
in the power of the loftiest pitch, or in the wealth of multiplied increase,
he as it were shines in external glory. But ‘the flame of his fire shall
not shine,’ in that, in the day of his departure hence, all the fair shew
without is removed, and he is consumed by his own burning within alone. And
‘so the flame’ is removed from the ‘fire,’ when his exterior glory is
separated from his interior burning. Even the righteous too have a flame of
their fire, but one doubtless to shine bright, in this respect, that their
desires give light in good works. But the light of the wicked does not
shine in the least, in that hereby, viz. that they aim at what is evil, they
are forced to darkness. And hence it follows ;
Ver. 6.
The light shall be dark in his tabernacle.
[viii]
10. If we
very frequently take darkness for sorrow, we ought without unfairness to
take light for joy. And so ‘the light is dark in his tabernacle,’ in that
in his conscience, which he inhabits in wickedness, the joy which he had
from things temporal is brought to an end. Whence too it is fitly added;
And the candle
that is over him shall be put out.
For to speak
in language grounded on the usage of many, a ‘candle [lucerna]’ is a
light in an earthen vessel, but a light in an earthen vessel, is delight in
the flesh. And so ‘the candle that is over him is put out,’ in that when
the recompensing of his wickednesses comes upon the ungodly man, carnal
delight is brought to nought in his heart. Now it is well that it is not
said of this candle, ‘which is by him,’ but ‘which is over him,’ in that
earthly enjoyments possess the mind of the bad, and so swallow it up in
delight, that they are ‘over’ it, and not ‘by’ it. But the righteous even
when they have the good fortune of the present life, are taught to force it
to bow beneath them, that this, viz. that they are made glad in themselves
with good things, they may get above by the counsel of a steadied mind, and
surmount by the control of virtue. And so ‘the candle’ of the wicked man,
‘which is over him, is put out,’ in that his joy is quickly brought to an
end, which possessed him wholly in this life, and the man, who now wickedly
lets himself out at large in pleasures, punishment hereafter closely
encompasses round about in woe. Whence it is yet further added;
Ver. 7 The
steps of his strength shalt be straitened.
[ix]
11. For now
as it were he puts forth ‘the steps of his strength,’ as often as he
executes the violent acts of his power. But ‘the steps of his strength
shall be straitened,’ in that the resources of his wickedness, which he now
displays in his own gratification, punishment hereafter binds fast. It goes
on;
And his own
counsel shall cast him down.
[x]
12. Every bad
man makes it his counsel now to aim at present things, to abandon the things
of eternity, to do what is unjust, to sneer at what is just; but when the
Judge of the just and unjust shall come, every ungodly person is ‘cast down
by his counsel,’ in that for this that he chose to go after here with bad
intent, he is drowned in the darkness of eternal woe. For that man whom
temporal glory uplifts here, punishment without end there sinks down. He
who here revels in self-gratification, is there tortured with everlasting
vengeance. And it often happens that the very prosperity of this life,
which is so eagerly hankered after by the ungodly, so clogs their steps,
that even when they have the mind to return to good works, they are scarcely
able: in that they have not the power to do what is right, while they fear
to displease the lovers of this world. Whence it is brought to pass, that
through that glory which the ungodly man derives from sin, his sins are yet
further doubled and redoubled. Which Bildad rightly sets forth, when he
adds;
Ver. 8.
For he hath put his own foot into the net, and he walketh in the meshes
[masculis] of it.
[xi]
13. He, who
‘puts his feet into a net,’ cannot get them out, when he has a mind; so he
that lets himself down, into habits of sin, cannot rise up the moment he
wishes it; and he ‘that walketh in the meshes of a net,’ entangles his steps
in walking, and when he tries to extricate himself to walk, he is tied and
bound that he cannot. ‘For it very often happens that a man, beguiled by
the delightfulness of this world, reaches after the gloriousness of the
honour thereof, that he attains to the effecting of his desires, and
rejoices to have attained the object which he sought after; but seeing that
the good things of this world, when not possessed, are objects of love, and
very often, when possessed, grow worthless, he learns by the act of
obtaining how worthless that is which he sought after. Whence being brought
back to himself, he looks out how without sin to get quit of that which he
sees himself to have gotten with sin; but the very same dignity which
entangled him, holds him fast, and he cannot without further sins flee from
thence, whereunto he came not without sin. And so he has ‘put his feet into
the net, and walketh in the meshes thereof,’ in that when he strives to get
quit, he then sees in a true light with what hard knots he is held bound.
For we do not even know of our binding in a true sense, save when in
striving to get free, we as it were try to lift our feet. And hence he
makes known this same binding, by adding,
Ver. 9.
The gin shall take him by the heel;
in that the
end shall be made fast in sin. And because the enemy of mankind, when he
binds up in sin the life of each individual, eagerly pants after his death,
it is rightly added;
And thirst
shall burn furiously against him.
[xii]
14. For our
old enemy, when he ensnares the life in sin, thirsts that he may drink the
death of the sinner. Which however may also be understood in another
sense. For the evil mind when it sees that it has been brought into sin,
seeks with a certain superficialness of thought to escape out of the snares
of sin; but fearing either the threats or reproaches of men, it chooses
rather to die for ever, than to undergo a little of adversity for a season,
whence it abandons itself wholly to evil ways, in which it perceives itself
to be already once bound. And so he whose life is bound fast in sin even to
the end, has his ‘heel held by the gin.’ But forasmuch as in the same
degree that he minds that he is tied and bound with evil habits, he is in
despair of his return, by that very despairing he henceforth kindles more
fiercely to the lusts of this world, the heat of desire arises within him,
and the mind having been ensnared by previous sins, is inflamed to even
worse transgressions. And hence it is added; And thirst shall burn
furiously against him. For in his mind there is a ‘thirst that burns
out against him,’ in that in proportion as he is used to do wicked things,
he is the more vehemently on fire to drink down evil. Since for the ungodly
man to ‘thirst’ is to lust after the good things of this world. And hence
our Redeemer cures the man with the dropsy before the Pharisee’s house, and
when he was arguing against avarice, it is written, And the Pharisees
also who were covetous heard all things; and they derided Him. [Luke 16,
14] What does it mean then that the man with the dropsy is cured
before the house of the Pharisee, but that by the sickness of one man’s body
the sickness of heart in another is represented? For one sick of a dropsy,
the more he drinks, thirsts the more, and every covetous person redoubles
his thirst by drinking, in that when he has got the things he desires, he
pants the more in desiring others. For he that by getting is made to long
for more, has his thirst increased by drinking. It goes on;
Ver. 10.
His snare is buried in the earth, and his trap upon the way.
[xiii]
15. His
‘snare is buried in the earth,’ when sin is hidden under earthly interests.
For our enemy in executing his plots shews to the human mind something to
long after in earthly gain, and hides the snare of sin, that it may bind his
soul tight, so that he should see indeed what he might set his heart on, and
yet never see in what a snare of sin he is putting his foot. Now a trap [decipula]
has its name from entrapping. And ‘a trap is’ then ‘placed’ by our old
enemy ‘upon the way,’ when in the course of this world’s practice, which the
mind is bent to follow, the snare of sin is prepared, which same would not
so easily entrap, if it were possible to be seen. For a trap is so set,
that, while the meat is displayed, it is not itself seen by the passers by.
For like to meat in a trap is gain with sin, and the prosperity of this
world with wickedness; and so when gain is sought after by one with a
covetous view, it is as if the trap which is not seen laid hold of the foot
of the mind. Thus there are often set before the mind along with sin,
honours, riches, health, and temporal life, which, while the weak mind sees
like food, and does not see the trap, by the meat, which on seeing it longs
after, it is caught fast in the sin, which is not seen. For there are kinds
of tempers which border upon certain bad qualities. Thus harsh tempers are
usually found to be united either to cruelty or to pride; but tempers that
are soft, and joyous beyond what is becoming, are sometimes allied to lust
and dissoluteness. Therefore the enemy of mankind surveys the tempers of
each individual," to see what bad quality they are allied to, and he sets
those objects before the face, which he sees the mind is most readily
inclined to, so that to the soft and joyous tempers he often proposes
dissoluteness, and sometimes vainglory, but to harsh dispositions he
proposes pride or cruelty, and so there he sets a trap, where he sees the
path of the mind to be, in that he there introduces peril by deception,
where he has found that there is the ‘way’ of a kindred turn of thought.
And, whereas all that the bad man does, he fears to undergo too, and reckons
that to be doing by all others toward himself, which he himself prepares for
all others, whom he is able, it rightly follows;
Ver. 11.
Terrors shall make him afraid on every side.
[xiv]
16. For he
imagines all men to be such toward himself, as he himself strives to be
towards all. And what effect these same terrors have in his conduct, is
brought in, when it is said;
And shall
entangle his feet.
For if ‘the
feet be entangled,’ they cannot have free steps, and are not able to
accomplish any journey; in that their own entanglements hold them fast.
Therefore bad desires force into vilest practice, and vilest practice holds
fast in terror; which same terror entangles the feet, that they should have
no power to step out into right practice. And it often happens that a
person for this reason fears to be good, that he may not himself suffer that
at the hands of the wicked, which he remembers himself to have done to the
good; and whereas he dreads to undergo that thing which he has himself done,
on every side affrighted, on every side full of misgiving, he as it were has
his feet entangled, who is ensnared by fear; he is able to do nothing
freely; in that he has in a manner lost his going in good practice by the
same act, whereby he stepped out of the 1ine into the evil which he set his
heart on. It goes on;
Ver. 12.
Let his strength be hungerbitten, and starvation invade his ribs.
[xv]
17. After the
manner of Holy Scripture, he has the appearance of wishing that which he
foresees will be, not surely in the spirit of one uttering curses, but of
one pronouncing prophesies. Thus every man, in that he consists of soul and
flesh, is as it were made up of strength and weakness. For by virtue of
that part, by which he was created a reasoning spirit, he is not improperly
called ‘strong,’ but in respect of that, by which he is of a fleshly
substance, he is weak. And so ‘the strength’ of man is the reasoning soul,
which is able to resist by reason the tendencies to evil that assail it.
And hence it is said again by blessed Job, Thou hast strengthened him for
a while, that he might pass through for evermore. [Job 14, 20] Since
from a reasoning soul man derives it, that he should live for evermore. And
so this wicked man’s ‘strength is hungerbitten,’ in that his soul is not fed
by any refreshment of the interior food. Of which same hunger God saith by
the Prophet; I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread nor
a thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord. [Amos 8, 11]
18. And it is
well added, And starvation invade his ribs. For the ribs lace in the
bowels, that lying out of sight within they should be fortified by their
solidity. And so the ‘ribs’ of every one are the senses [Vide b. xi.
c. 45. note.] of the mind, which fence the hidden thoughts. Therefore
‘starvation invades the ribs,’ when all spiritual refreshment being removed,
the senses of the mind fail, and cannot either rule or guard their
thoughts. ‘Starvation invades the ribs’ of the wicked man, in that the
interior hunger debilitates the senses of the mind, that they may not rule
their thoughts at all. For when the senses of the mind are dulled, the
thoughts issue forth to things without, and, as it were, the ribs being
weak, the bowels which might have lain in secret in a sound state, are
poured forth without. Hence it comes that when the thoughts are spread
abroad without, the mind being deceived goes after the image of exterior
glory, and is pleased with nothing save what it beholds beautiful without;
against whom the words yet further subjoined are fitly directed;
Ver. 13.
Let it devour the beauty of his skin; and let the firstborn death consume
his arms.
[xvi]
19. ‘The
beauty of his skin’ is temporal glory, which whereas it is coveted as an
object without us, is retained as a beauty on the skin. But by the title of
‘arms’ works are not unfitly set forth, in that the work of the body is done
by the arms. And what is death but sin, which kills the soul to the
interior life? Whence it is written; Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection [Rev. 20, 6], in that he shall hereafter
rise again joyfully in the flesh, who whilst set in this life has risen
again from the death of his soul. If then sin is death, ‘the firstborn
death’ may not unsuitably be taken for pride; in that it is written,
Pride is the beginning of all sin. [Ecclus. 10, 13] And so ‘the beauty
of his skin and his arms the firstborn death devoureth,’ in that the glory
or the practice of the bad man is overthrown by Pride. For he might have
been glorious even in this life without sin, if be had not been proud. He
might in the judgment of His Creator have been commended for some works, if
before His eyes pride had not overturned those very works. Thus we often
see rich people, which might have had wealth and glory without guilt, if
they would have had them with humility. But they are uplifted by
possessions, they are flushed with honours, they disdain the rest of the
world, and place their life’s whole hope and trust in the mere abundance of
good things alone. Hence a certain rich man said, Soul, thou hast much
good laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
[Luke 12, 19] Which thoughts of their hearts when the Judge above beholds,
He plucks them away for this very confidence of theirs by itself. Hence in
this place too it is fitly added;
Ver. 14.
Let his confidence be rooted out of his tabernacle, and let death as a king
trample on him.
[xvii]
20. In this
place by the title of ‘death’ we have denoted the enemy of the human race
himself, who brought in death, who is set forth by a particular minister of
his, of whom it is said to John, And his name was Death. [Rev. 6, 8]
And so this ‘death,’ in the day of departure hence, ‘tramples upon the
wicked man as a king,’ in that him, whom he before deceived by soft
persuasions, at the last he carries off to punishment in bonds of violence,
and forces him down the more cruelly, in proportion as he ties him the
stronger in bad deeds. And here too while he possesses the heart of the
lost sinner, he ‘tramples’ upon it, in that as often as he pressed it with
feelings of delight, he as it were set upon it the feet of his tyrannical
dominion.
21. But if by
the title of ‘death,’ we are to understand not the devil explicitly, but
sin, in consequence of which the lost meet with the doom to be dragged to
death, then indeed such ‘death tramples on the mind like a king,’ when it
possesses the same making no resistance. For temptation to sin cannot be
away from man whilst set in this life. But it is one thing to resist sin
tempting us, and another to be enthralled by it tyrannizing over us. And so
the wicked man, because he is not taught to resist the persuasions of sin,
and is not afraid to be subdued to its dominion, has it rightly said of him,
Death as a king shall trample on him. For it was the reign of this
death that Paul was keeping off from the hearts of his disciples, when he
said, Let not sin there reign in your mortal body. [Rom. 6, 12]
Since be does not say, ‘let it not be,’ but, let it not reign, in
that it cannot help but be, but reign it may not, in the hearts of
the good. And so whereas, when a sin strikes the heart of the bad man, it
does not find it resist, but bows it under its dominion, let it rightly be
said, Let his confidence be rooted out of his tabernacle, and let death
as a king trample on him. And so ‘his confidence is rooted out of the
earth,’ when the man, who in this life had provided for himself many goods
after his mind, is brought to nought by death in an instant. And ‘death as
a king tramples on him,’ in that he is either pressed upon here by evil
habits, or at the time of his death, hereby, viz. that he is carried off to
punishment, he is brought under to the power of the devil. Which is thus
done in the minds of the wicked on this account; because, even when the
opportunity of committing sin is lacking, the suggestions of the desire are
not in the least lacking to their minds. And whereas they do always follow
the devil in practice, yet do they doubly bind themselves fast to him in
thought. And so there is first sin in thought, and afterwards in act.
Whence it is said to the daughter of Babylon, Come down and sit in the
dust, O Virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the earth. [Is. 47, 1] For
whereas dust is always earth, earth is not always dust. What then are we to
understand by dust but thoughts, which, while they perseveringly and
silently fly up in the mind, blind its eyes? And what is denoted by ‘the
earth,’ but an earthly way of acting? And whereas the mind of the lost
sinner is first cast down to imagine wicked things, and afterwards to do
them, to the daughter of Babylon, who came down from the judgment of
interior uprightness, it is rightly said in a wounding sentence, that first
she should ‘sit in the dust,’ and afterwards ‘in the earth,’ in that except
she had lowered herself in thought, she would never have settled fast in bad
practice. It goes on;
Let his
fellows dwell in his tabernacle, because he is not.
[xviii]
22. i.e. In
his mind apostate angels shall have their haunt by vilest thoughts, they
being ‘his fellows,’ who for this reason no longer ‘is,’ because he has
departed from the Supreme Essence, and for this is, by a daily augmented
declension, as it were tending ‘not to be,’ in that he has once fallen from
Him Who truly is; who moreover
is rightly said ‘not to be,’ in that he has lost well-being, though he has
not lost natural being. Still, yet further setting forth these thoughts of
the bad man with more minuteness, he subjoins, saying,
Let brimstone
be scattered upon his habitation.
[xix]
23. What is
‘brimstone’ but the fuel of fire, which, however, so cherishes the fire,
that it sends out the very foulest stench. What then do we understand by
‘brimstone,’ but carnal sin, which, while it fills the mind with wicked
thoughts like a kind of ill savours, is kindling everlasting fires for it;
and whilst it spreads the cloud of its stench in the lost soul, it is as it
were providing against it fuel for the flames to come after. For that the
ill savour of the flesh is understood by brimstone, the mere history of Holy
Writ by itself hears record, which relates that the Lord ‘rained down fire
and brimstone upon Sodom.’ Who, when He had determined to punish her carnal
wickednesses, by the very character of the punishment marked out the stain
of her guilt: since ‘brimstone’ hath stench, and fire burning; and so,
forasmuch as they had been kindled to bad desires in the ill savour of the
flesh, it was meet that they should perish by fire and brimstone combined;
that by their just punishment they might be taught what they had done in
unjust desire. And so this ‘sulphur is scattered upon the habitation’ of
the wicked man, as often as the corrupt indulgence of the flesh exercises
dominion within him; and whereas bad thoughts unceasingly occupy him, and
forbid his bringing forth the fruit of good practice, it is rightly added;
Ver. 16.
Let his roots be dried up beneath, and above let his crop be spoiled.
[xx]
24. For what
do we understand by the title of ‘roots,’ which are set out of sight, and
bring forth a shoot into open view, but the thoughts, which, while they are
not seen in the heart, produce visible works? And hence by the title of a
‘crop’ there is denoted the same visible practice, which is thus produced
from a hidden root. And whereas every bad man first dries up in the
imaginings of temptation and afterwards dies off from good deeds, it is
rightly said by Bildad, Let his roots be dried up beneath, and above let
his crop be spoiled, in that, whereas the wicked man sets his thoughts
in things below, and neglects to seek the delights of everlasting greenness,
what is this but that he lets his ‘roots be dried beneath?’ Whose ‘crop too
is spoiled above,’ in that all his practice is counted as nothing in the
view of the judgment above, even if it seem good in the eyes of man. Thus
the ‘roots’ are at the bottom, and the ‘crop’ above, in that we first send
out good thoughts here, that we may one day deserve to receive the fruit of
our good works in eternal recompensing; but every wicked person when he
abandons good thoughts, and pours himself forth upon the things that are
without, has ‘his roots dried up below:’ but ‘above his crop is spoiled,’ in
that he, who persists barren here, after this life is bidden to no rewards.
It goes on;
Ver. 17.
Let his remembrance perish from the earth, and let not his name be repeated
in the streets.
[xxi]
[PROPHETICAL INTERPRETATION]
25. It is
deserving of our notice, that Bildad the Shuhite so expresses himself of
each one of the wicked, that his words are secretly directed against the
head of all the wicked; for the head of the wicked is the devil. And he in
his own person having in the last times entered into that vessel of
perdition, shall be called ‘Antichrist,’ who will endeavour to spread his
name far and wide, which same every individual now likens himself to, when,
by the memorial of an earthly name, be strives to extend the gloriousness of
his praise, and exults in transitory reputation. Therefore let these words
be so understood of each one of the wicked, that they be referred in a
particular manner to the head of the wicked himself. Therefore let him say,
Let his remembrance perish from the earth, and let not his name be
repeated in the streets. For streets [platea from
platuv
‘broad’] are
called by a Greek term from width, and so Antichrist aims to settle the
remembrance of himself upon earth, when he longs, if it were possible, to
remain for ever in temporal glory He delights to have ‘his name celebrated
in the street,’ whilst he spreads the working of his wickedness far and
wide. But whereas this wickedness of his is not permitted to be reared to a
height for a long time, let it be said, Let his remembrance perish from
the earth, and let not his name be repeated in the street; i.e. that he
should both quickly part with the fame of his earthly power, and lose all
the pleasures of his name, which he had spread far and wide in the
shortlived prosperity of time. It goes on;
Ver. 18.
He shall drive him from light into darkness.
[xxii]
26. He is led
‘from light to darkness,’ when for honour in the present life, he is
condemned to eternal punishments. And hence it is more plainly added,
And translate
him out of the world.
For he is
‘translated out of the world,’ when upon the Judge above appearing, he is
taken away from this world, in which he wickedly glories; and for this, that
when the end of the world breaks in upon him, he is condemned with all his
followers, it is rightly subjoined;
Ver. 9.
There shall neither be seed of him, nor offspring in his people, nor any
remnant in his parts.
For it is
written, that the Lord Jesus shall consume him, with the Spirit of His
mouth, and shall destroy him with the brightness of His coming. [2 Thess.
2, 8] And so, then, whereas his wickedness is ended together with the
settled constitution of the world, there shall be ‘no offspring of him left
in his people,’ in that both he himself and his people along with him are
equally forced to punishment; and all the wicked, who by his evil advising
were born in bad courses, by the brightness of the Lord’s coming are struck
with eternal destruction together with that head of theirs. And there is
‘no offspring of him remaining in the world,’ in that the strict Judge ends
the iniquities of that one simultaneously with the end of the world. Now
that these words are to be understood expressly of Antichrist is shewn, when
it is added;
Ver. 20.
In his days the last shall be astonied, and horror shall seize on the first.
[xxiii]
27. For he
will then let himself loose against the righteous with such a measure of
iniquity, that even the hearts of the very Elect shall be struck with no
small consternation. Whence it is written, Insomuch that if it were
possible, they shall deceive the very Elect. [Mat. 24, 24] Which,
clearly, is said, not because the Elect shall fall, but because they shall
tremble with terrible alarms. Now at that time both the latest Elect and
the first Elect are described as maintaining the conflict for righteousness
against him, in that both they that shall be found among the Elect at the
end of the world, are destined to be laid low in the death of the flesh, and
they too who proceeded from the former divisions of the world, i.e. Enoch
and Elijah, shall be brought back amongst men, and shall be exposed to the
savageness of his cruelty still in their mortal flesh. This one’s forces
let loose in such terrible power, ‘the latest are astonied at, and the first
do dread,’ in that, though in respect of this, viz. that he is lifted up by
a spirit of pride, they despise all his temporal power, yet in respect of
this, that they are themselves still in mortal flesh, wherein they are
liable to suffer temporal anguish, they dread the very punishments, which
they bear with resolution; so that there is in them at one and the same time
both constancy derived from virtue, and alarm proceeding from the flesh; in
that though they be of the number of the Elect, so that they cannot be
overcome by torments, yet from this only that they are men, they fear the
very torments, that they overcome. So let it be said, In his days the
last shall be astonied, and terror shall seize on the first. In that he
shall then shew forth such signs, and do things so cruel and hard hearted,
as to force them to astonishment, whom he shall find at the end of the
world, and to pierce with the pang of carnal death the first fathers, who
are reserved for his extirpation. Therefore whereas he has described many
particulars relating to all the wicked, or to the head of the wicked
himself, he immediately adds with a general description,
Ver. 21.
Surely, such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him
that knoweth not God.
[xxiv]
[MORAL INTERPRETATION]
28. For he
had said above; He shall drive him from fight into darkness, and translate
him out of the world; and upon subjoining his miseries, he added; Surely,
such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that
knoweth not God. In that he who is now lifted up from not knowing God,
is then brought to his own ‘dwellings,’ when his own wickedness plunges him
into woes; and one day he finds ‘darkness his place,’ who, while he made
himself glad here in the counterfeit light of righteousness, was occupying
the place of another. For bad men in all that they do in dissimulation, are
striving to possess themselves of the righteous man’s name of credit, as of
another’s place. But they are then brought to their own place, when they
are tormented with everlasting fire, as the desert of their iniquity. For
here in all that they do they are ministering to their desire of winning
praise, and by the semblance of good works, they are opening wider the bosom
of the mind to avarice. So let the wicked man go now, and full blown with
complete equipments, let him build his habitations here below, let him
spread a name of glory, let him multiply estates, and delight himself in
abundant stores, but when he shall be brought to everlasting punishments,
then surely he shall know that ‘such are the dwellings of the wicked, and
this is the place of him that knoweth not God.’ Now Bildad said this
rightly, but he did not know who it was that he was saying it to. But the
heart of a good man is seriously afflicted, when sentences are pronounced
against him upon an unfair estimate. Whence blessed Job directly answered,
saying;
How long will
ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?
[xxv]
[HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION]
29. The
sayings of the holy man, as we have already often said, are to be understood
as spoken sometimes in his own person, sometimes in the voice of the Head,
and sometimes in a figure of the Church Universal. Now the soul of the
righteous is deeply distressed, when those persons launch severe sentences
against the good, who have not learned to lead good lives, and by the words
of the mouth claim righteousness to themselves, to which in practice they
are enemies. Whence to the friends of blessed Job, who, as we have already
often said, bear a type of heretics, himself rightly answers, How long
will ye vex my soul, and wear me with words? For good men are ‘worn’
with the words of the wicked, when those swell out against them in words of
the lips, who lie low either in a corrupt faith, or in bad habits. It goes
on;
Lo, these ten
times ye confound me.
[xxvi]
30. On
enumerating the successive times of the speeches of Job’s friends, we learn
that as yet they had spoken but five times. But for this reason, that he
had five times heard rebukes from them, and five times himself replied to
their rebukes, he says that he had been ten times confounded; because both
herein, viz. that he had been causelessly reproached, he suffered deeply,
and in this, that he uttered words of instruction to those that gave no ear,
he underwent confusion. And so, while in hearing he held his peace, and in
speaking was not heard, that person had trouble put upon him, who both in
holding his peace submissively, and in speaking to them fruitlessly,
experienced pain within his heart; and hence he says above, What shall I
do? If I speak, my grief is not assuaged; and though I forbear, it will not
depart from me.
[ALLEGORICAL
INTERPRETATION]
But if we make
these words refer to a type of Holy Church, it is well known that it is her
great delight to keep the precepts of the Ten Commandments; and the wicked
‘confound her ten times,’ in that by all that they do wrong in their wicked
principles, they forsake the precepts of the Ten Commandments, and cause
confusion to the good as often as they set themselves against the words of
God in their doings, It goes on;
And ye are not
ashamed that ye oppress me.
[xxvii]
31. There are
some persons, whom bad principle suddenly springing up invites to the
commission of wickedness, yet respect for their fellow-creatures recalls
again. And very often from this, viz. that they are made ashamed outwardly,
they are brought back into their own interior heart, and pass an inward
judgment upon themselves; in that if they are afraid to do what is evil on
man’s account, how much more ought they not even to have longed after what
is evil, on God’s account, Who sees all things? And in the case of these
persons it is brought to pass, that they correct greater evil by inferior
good, i.e. interior sin by exterior shame. Again, there are some, who, when
once they have brought themselves to contemn God in their hearts, despise
the judgments of their fellow-creatures much more, and all the evil that
they long after, they do not blush to execute boldly, which persons secret
wickedness invites to the commission of sin, and outward shame holds not
back; as it is said also of a certain wicked judge, Which feared not God,
neither regarded man. [Luke 18, 2] Hence too it is said of certain
persons sinning with shameless effrontery; And they have declared their
sin as Sodom. [Is. 3, 9] Thus very often there are such persons enemies
of Holy Church, persons who are not withheld from committing wicked things,
either by the fear of God, or regard of man; and it is well said to these by
blessed Job, And ye are not ashamed that ye oppress me; seeing that
though it was wrong to have wished bad things, it is worse not to be ashamed
of things wrongly desired. It goes on;
Ver. 4.
And be it indeed that I have been ignorant, my ignorance remaineth with
myself.
[xxviii]
32. Heretics
have this about them, that they are swoln by the empty pretensions of their
knowledge, and often turn to ridicule the simplicity of those that believe
rightly, and account the life of the humble to be of no worth. On the other
hand Holy Church, in all that she has really wise in her, keeps low the
level of her view in humility, that she be not puffed up by knowledge, nor
be made to swell high on the seeking out of things hidden, and venture to
dive into points, that are above her powers. For with more profit to
herself she is anxious not to know things she is unable to fathom, rather
than boldly to define things she does not know. As it is written; It is
not good to eat much honey: so he that is a searcher of majesty,
shall be overwhelmed by glory. [Prov. 25, 27] For if the sweetness of
honey be taken in greater measure than there is occasion for, from the same
source whence the palate is gratified, the life of the eater is destroyed,
The ‘searching into majesty’ is also sweet; but he, that seeks to dive into
it deeper than the cognizance of human nature admits, finds the mere
gloriousness thereof by itself oppress him, in that, like honey takes in
excess, it bursts the sense of the searcher which is not capable of holding
it. Now that is said to be ‘with’ us, which is for us; and on the other
hand that is said not to be with us, that is against us; and so, because his
own knowledge puffs out the heart of the heretic, while his perception of
his own ignorance abases the faithful, let blessed Job say in his own voice,
let him say also in the confession of the Church Universal, And be it
indeed that I have been ignorant, my ignorance shall be with me. As if
it were said in express words to Heretics; ‘All your knowledge is not with
you, since it is against you, so long as it uplifts you in foolish pride;
but my ignorance is with me, because it is for me; since, whereas I do not
dare to search into any thing relating to God in pride of heart, I keep
myself in the truth in a spirit of humility.’ And because these very same
things that heretics seek to know, they apply perforce to the furtherance of
self-elation only, that they may seem learned in contrast to the faithful
and humble, it is rightly added;
But ye are set
up against me.
[xxix]
[HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION]
33. But
perhaps we shall consider these words more thoroughly, if we point out how
they apply to the friends of blessed Job personally in a special sense. For
they, when they saw the righteous man smitten, ought to have turned back
into their own deepest interior, and not to have persecuted blessed Job with
words of upbraiding, but to have bewailed their own case; seeing that, if he
was so stricken, who served as he did, with what vengeance did they deserve
to be smitten, who had not served like him? And it is rightly said to them,
Ye are set up against me; as if it were said to them in plainer
terms; ‘Ye who ought by occasion of my being smitten to have been set up
against your own selves,’ this being the order of such setting up on the
side of goodness, viz. that we be first set up against ourselves, and
afterwards against the wicked. For he that is set up against the good, is
blown out in pride. Thus we are set up against ourselves, when, reviewing
our own evil deeds, we smite ourselves with the severe avenging of penance,
when we do not spare ourselves at all in our sins, and are not biassed by
any fond thoughts towards ourselves, who, if we first rigidly follow up our
evil things in ourselves, it is likewise fair, that we should be set up
against the evil in others too for their good, and that the evil which we
punish in ourselves, we should subdue in others too, by charging it home to
them.
34. But this
sort of setting up the wicked know nothing of, because they leave
themselves, and attack the good; they incline themselves towards themselves,
in their secret heart, by the softness of fond flattering, and they are set
up against the lives of good men by the severity of harshness, whence it is
now rightly said to the friends of blessed Job swelling against him under
his scourge, Ye are set up against me: i.e. ‘Your own selves, that
deserve to be rebuked, ye leave, and me ye rebuke with severe sentences.’
For he that does not judge himself first, is ignorant what to judge right
in another; and if perchance he did know by the hearing what to judge right,
yet he is not able to judge rightly the merits of another, who has no rule
of judging supplied him by the consciousness of his own innocence. Hence it
is that it is said to certain persons dealing deceitfully, when they brought
an adulteress to receive punishment; He that is without sin among you,
let him first cast a stone at her. [John 8, 7] For they went for the
punishing of others’ sins, and they had left their own behind; and so they
are called back to their conscience within them, that they should first
correct their own faults, and then reprove those of others. It is hence
that, when the tribe of Benjamin was deep sunk in the guilt of carnal sin,
all Israel banded together would have avenged that wickedness, yet was once
and again itself smitten down in the conflict of war; but on the Lord being
consulted whether they should go to take vengeance, it was commanded them.
[Judges 20] The People, that went according to the bidding of God’s voice,
fell both once and again, and then at length effectually smiting the sinning
tribe, almost wholly extirpated it. How is it that it is first kindled to
the revenge of sin, and yet afterwards itself brought down; but that those
are to be chastised first themselves, by whose means the sins of others are
chastised; that they may themselves now come cleansed through vengeance, who
are forward to chastise the evil of others? Whence it follows that when the
vengeance of God’s inquest is at rest towards us, our own conscience should
reprove its own self, and by its own act lift itself up against self, to
sorrows of penance, neither being set up towards the good, and humble
towards itself, but unbending towards itself, and bowed low towards all the
good. Thus to proud men administering reproof, it is rightly said; Ye
are set up against me, and ye charge me with my reproaches. All persons
that are set up, account temporal afflictions to be a grievous reproach, and
they think every individual to be the more despised by God, in proportion as
they see him scourged with the rod of affliction. For they look for nothing
in principles, they look for nothing in practices; but whomsoever they see
to be stricken in this life, they imagine to be already condemned by God’s
sentence; whence it is well said on this occasion by the voice of blessed
Job;
And ye charge
me with my reproaches.
[xxx]
35. In that
they, who knew him to be righteous before his strokes, were now judging him
to be unrighteous by the mere fact of his being stricken, and hence it very
often happens that Heretics, because they see persons within the bosom of
Holy Church suffering affliction; (for it is written of God, And
scourgeth every son whom He receiveth [Heb. 12, 6];) fancy that the
sorrows of the faithful arise from nothing but sin, and themselves they for
this reason conclude to be righteous, because being left in the thoughts of
their evil ways, lacking the rod, they have become hardened. It proceeds;
Ver. 6.
Know now at least that God hath afflicted me with no just judgment.
[xxxi]
36. O, how
hard does the voice of the righteous man sound, suffering under the
infliction of the rod! Which same, however, not pride, but grief gave vent
to! Now he is not righteous, who gives up righteousness under sorrow; and
blessed Job, because he had a meek spirit, did not sin even by a hard word.
For, if we say that he did err by this voice, we make out that the devil
accomplished what he purposed, when he said, Touch his bone and his
flesh, and see if he have not blessed Thee to Thy face. [Job 2, 5]
Therefore a serious question arises; for if he did not sin in that he says,
Know now at least that God has not afflicted me with a just judgment;
we agree to God’s having done something unjustly, which it is profane to
say; but if he did sin, then the devil made appear concerning him the thing
that he promised. And so it must be asserted both that God acted rightly in
His dealings with blessed Job, and yet that blessed Job herein, viz. that he
says that he ‘was not afflicted by a just judgment of God,’ did not speak an
untruth, and that our old enemy in respect of that which he promised of sin
in the blessed man did speak an untruth. For sometimes the words of the
good are for this reason supposed wrong, because they are not ever
considered in their interior signification. Thus blessed Job had turned his
eyes to his own life, and he estimated the strokes which he was undergoing,
and saw that it was not just that upon such a life such strokes should be
dealt. And when he says that he was not afflicted by a just judgment, he
spoke that with unreserved voice, which God in His own secresy had said
concerning him to his adversary, thou movedst Me against him, to afflict
him without cause [v. 3]. For what God expresses, that He ‘had
afflicted blessed Job without cause,’ this blessed Job asserts again in the
words that he was not ‘afflicted of the Lord by a just judgment?’ Wherein
then did he sin, who was in nothing at odds with the sentence of his Maker?
37. But
perhaps some one will say, that for us to speak that good concerning
ourselves, which the Judge may have said in secret concerning us, cannot be
done without sin. For he whom the Judge praises, it cannot be doubted, is
justly praiseworthy; but if he in his own person praises himself, his
righteousness is henceforth supposed to be no longer deserving of praise;
and this is said rightly, if what the just Judge delivers in impartial
sentence, the person in question should venture to say afterwards concerning
himself in pride of heart. For if he himself too continuing in a humble
frame, when the occasion or his grief brings it out, has uttered good that
is true in his own praise, he has not departed from the line of
righteousness, in so far as he was not at all at variance with truth.
38. Whence
Paul the Apostle also related many brave things of himself for the
edification of his disciples, but he did not commit sin by relating these
things, in that both by an undeniable attestation, and a humble mind, he did
not depart from the pathway of truth; and so let blessed Job, conscious of
his own life being just, say that he is not afflicted by a just judgment;
neither yet does he sin by that voice, wherein he is not at variance with
His Maker, in that he whom God ‘smote without cause,’ himself also asserts
that he was not ‘afflicted by a just judgment.’ But again there arises
another question, which I remember has been already solved in the beginning
of this work, viz. whereas Almighty God does nothing without cause, why does
He bear witness that He had afflicted blessed Job without cause? For our
just Creator by those many strokes inflicted upon blessed Job did not aim to
do away with evil qualities in him, but to increase his merits; and so that
was just, which He did in the heightening of his good deserts; but it did
not seem equitable, because it was thought to be the punishing of instances
of sin. Now blessed Job believed that sins of his doing were obliterated by
those scourges, not that his merits were added to, and therefore he calls it
‘not a just judgment,’ because he tests his life side by side with the
scourges: thus, if the life and the scourges be weighed in the scales, that
was not equal dealing, which blessed Job, as I have said, supposed to be
done to him in the wrathfulness of severity; but if the mercifulness of the
Judge be looked to, seeing that by the punishment of the just man the merits
of his life are heightened, it was an equal or rather a merciful judgment:
therefore at once Job spoke what was true, so long as he balanced his life
with the stroke; and God did not afflict Job with an unjust judgment, in
that he heightened his merits by the stroke; and the devil did not achieve
what he promised; seeing that blessed Job, amidst words which sound hard,
was neither removed from a true sentence nor a humble mind. But perhaps we
shall understand these words of blessed Job less well, if we are not
acquainted with the sentence of the Judge; Who, when He was delivering
sentence between the two parties, says to the friends of Job; Ye have not
spoken of Me the thing that is right, as My servant Job hath. [Job 42,
7] Who then is there so foolish [ABCD ‘tam.’] in mind as to own that
blessed Job had been guilty in his way of speaking, when he is declared to
have spoken rightly by the very voice of the Judge itself? Which same
voice, indeed, if we refer to the person of Holy Church, we not unsuitably
apply it to her weak members, which while, in the season of her persecution,
they weigh both her merits and her scourges, forasmuch as they see that the
unjust thrive, and the just perish, have no notion that this is just. Now
it is well added by the voice of the blessed man,
And compassed
me with his scourges.
[xxxii]
39. For it is
one thing to be smitten, and another thing to be ‘compassed with scourges.’
Thus, we are smitten with scourges, when even in our sorrows we have a
consolation derived from other sources; for when affliction lies so heavy on
us that the spirit can no longer take breath by consolation from anyone
thing; we are now no longer smitten only, but even ‘compassed with
scourges,’ in that we are every way surrounded by the rod of affliction.
Thus Paul had been compassed with scourges, when he said, Without were
fightings, within were fears. [2 Cor. 7, 5] He had been compassed with
scourges, when he said, In perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by
the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness [2 Cor.
11, 26], with the other particulars, which he so enumerates, as to shew that
he no where had rest. But when Holy Church is ‘compassed with the scourges’
of her tribulation, all the weak in her are brought down in the fall of
littleness of mind, so that they now suppose themselves disregarded, in
proportion as they see that they are the more slowly heard with effect. And
it is rightly added yet further likewise in a figure of them by the voice of
the holy man,
Ver. 7.
Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard; I cry aloud, but there is no
one to Judge.
[xxxiii]
40. Almighty
God, knowing what has in it efficacy to prove our good, shuts His ears to
hear the voice of persons mourning, that He may add to their advantage, that
their life may be purified by punishment, that the tranquillity of rest
which can no where be found here, may be sought for elsewhere. But there
are some of the faithful even that know nothing of this grace of
Providential ordering, in whose person too it is now said; Behold, I cry
out of wrong, but I am not heard; I cry aloud, but there is no one to judge;
for it is said, ‘there is no one to judge,’ when He veils His eyes to judge,
in that beside Him ‘there is not any to judge’ our cause against our
adversary. Nor yet is this very thing void of judgment, viz. that judgment
is delayed; seeing that at the very time that blessed Job said this, both
the merits of the holy man and the punishment of his adversary were
increased: so then this very deferring of judgment is the act of a judge.
But what God settles justly within is one thing, and what the soul bruised
by scourges without seeks after is another. Whence he still further adds of
that sinking under scourges,
Ver. 8. He
hath fenced up my way, that I cannot pass: and He hath set darkness in my
paths.
[xxxiv]
41. He saw
his ‘way fenced up’ with strokes, when anxiously desiring to pass into a
state of security, he was not able to escape the scourges, and whereas he
saw himself smitten, and yet did not find in himself a life worthy of such
smiting, as it were ‘in the paths’ of the heart he met with ‘the darkness’
of his own ignorance, in that he could not fathom the cause wherefore he was
so scourged. And this is not unfitly applied to the weak members of Holy
Church too, when from this which they remember to have done wickedly, they
are made backward in good practice as well, and, frightened by their own
weakness, do not venture to attempt strong acts of goodness to match them.
For they fear to begin great acts of goodness, who call to mind that they
are infirm in their ways; and whereas they very often do not know the very
good, which they should choose, they, as it were, shrink from the ‘darkness
placed in their paths.’ For the mind often becomes so doubtful of its own
doings, as not to know at all which is the virtue and which the fault. Thus
he ‘finds darkness in his path,’ who in those things which he desires to do,
is ignorant what he ought to choose. Therefore seeing that there is sin
often from infirmity, and sometimes from ignorance, it is said in the person
of the members that go weakly, He hath fenced up my way that I cannot
pass. While in the person of those who see not clear as to the very
good work itself which they should choose, it is added; and He hath set
darkness in my paths. For it is punishment of sin, to see the good
which we ought to do, and yet not to have the power to fulfil it; and again
it is in still worse punishment of sin, not even to see what we ought to do;
and hence against both of these it is said by the voice of the Psalmist,
The Lord is my Light and my Salvation; whom then shall I fear? [Ps. 27,
1] For against the darkness of ignorance the Lord is a ‘Light;’ against
weakness ‘Salvation,’ whilst He both shews what ought to be desired for the
doing it, and supplies the powers, that what He shews may be fulfilled. It
goes on;
Ver. 9. He
hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
[xxxv] [ALLEGORICAL
INTERPRETATION]
42. That all
this suits the person of the blessed man set in the midst of tribulation,
there can be no doubt; but, since the words of the historical account are
plain, they do not require explaining after the letter, therefore they have
to be traced out in their mystical senses. Thus he says, He hath
stripped me of my glory. For the glory of each individual is his
righteousness. Now just as a garment protects from the cold, so does
righteousness defend from death; hence righteousness is not improperly
likened to a garment, where it is said by the Prophet; Let Thy priests be
clothed with righteousness. [Ps. 132, 9] But seeing that in the season
of her tribulation this garment of righteousness, which covers her in the
sight of God, is lost to Holy Church in her members that go weakly, let it
be rightly said; He hath stripped me of my glory, i.e. righteousness
has been taken away from the weak, whereas it could never possibly have been
taken away from them, if it had been infixed in them from the ground of the
heart, but for this reason it was possible to be taken away from them,
because it was attached to them outwardly, like a garment. Wherein the
question offers itself, how they could be called members of Holy Church, who
were capable of losing the righteousness which they seemed to maintain. But
it is necessary for us to know, that very often righteousness is lost for a
while by her weakly members, but when they are afterwards brought back to
penitence in the acknowledgment of their fault, they attach themselves to
that very righteousness which they had lost more strongly than was supposed
credible. And it is yet further added thereby, and taken the crown from
my head. As the head is the first part of the body, so the leading part
of the interior man is the mind. Now the crown is the reward of victory,
which is set from Above, in order that he that has contended should be
rewarded; and so because many persons, under the pressure of adversities, do
not hold out in the contest, in these Holy Church as it were ‘loses a crown
from her head:’ for ‘a crown on the head’ is the reward from Above in the
mind; there are a great many who whilst they are pressed with adversities,
neglect to take thought of the rewards above, and cannot reach to the
completion of victory; in such, then, ‘the crown is taken from the head,’ in
that the heavenly and spiritual reward is taken away from the aim of the
mind, that they should henceforth go after the externally peaceful, nor look
out for the eternal rewards, which they used to have at heart.
43. Or
otherwise, ‘the head’ of the faithful is not inappropriately taken to mean
the priests, in that they are the first part of the Lord’s members; and
hence it is expressed by the Prophet, that ‘the head and the tail’ are
rooted out, in which same place both by the title of the ‘head’ we have the
priests denoted, and by the designation of the ‘tail’ the reprobate
prophet. Therefore ‘the crown is taken from the head,’ when even they
abandon the heavenly rewards, who seemed to have the lead in this body of
the Church; and it generally happens that, when the leaders fall, the army,
that followed, is the wider worsted; and hence directly after the ills to
the greater ones, going on about the manifold undoing of the Church, he
added;
Ver. 10.
He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone; and He hath removed mine
hope like as with a tree torn away.
[xxxvi]
44. The
Church is, as it were, ‘destroyed on every side,’ and undone in her weak
members, when those very ones that seemed strong, are brought to ruin; when
‘the crown is taken away from the head,’ i.e. when the rewards of eternity
are neglected even by those set at the head; and it is well added concerning
weak ones falling, And mine hope hath He removed like as with a tree torn
away; for a tree is pushed by the wind that it falls, and with him whom
threats so terrify, as to make him go headlong into unrighteousness, what
else is it, but that a tree met with a blast of the wind, and lost the
standing of its uprightness? For he has, as it were, lost hope by the wind,
who, subdued by the threats and persuasions of the wicked, has parted with
those eternal rewards, which he looked forward to; and because it very often
happens that a person, from fear of punishment, gives over righteousness, it
is brought to pass by God’s decreeing it, that even in giving up
righteousness he does not get quit of the punishments, which he was afraid
of, and that he who did not fear at all the destruction of the soul, meets
even with the ills of the flesh, which he apprehended. Hence it is yet
further added;
Ver. 11.
He hath also kindled His wrath against me, and He counteth me unto Him as
one of His enemies.
[xxxvii]
45. For we
have, been taught by the excellent Preacher attesting it, that ‘God is
faithful, Who will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able, but
will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that we may be able to
bear it.’ [1 Cor. 10, 13] Moreover the Lord says by the Prophet, For I
have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with a cruel chastisement.
[Jer. 30, 14] He then that is so stricken that his powers are overcome by
that striking, the Lord no longer now smites him as a son in the course of
discipline, but as an enemy in indignation. Thus when the strokes exceed
the power of our patience, it is very much to be feared, lest, our sins
demanding it, we are now no longer stricken as sons by a Father, but as
enemies by the Lord; and whereas it very often comes to pass that evil
spirits too press home many things to the hearts of the afflicted, and
amidst the scourges which strike them outwardly, infuse bad thoughts into
their hearts, after the wrath of the Lord it is rightly added;
Ver. 12.
His robbers come together, and make themselves a way through me.
[xxxviii]
46. For ‘his
robbers’ are evil spirits, who busy themselves in hunting out the deaths of
men; and these ‘make themselves a way’ in the hearts of the afflicted, when,
amidst the adversities that are undergone outwardly, they do not cease to
infuse bad thoughts likewise; of whom it is yet further added;
And encamp
round about my tabernacle.
[HISTORICAL
INTERPRETATION]
For they
‘encamp round about our tabernacle,’ when they encircle the mind on every
side with their temptings; which by most wicked prompting they persuade one
while to mourn for things temporal, at another time to despair of things
eternal, now to go headlong into impatience, and to cast words of blasphemy
against God. Yet these words, as we have already said before, agree with
blessed Job even taken historically; who, whilst he heaped before his eyes
the ills he was enduring, judged himself to be not like a son that must be
corrected, but as an enemy stricken with affliction. Through whom even ‘His
robbers made themselves a way,’ in that the evil spirits obtained against
him the leave to smite. ‘Round about whose tabernacle they encamped,’ in
that after his substance and his children were taken away, they bruised his
whole body too with wounds. But it is very extraordinary, why, when he
spoke of the ‘robbers,’ he added His, clearly with a view to shew
that these same robbers belonged to God; on which point, if we make a
distinction between the power and the will of evil spirits, it is made
evident, why they are called ‘God’s robbers;’ for evil spirits incessantly
pant to do us mischief; but while they have a bad will derived from
themselves, they have not the power of doing mischief, except the Supreme
Will vouchsafes them permission; and while of themselves indeed they long to
hurt us unjustly, yet by Almighty God they are not suffered to hurt anyone
saving justly; and so whereas the will is unjust in them and the power just,
they are at once called ‘robbers,’ and ‘God’s robbers,’ that it should come
from themselves, that they aim to bring down evil things unjustly, and from
God that the things so desired they do not consummate saving justly; but
because, as we have often said already, the holy man set in the midst of the
pain of punishment, one while speaks in his own accents, at another time in
the accents of the Church, at another time of our Redeemer, and very
frequently so describes his own circumstances, that in a figure he delivers
those that belong to the Holy Church and to our Redeemer, concern for
historical fact being for a little space put aside, let us shew in these
things, which he subjoins, how he accords with the accents of our Redeemer,
It goes on;
Ver. 13, 14.
He hath put my brethren far from me; and mine acquaintance are verily
estranged from me. My kinsfolk, have failed, and my familiar friends have
forgotten me.
[xxxix]
[ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
47. We shall
shew this the better, if we bring forward the testimony of John, who says,
He came unto His own, and His own received Him not [John 1, 11]; for
His ‘brethren were put far from Him,’ and His ‘acquaintance were estranged’
from Him, Whom the Hebrews that held the Law were taught to prophesy, and
never knew to acknowledge when present; whence it is rightly said: My
kinsfolk have failed me, and my familiar friends have forgotten me. For
the Jews; ‘kinsfolk’ in the flesh, ‘acquaintance’ by the teaching of the
Law, as it were forgot Him, Whom they had foretold, in that Him they both
sung of in the words of the Law, as destined to be made Incarnate, and when
made Incarnate denied Him by the words of unbelief. It proceeds;
Ver. 15.
They that dwell in my house, and my maids, count me for a stranger.
[xl]
48. The
inmates of God’s house were the Priests, whose race [origo] once set
apart in the service of God, was henceforth by office continued in that
state. But the ‘maids’ are not improperly taken for the souls of the
Levites, servants to the hidden parts of the tabernacle as it were by a more
familiar service to the interior of the bedchamber. Therefore let him say
of the Priests, serving with sedulous care, let him say of the Levites
attending on the interior of the house of God. They that dwell in my
house, and my maids, have counted me for a stranger; in that the
Incarnate Lord, Whom they had for long foretold in the words of the Law,
they refused to acknowledge and to reverence. And he yet more plainly shews
that He was not known by their wicked will, when he adds;
And I was as
it were an alien in their sight.
[xli]
49. For our
Redeemer whereas He was not recognised by the Synagogue, was rendered ‘as it
were an alien’ in His own house, Which the Prophet plainly witnesses,
saying, Wherefore shalt thou be as a settler in the land, and as a
wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry? [Jer. 14, 8] For whereas He
was not heard as the Lord, He was taken not as the owner but for ‘a settler
of the land;’ and He only ‘turned aside to tarry as a wayfaring man,’ in
that He carried off but few out of Judaea, and going on to the calling of
the Gentiles finished the journey He had begun; and so ‘He was an alien’ in
their sight, in that while they thought only of the things they could see,
they were unable to perceive in the Lord the things they could not see; for
whilst they contemn the flesh that was to be seen, they never reached to the
unseen Majesty; therefore let it be rightly said; And I was as it were an
alien in their sight. Concerning which people it is yet further fitly
added;
Ver. 16. I
called my servant, and he gave me no answer.
[xlii]
50. For what
was the Jewish people but a ‘servant,’ which never obeyed the Lord with the
love of a son, but the fear of a slave? Contrariwise it is said to us by
Paul, For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again; but ye have
received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father. [Rom. 8,
15] And so this ‘servant’ the Lord ‘called,’ in that by benefits
vouchsafed, as by voices given out, He strove to bring it to Himself; but it
‘answered not,’ in that it was indifferent to render back deeds
corresponding to His gifts. For God ‘calls’ us, when He presents us with
His gifts; and we ‘answer’ to this calling, when we serve Him worthily
according to the benefits we have been vouchsafed; therefore because He
prevented the people with so many benefits, let him say, I called my
servant, and because even after such numberless benefits, it contemned
Him, let him add; and he gave me no answer. It goes on;
I entreated
him with my own mouth.
[xliii]
51. As though
he said more plainly; ‘I, the Same that before My Incarnation had given it
in charge so many precepts to be practised, by the mouths of the Prophets,
coming to it Incarnate, entreated it with my own mouth.’ And hence Matthew,
when he was telling of precepts being delivered by Him on the Mount, says,
And He opened His mouth, and taught. [Matt. 5, 2] As if he said in
plain speech; ‘Then He opened His own mouth, Who before had opened the
mouths of the Prophets;’ it is hence too that it is said of Him by the
Spouse longing for His presence, Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His
mouth [Cant. 1, 2]; since for all the precepts which she learnt by His
preaching, Holy Church, as it were, received so many ‘kisses of his mouth.’
Now it is well said, I entreated; in that being exhibited in the flesh,
whilst He spoke the precepts of life with humility, He, as it were, besought
His servant filled with pride that he would come; and hence it is fitly
added;
My wife
shuddered at my breath.
[xliv]
52. What does
the ‘wife’ of the Lord mean save the Synagogue, subject to Him in the
Covenant of the Law with a carnal perception? Now the breath is from the
flesh, and the unbelieving people understood the incarnation of the Lord in
a carnal manner; in that it took Him for mere man; and so His ‘wife
shuddered at His breath,’ in that the Synagogue was afraid to take Him for
God, Whom it saw to be man; and when it heard the words from His mouth by
bodily utterance, it refused to perceive in Him the mysteries of the Divine
Nature, and would not believe Him to be Creator, Whom it saw to be created;
and so the carnal ‘wife shuddered at the breath’ of the carnal body, in that
being given over to carnal senses, it did not take knowledge of the mystery
of the Incarnation. It goes on;
I entreated
the children of mine own womb.
[xlv]
53. In God,
Who is not circumscribed by the figure of a body, the members of the body,
i.e. the hand, the eye, the womb, are named in such a way, that by the
designation of the members, the effects of His Power are represented. As He
is said to have eyes, in that He sees all things; He is described as having
hands, in that He works all things. Now in the womb the offspring is
conceived, which is brought forth in this life; what then are we to take the
‘womb’ of God for, but His counsel, wherein before time we were conceived by
predestination, that being created in time we might be brought into the
world? And so God, Who abides before time, ‘besought the children of His
womb;’ in that those, whom He created with power by His Divine nature,
coming Incarnate He besought with humility; but because in that same flesh,
wherein He appeared, He was contemned in their estimation, it is subjoined;
Ver. 18.
The foolish too despised me.
[xlvi]
54. The wise
falling away from faith in the truth, there is an addition rightly made
concerning ‘fools’ as well; in that when the Pharisees and the Lawyers
despised the Lord, the rabble of the people too followed the example of
their incredulousness, which herein, that it saw Him a man, slighted the
announcements of the Redeemer of the world. For often by the title of
fools, are denoted those who are poor among the common people; whence too it
is said by Jeremiah, Therefore I said, perchance these are poor, and
foolish ones, that know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their
God. [Jer. 5, 4] But leaving the rich and wise of the world, our
Redeemer came to seek the poor and foolish, whence it is now said, as if for
the heightening of grief, The foolish despised me. As if it were
expressed in plain speech; ‘Even those very persons despised Me, for whose
healing I took to Me the foolishness of preaching.’ As it is written,
For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
[1 Cor. 1, 21] For the ‘Word’ is ‘the Wisdom of God,’ but ‘the foolishness’
of this ‘Wisdom,’ the Flesh of the Word is called; that whereas the carnal
severally could not by craft of the flesh attain to the wisdom of God, by
the foolishness of preaching, i.e. by the incarnation of the Word, they
might be healed. Therefore he says, The foolish too despised me. As
if it were expressed in plain words; ‘Even by those very persons I was
despised, for whose sake I was not afraid to be counted foolish.’ And
whereas the Jewish multitude, when it saw the miracles of our Redeemer,
honoured Him for His miracles, saying, This is the Christ [John 7,
41. 12.]; but when it beheld the infirmities of His human nature, it
disdained to account Him the Creator, saying, Nay, but He deceiveth the
people; it is rightly subjoined;
And when I
departed from them, they spake against me.
[xlvii]
55. For the
Lord as it were drew near to the hearts of people, when He displayed
miracles to them; and He as it were ‘departed from them,’ when He shewed
them no signs; but they spake against the Lord so ‘departing,’ when they
refused to yield their faith to Him thus resting from miracles; but what
wonder that He met with such treatment from the common folk, when those very
persons, who appeared to be teachers of the Law, who gave it out that He was
to be made Incarnate in the words of Prophecy, both beheld Him made
Incarnate, and yet were parted from Him by the disjoining of unbelief?
Concerning whom it is added;
Ver. 19.
They that were once my counsellors abhorred me, and he whom I loved most
turned away from me.
[xlviii]
56. It is
plain to all people, that God does not stand in need of counsellors, Who to
man’s very counsellors themselves too vouchsafes the counsel of wisdom. Of
whom moreover it is written, Who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who
hath been His counsellor? [Hom. xi. 34. from Is. 40, 13] but as when
bread or clothing is bestowed on one that lacks them, the Lord bears witness
that He Himself has received them; so when right counsel is given to one
that is ignorant of it, He Himself receives it, of Whom that man is a
member, who is so instructed; for all we, that are of the number of the
faithful, are members of our Redeemer; and as He Himself is fed in our
persons by the pitying of liberality, so He is Himself aided in our persons
by the counselling of instruction; and so the scribes and doctors of the Law
Who used to instruct the people with respect to life, what else were they
but ‘counsellors’ of the Redeemer, Who was to come? Who, nevertheless, when
they beheld the Lord become Incarnate, separated numbers from faith in Him
by their counsels, though before they had seemed to teach numbers by the
words of the Prophets to believe the mystery of His Incarnation; and because
with God he is more in His love, who draws the greatest number to the love
of Him, it is further added of that same order of the doctors of the Law and
the Pharisees; and he whom I loved most, turned away from me. For
that very order, through the prompting of unbelief was turned aside from
faith in the truth, which before, while serving in the labours of preaching,
was most beloved, which same not only to the extent of not believing the
Lord, but even of persecuting Him as well, the rabble of the common people
followed, and was kindled with the firebrands of cruelty to the very deed of
His Passion; in which very Passion too the hearts of the disciples were
troubled; whence also it is here added;
Ver. 20.
My bone cleaveth to my skin, through my flesh being wasted.
[xlix]
57. By ‘bone’
we have strength, and by flesh weakness of the body denoted; therefore,
whereas Christ and the Church are one person, what is signified by the
‘bone’ but the Lord Himself? what by the ‘flesh’ save the disciples, who in
the hour of His Passion were weakly disposed? but by the ‘skin,’ which in
the body remains more outward than the flesh, what is represented but those
holy women, who with the view to furnish the stays of the body, served the
Lord by outward offices of ministration? for when His disciples, though not
yet firm, were preaching faith to the people, the flesh kept close to its
bone; and when the holy women prepared the outward things that were
necessary, they as it were like ‘a skin’ remained on the body outwards; but
when it came to the hour of the Cross, exceeding great fear, caused by the
persecution of the Jews, took possession of His disciples: they severally
fled, the women ‘stuck close,’ and so, the ‘flesh,’ as it were, ‘being
consumed,’ ‘the bone of the Lord clave to its skin,’ in that His strength,
when the disciples fled in the hour of the Passion, had the women close
beside it. Peter indeed stood for some time, but yet afterwards being
affrighted he denied Him. John too stood, to whom at the very time of the
Cross it was said, Behold thy mother. [John 19, 27] But he could not
persevere; since it is also written concerning him [a], And there
followed Him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked
body, and the young men laid hold of him. And he left the linen cloth, and
fled from them naked; [Mark 14, 51. 52.] who although afterwards, to
hear the words of his Redeemer, he returned at the hour of the Cross, yet
first he was affrighted and fled; but the women are related not only not to
have been afraid nor to have fled, but even to have stood fast even to the
sepulchre; and so let him say, My bone cleaveth to my skin, through the
flesh being wasted; i.e. ‘they that ought to have attached themselves
closer to My strength, in the season of My Passion were consumed with dread;
and those whom I set to external ministrations, in My Passion I found
attached themselves faithfully to Me without fear.’ And here it is plainly
implied that these words are delivered in mystery, in that it follows;
And the lips
only are left about my teeth.
[l]
58. For what
do we have ‘about our teeth,’ but ‘lips,’ even if we suffer no scourges of
affliction? but what is signified by ‘the lips’ but talk, what by ‘teeth’
but the holy Apostles? who are with this intention set in this body of the
Church, that they may bite at the life of the carnal by correction, and
break it in pieces from the hardness of its obstinacy; and hence it is said
to that first of the Apostles, as being set, as a tooth in His Body,
Kill, and eat. [Acts 10, 13] But because, at the time of His Passion,
these ‘teeth’ from fear of death lost the biting of correction, lost the
assurance of strength, lost the efficiency of practice of every sort, so
that two of them as they walked, after His death and resurrection, talked by
the way and said, But we trusted that it should have been he which should
have redeemed Israel; [Luke 24, 21] it is rightly said here, And the
lips only are left about my teeth. They were still conversing about
Him, but now they no longer at all believed in Him; and so ‘the lips only
remained about His teeth,’ in that they had parted with the efficiency of
good practice, and only retained words of converse about Him. They had lost
the bite of correction, and possessed the mooting of speech. Therefore,
‘the lips only were left about the teeth,’ in that to talk about Him indeed
they knew still, but to preach Him now, or to bite the bad ways of
unbelievers, they were afraid. Therefore these particulars being finished,
which he spoke in the voice of the Head, blessed Job is brought back to his
own words, saying;
Ver. 21.
Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God
hath touched me.
[li]
[HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION]
59. The mind
of godly men is used to have this peculiar to itself, that when it suffers
unjust treatment at the hands of enemies, it is not so much moved to wrath
as to prayer; that if the wickedness of those persons could be made to
subside to a calm, they would choose rather to beseech than to be wroth;
whence it is rightly said in this place, Have pity upon me, have pity
upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
Observe, those by whom he sees that he is ever being treated with insults,
he calls ‘friends,’ in that to godly minds the very things that seem
contrary are made favourable; for any that are wicked are either converted
by the sweetness of the good so as to turn back, and by this alone they are
friends, viz. that they are made good, or they persevere in their
wickedness, and herein also even against their will they are ‘friends,’ in
that, if there be any transgressions of the good, by their persecutions they
purge them away even unknowingly. Observe too, that with these things which
are done with God in secret, the words of the blessed man openly spoken are
quite of a piece. Thus he had been smitten by Satan, yet he did not ascribe
his being smitten to Satan, but he calls himself ‘touched by the hand of
God,’ as Satan himself too had said; But put forth thine hand now and
touch his bone and his flesh, and see if he bless Thee not to Thy face.
[c. 2, 5] For the holy man knew that in that very thing which Satan had
done towards him with an evil will, he derived his power not from himself,
but from the Lord. It goes on;
Ver. 22.
Why do ye persecute me as God; and are filled with my flesh?
[lii]
60. It is not
at variance with the style of piety that he tells that he is persecuted by
God. For there is a good persecutor; as when the Lord says of Himself by
the lips of the Prophet, Him that privily slandereth his neighbour, him
did I persecute. [Ps. 101, 5] But when any Saint is suffered to be
stricken, he knows that he is undergoing persecution, sent against evil he
has been guilty of, from the interior ordering. Now the savage minds of the
persecutors, when they desire the power to smite, are inflamed against the
life of the good not with the ardour of purifying, but with the firebrands
of envy; and they do that indeed, which Almighty God allows to be done; in
that while there is one cause with God transacted too by their agency, yet
there is not one will maintained in that cause, since whilst Almighty God,
in loving, is enforcing purification, the wickedness of the unjust is
exercising malice in raging. This then that is said, Why do ye persecute
me as God? he spoke with reference to the external smiting, not to the
interior intention, in that though they execute that externally which God
ordained to be done, yet in their doing it they do not seek that which God
does, viz. that good men should be purified by means of affliction. Which
too may likewise be understood in another sense also. For Almighty God
chastens the evil qualities of others so much the more justly in proportion
as He has no whit of evil qualities in Himself; but men when they strike
others in the course of discipline, ought so to chasten the frailty of
another, that they should at the same time have learnt the habit to recall
their eyes to their own frailty, so as to consider from themselves how they
ought to spare in smiting others, seeing that they are not unaware that they
themselves too are worthy of stripes. And so it is said in this case,
Why do ye persecute me as God? As if it were expressed in plain words;
‘Ye do so afflict me on the grounds of my frailties, as if ye yourselves
after the manner of God owned nought of infirmity:’ whence it is to be
considered, that if perchance there be persons that need sharpness of
correction, hard correction is then to be used to them by us, when the hand
of God ceases from using the rod; but when strokes from above are upon them,
from us there is now due no longer correction but consolation, lest, while
in their grief we join our reproach, we put smiting to smiting.
61. Now it is
well added, And are filled with my flesh? The mind which hungers for
the punishing of a neighbour, surely seeks to be ‘filled with the flesh’ of
another. Moreover it is necessary to be known, that those also who feed on
the slander of another’s life, are as surely ‘filled with the flesh’ of
another. Whence it is said by Solomon; Be not in the feastings of
winebibbers; nor eat with those, who bring together flesh to eat. [Prov.
23, 20] For to ‘bring together flesh to eat,’ is, in the parlance of
disparagement to tell by turns the bad qualities of neighbours; concerning
whose punishment it is directly added there, they that are given to cups,
and that give a contribution, shall be consumed, and drowsiness shall clothe
a man with rags. They are ‘given to cups’ who make themselves drunk [se
debriant] with slander of another’s life; but to ‘give a contribution [symbolum],’
is in the same way that each individual is used to contribute provisions for
his share to be eaten, so in the parlance of slander to contribute words.
But ‘they that are given to cups and that give a contribution shall be
consumed,’ in that as it is written, Every slanderer shall be rooted out
[Ben. Ed. refers to Prov. 15, 5 perhaps Ps. 101, 5]; but ‘drowsiness shall
cover a man with rags,’ in that his death finds him an object of contempt
and empty of all good works, whom the sickly habit [languor] of
detraction took possession of here for the raking out the misdemeanours of
another man’s life. But all those hardships which blessed Job undergoes it
is not meet should be let pass in silence, and that the obscurity of
ignorance should cover them from man’s knowledge; for so many may be edified
for the preserving of patience, as they who, by grace from above
replenishing them, may be made acquainted with the achievements of his
patience. And hence the same blessed Job would have the strokes which he
feels carried into an example, in that he immediately adds, saying;
Ver. 23, 24.
O that my words were now written! O that they were graven in a book with
an iron pen, and a plate of lead, or surely that they were hewed in the
flint!
[liii]
[ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
62. Whereas
all that blessed Job underwent, that heavy Jewish people, being instructed
by the strong declaration of the Fathers, was brought to know, they were
written with ‘an iron pen’ and ‘a plate of lead;’ but whereas the hard
hearts of the Gentiles also were made acquainted with them, what is this but
that we see them ‘hewn in the flint?’ And observe, that what is written on
lead, by the mere softness of the metal, is quickly obliterated; but upon
the flint letters may be more slowly stamped indeed, but more hardly
obliterated. Therefore it is not unsuitably that by ‘the plate of lead’
Judaea is represented, which at once received the precepts of God without
labour, and lost them with speed; and rightly by ‘the flint’ the Gentile
world is represented, which could with difficulty receive the words of
sacred revelation to keep, but kept them when received fixedly. Now by the
‘iron pen’ what else is denoted save the strong sentence of God? Whence too
it is said by the Prophet, The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron
on a diamond nail [ungue]. [Jer. 17, 1] The end of the body is
in the nail, and a diamond is so hard a stone, that it cannot be cut with
iron. Now by ‘an iron pen’ there is denoted a strong sentence, but by a
‘diamond nail’ the eternal end; so the sin of Judah is said to be written
with a ‘pen of iron upon a diamond nail,’ in that the guilt of the Jews is
reserved by the strong sentence of God for an end that is endless.
63. Rightly
too by ‘a plate of lead’ we understand those, whom the load of avarice
weighs down, to whom it is said by the Prophet with upbraiding, O ye sons
of men, how long heavy in heart! For by lead, the nature whereof is of
a heavy weight, the sin of avarice is in a special manner denoted, which
renders the mind it has infected so heavy, that it call never be raised to
aim at things on high. Hence it is written in Zechariah, Lift up now
thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth. And I said, What
is it? And he said, This is an ephah [Lat. amphora] that
goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their eye throughout all the earth.
And behold there was lifted up a talent of lead, and, lo, one woman sitting
in the midst of the ephah. And he said, This is wickedness; and he cast her
into the midst of the ephah, and he cast the weight of lead on her face
[or into the mouth thereof]. [Zech. 5, 5-8] And with reference to
this vision of ‘the ephah,’ and ‘the woman,’ and ‘the lead,’ that he might
shew more fully what he had been made to know, he yet further added going
on, Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and behold there came out two
women, and a spirit was in their wings, for they had wings like the wings of
a kite, and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven. Then
said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah?
And he said, To build it an house in the land of Shinar. [v. 9-11]
Which testimony of the Prophet we have brought forward as a proof of the
lead to no purpose, if we do not also explain it going over it again. Thus
he says, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth;
and I said, What is this? And he said, It is an ephah that goeth forth.
God desiring to shew to the Prophet, by what sin above all others the
human race fell away from Him, by the figure of an ephah as it were denoted
the wide-opened mouth of avarice. For avarice is like an ephah, in that it
keeps the mouth of the heart open and agape on the stretch [in ambitu].
And he said, This is their eye through all the world. We see many
men of dull sense, and yet we see them sharp in bad practices, as the
Prophet too testifies, who saith, They are wise to do evil; but to do
good they have no knowledge. [Jer. 4, 22] And so these are dull in
sense, but in those things which they desire, they are urged on by the goads
of avarice; and they that are blind to see good, under the incitements of
rewards are quick-eyed to the doing evil things. Hence it is rightly said
of this same avarice, This is their eye in all the world. And behold
there was lifted up a talent of lead. What is ‘a talent of lead’ but
the weight of sin from that very avarice. And, lo, one woman sitting in
the midst of the ephah. Which same woman, lest perchance we should
doubt who she was, the Angel thereupon made known; for it follows there
immediately, And he said, This is impiety; and he cast her into the midst
of the ephah. Impiety is ‘cast into the midst of the ephah,’ in that in
avarice there is always impiety taken in. And he cast the weight of lead
on her face. The mass of lead is cast on the woman’s face, in that the
impiety of avarice is borne down by the very weight of its own sin; for if
it did not reach after things that are below, it would never prove impious
towards God and our neighbour.
64. Then,
lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and behold there came out two women and a
spirit was in their wings. What do we understand by these ‘two women’
but the two principal vices, i.e. pride and vain glory, which are without
any doubt united to impiety? Which two are described as having ‘a spirit in
their wings;’ in that they are subservient to the will of Satan in their
actions; for the Prophet calls that one ‘a spirit,’ concerning whom Solomon
saith, If the spirit if him that hath power rise above thee, leave not
thy place; [Eccles. 10, 4] and of whom the Lord saith in the Gospel;
When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places.
[Mat. 12, 43] ‘A spirit is in their wings,’ in that in whatsoever they do,
pride and vain glory render obedience to the will of Satan. And they had
wings like the wings of a kite. Now the kite is always busied in plotting
against the chicken kind. So these women have ‘wings like the wings of a
kite,’ in that surely their doings are like the devil, who is always
plotting against the life of the little ones. And they lifted up the
ephah between the earth and the heaven. Pride and vain glory have this
peculiar to them, that whosoever is infected by them, they lift up in his
own conceit above the rest of his fellow creatures: at one time by pursuit
of the gifts of fortune, at another time by the desire of dignities, the man
whom they have once gotten captive, they, as it were, lift up into the
height of honour. And he that is between the earth and the heaven, at once
leaves things below, and fails altogether to attain the things on high.
65. These
women, then, ‘lift up the ephah between the earth and the heaven,’ in that
pride and vain glory so exalt the mind taken captive through greediness of
honour, that looking down upon all their neighbours, men do, as it were,
leave things below, and in proud boasting seek high things. But all such
persons, while they give themselves up to pride, at once in imagination
mount above those, with whom they are placed, and are far from ever being
united to the citizens above. Thus the ephah is said to be ‘lifted up
between earth and heaven,’ in that all covetous persons through pride and
vain glory at once despise their neighbours at their side, and never lay
hold of the things above, which are beyond them; and so they are carried
‘between the earth and the heaven,’ in that they neither keep equality of
brotherhood in this lower world by charity, nor yet are able to attain the
world above by setting themselves up. And I said to the Angel that
talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? and he said, To build it
an house in the land of Shinar. That same ephah has a ‘house built it
in the land of Shinar,’ for ‘Shinar’ is rendered ‘their ill savour;’ and as
there is a sweet savour from virtue, as Paul bears witness, who saith;
and maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place; For we
are unto God a sweet savour of Christ; [2 Cor. 2, 14] so reversely there
is an ill savour from vice. For covetousness is the root of all evil.
[1 Tim. 6, 10] And whereas every thing evil is engendered by avarice,
it is meet that the house of avarice should be erected in ‘ill savour.’
Moreover it is necessary to be known that ‘Shinar’ is a very wide valley,
wherein the tower was begun to be built by men giving themselves to pride,
which, when the diversity of tongues was brought to pass, came to
destruction; which same tower was called Babylon, forsooth on account of
that very confusion of minds and tongues: nor is it inappropriately that the
‘ephah’ of avarice is placed there, where ‘Babylon,’ i.e. ‘confusion,’ is
building, in that whereas it is certain that from avarice and impiety all
things bad have their origin, this same avarice and impiety are rightly
described as dwelling in confusion.
66. We have
said these things in few words out of course, that we might shew that the
weight of sin is set forth by the ‘plate of lead.’ Yet these very words of
blessed Job are also applicable to Holy Church, who while keeping the two
testaments of sacred revelation, as it were begs a second time that her
words should be written, saying, Oh! that my words were now written! Oh!
that they were printed in a book! Which same, in that she speaks with a
strong sentence at one time to hearts heavy from the weight of avarice, at
another time to hardened hearts, ‘writes with a pen of iron upon a plate of
lead,’ or, surely, ‘upon the flint.’ Now we say with justice that blessed
Job uses the accents of our Redeemer and His Church, if we find any thing
that he says explicitly of that same Redeemer of us men; for how is it to be
believed that he teaches us any thing connected with Him in a figure, if he
does not point Him out to us in express words? But now let him disclose to
us what he is sensible of concerning Him, and let him take away from us all
misgivings in our thoughts. It goes on;
Ver. 25.
For I know that my Redeemer liveth.
[LITERAL
INTERPRETATION]
67. For he
who does not say, ‘Creator,’ but ‘Redeemer,’ expressly tells of Him, Who
after He created all things, appeared Incarnate amongst us, that He might
redeem us from a state of bondage, and by His Passion set us free from death
everlasting; and mark with what sure faith he makes himself secure in the
power of His Divine Nature, of Whom it is said by Paul, For though He was
crucified through weakness, yet He liveth by the power of God. [2 Cor.
13, 4] For he says, For I know that my Redeemer liveth. As if he
said in express terms; ‘The unbelievers may know that He was scourged,
mocked, struck with the palms of the hand, covered with a crown of thorns,
besmeared with spittings, crucified, dead: I, with sure faith, believe Him
to live after death; I confess with unreserved voice, ‘that my Redeemer
liveth,’ Who died by the hands of wicked men.’ And how, O blessed Job,
through His Resurrection, thou trustest to the resurrection of thine own
flesh, declare, I pray, in open speech. It goes on;
And that I
shall rise at the last day from the earth.
[lv]
68. That is,
because the resurrection which He manifested in His own Person, He will one
day bring to pass in ourselves as well; for the resurrection, which He
exhibited in Himself, He pledged to us; seeing that the members follow the
glory of their Head. Thus our Redeemer underwent death, that we might not
fear to die; He manifested the resurrection, that we might have a sure hope
that we are capable of rising again. And hence He would not have that death
to be of more than three days’ duration, lest if the resurrection were
deferred in Him, it should be altogether despaired of in ourselves; and this
is rightly said of Him by the Prophet; He shall drink of the brook in the
way; therefore shall he lift up the head. [Ps. 110, 7] For He in a
manner condescended to drink of that current as it were of our suffering,
not in an abiding place, but ‘in the way,’ in that He met death in a
transitory way, i.e. for three days, and in that death which He met He did
not, like ourselves, remain unto the end of the world. And so, whereas He
rose again on the third day, what then is to come after in His body, i.e. in
the Church, He makes appear; for He shewed in example, what He promised in
reward, that as believers knew and owned that He had Himself risen again, so
they might hope for the rewards of the resurrection in themselves at the end
of the world. Lo, we, through the death of the flesh, remain in the dust
until the end of the world, but He on the third day budded into life from
the dryness of death, that by the very renewal of His flesh by itself He
might shew the power of His Divine Nature. Which is well shewn in Moses by
the twelve rods placed in the Tabernacle: for when the priesthood of Aaron,
who was of the tribe of Levi, was despised, ‘and the tribe was not accounted
worthy to offer up burnt-offerings, twelve rods according to the twelve
tribes were ordered to be put in the Tabernacle, and, lo, the rod of Levi
budded, and shewed what efficacy Aaron had in the office. [Num. 17, 8] By
which same sign what is conveyed, but that all we who lie in the arms of
death until the very end of the world, remain like the rest of the rods in a
state of barrenness? But when all the rods remained in a state of dryness,
the rod of Levi returned to flowering, in that the body of our Lord, i.e.
our true Priest, being set in the dryness of death, burst into the flower of
the Resurrection. By which same flowering Aaron is rightly known to be the
Priest, in that by this glory of the Resurrection our Redeemer, Who sprung
from the tribe of Judah and Levi [Luke 1; 5, 36], is shewn to be an
Intercessor in our behalf. And so, lo! the rod of Aaron buds now after
dryness, but the rods of the twelve tribes remain in a dry state, in that
already indeed the body of the Lord lives after death, but our bodies are
kept back from the glory of the resurrection until the end of the world.
Whence he carefully introduced this same delay, by saying, And that I
shall rise at the last [novissimo] day from the earth.
69. Therefore
we have a hope of our own resurrection, by considering the glory of our
Head. But lest anyone say perhaps merely in the secret thought of his
heart, that it was in this way that He rose again from the dead, viz. that
being God and Man in one and the same Person, the death, which He underwent
in His Human Nature, He overcame by His Divine Nature, while we, who are
mere men, are not able to rise from the curse of death; it happened rightly
that, in the season of His resurrection, the bodies of many of the Saints
arose at the same time, that both in Himself He might shew us an example,
and by the resurrection of others who were like to ourselves in respect of a
mere human nature, He might give us a sure confirmation, that whereas man
despaired of his obtaining what He that was God and Man had exhibited in His
own Person, he might presume that that was capable of being brought to pass
in his own case, which he knew to have been brought about in the case of
those very persons, who he doubted not were but simple human beings.
70. But there
are some who, observing that the spirit is parted from the flesh, that the
flesh is turned into corruption, that its corruption is reduced to dust,
that this dust is so dissolved into elementary parts that it is incapable of
being seen by the eyes of man, despair of the possibility of the
resurrection being brought to pass, and whilst they gaze on the dry bones,
they distrust its being possible for these to be clothed with flesh, and
again flushing into life; which persons, if they do not hold the
resurrection of the body on the principle of obedience, ought certainly to
hold it on the principle of reason. For what does the universe every day,
but imitate in its elements our resurrection? Thus by the lapse of the
minutes of the day the temporal light itself as it were dies, when, the
shade of night coming on, that light which was beheld is withdrawn from
sight, and it daily rises again as it were, when the light that was
withdrawn from our eyes, upon the night being suppressed is renewed afresh.
For the progress of the seasons too, we see the shrubs lose the greenness of
their foliage, and cease from putting forth fruit; and on a sudden as if
from dried up wood, by a kind of resurrection coming we see the leaves burst
forth, the fruit grow big, and the whole tree clothed with renewed beauty;
we unceasingly behold the small seeds of trees committed to the moistness of
the ground, wherefrom not long afterwards we behold large trees arise, and
bring forth leaves and fruit. Let us then consider the little seed of any
tree whatever, which is thrown into the ground, for a tree to be produced
therefrom; and let us take in, if we are capable of it, where in that
exceeding littleness of the seed that most enormous tree was buried, which
proceeded from it? where was the wood? where the bark? where the verdure
of the foliage? where the abundance of the fruit? Was there any thing of
the kind perceived in the seed, when it was thrown into the ground? [Comp.
S. Chrys. on 1 Thess. 4, 15] And yet by the secret Artificer of all things
ordering all in a wonderful manner, both in the softness of the seed there
lay buried the roughness of the bark, and in its tenderness there was hidden
the strength of its timber, and in its dryness fertility of productiveness.
What ‘wonder, then, if that finest dust, which to our eyes is resolved into
the elements, He, when He is minded, fashioneth again into the human being,
Who from the finest seeds resuscitates the largest trees? And so, seeing
that we have been created reasoning beings, we ought to collect the hope of
our own resurrection from the mere aspect and contemplation of the objects
of nature. But forasmuch as the faculty of reason was deadened in us, the
grace of the Redeemer came in for an example. For our Creator came, He took
death upon Him, He exhibited the Resurrection, in order that we, who would
not hold the hope of the Resurrection by reason, might hold it by His
succour and example; and so let blessed Job say; I know that my Redeemer
liveth, and that I shall rise at the last day from the earth. And let
any one that despairs of the possibility that the power of the Resurrection
should be brought to pass in himself, blush at the words of a believing
person set in the midst of the Gentile world, and let him reflect with what
a weight of punishment he deserves to be stricken, if he still does not
believe his own resurrection, who now knows the resurrection of the Lord
which has taken place, if even he believed his own, who as yet expected the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus to be brought to pass.
71. But see,
I hear of the resurrection, but it is the effect of the resurrection that I
am searching out. For I believe that I shall rise again, but I wish that I
might hear what kind of person; since it is a thing I ought to know, whether
I shall rise again perhaps in some other subtle or ethereal body, or in that
body wherein I shall die. But if I shall rise again in an ethereal body, it
will no longer be myself, who rise again. For how can that be a true
resurrection, if there may not be true flesh? so that plain reason
suggests, that if it shall not be true flesh, assuredly it will not be a
true resurrection; for neither can it be rightly termed a resurrection, when
it is not what fell that rises again. But in this too for us, O blessed
Job, do thou remove these clouds of misgiving, and whereas through the grace
of the Holy Spirit vouchsafed thee thou hast begun to speak to us of the
hope of our resurrection, shew in plain words if our flesh shall really rise
again. It follows,
Ver. 26.
And I shall be again encompassed with my skin.
[lvi]
72. Whereas
the ‘skin’ is expressly named, all doubt of a true resurrection is removed;
in that our body will not, as Eutychius the Bishop of Constantinople wrote,
in that gloriousness of the resurrection be impalpable, and more subtle than
the wind and air: for in that gloriousness of the resurrection our body will
be subtle indeed by the efficacy of a spiritual power, but palpable by the
reality of its nature; whence also our Redeemer, when the disciples doubted
of His resurrection, shewed them His hands and feet, and offered His bones
and flesh to be touched, saying, Handle Me and see; for a spirit
hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have. [Luke 24, 39] And when,
being placed in the city of Constantinople, I brought before Eutychius this
testimony of truth from the Gospel, he said, ‘For this reason the Lord did
this, that He might take away all doubt of the resurrection from the hearts
of the disciples.’ To whom I said; ‘This is a very extraordinary thing that
you assert, that doubting should arise to ourselves from the same quarter,
whence the hearts of the disciples were cured of doubting.’ For what can be
said worse than that that is made doubtful to us relating to His true flesh,
whereby His disciples were restored anew to faith from all doubting? For if
He is declared not to have had that, which He manifested; from the same
source, from whence the faith of His disciples is confirmed, ours is
destroyed. And he further added, saying, ‘He had that body which He shewed
a palpable body; but after the hearts of those that handled it were
confirmed, all that in the Lord which was capable of being handled, was
reduced into a certain subtle quality.’ To which same I answered, saying;
‘It is written, Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no
more, death hath no more dominion over Him. [Rom. 6, 9] If then there
was aught in the Body which was capable of being altered after His
resurrection, contrary to the truly spoken declaration of Paul, the Lord
after His resurrection returned into death; and what fool even would venture
to say this, save he that denies the true resurrection of His flesh?’ Then
he objected to me, saying, ‘Whereas it is written; Flesh and blood cannot
inherit the Kingdom of God, [1 Cor. 15, 50] by what means is it to be
supposed that the flesh truly rises again?’ To whom I say; ‘In Holy Writ
flesh is named in one way according to nature, and in another way according
to sin or corruption.’ For there is flesh according to nature, as where it
is written, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.
[Gen. 2, 23] And, The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. [John
1, 14] But there is flesh according to sin, as where it is written, My
Spirit shall not always abide in those men, for that they are flesh.
[Gen. 6, 3] And as the Psalmist saith; For He remembered that they were
but flesh, a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again. [Ps. 78, 39]
Whence too Paul said to the disciples; But ye are not in the flesh, but
in the spirit. [Rom. 8, 9] For it was not that these persons were not
in the flesh, to whom he was sending letters, but for that they had subdued
the motions of carnal passions, henceforth, free through the efficacy of the
Spirit, they ‘were not in the flesh.’ Therefore in respect to what Paul
says, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, he
would have flesh to be understood as applied to sin, not flesh as applied to
nature. Hence directly afterwards that he was speaking of flesh after sin
he makes plain, by adding; Neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
Therefore in that glory of the heavenly kingdom there will be flesh
according to nature, but not flesh according to the desire of the passions;
in that the sting of death being overcome, it will reign in eternal
incorruptibility.’
73. To which
words the same Eutychius directly answered that he assented, yet still he
denied that the body could rise again a palpable body. Who in the treatise
too which he had written concerning the resurrection, had put in the
testimony of the Apostle Paul, when he says; That which thou sowest is
not quickened except it die. And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not
that body that shall be, but bare grain. [1 Cor. 15, 36. 37.] Being
eager to shew this, that the flesh will either be impalpable
[Nearly all MSS. read, ‘palpabilis,’
which, if right, must come under the following negative],
or will not be itself identically, seeing that the holy Apostle, when
treating of the glory of the resurrection, says that ‘it was not sown the
body that it shall be.’ But the answer to this is soon made. For the
Apostle Paul, when he says, Thou sowest not that body that shall be, but
bare grain, is telling us of what we see; viz. that the grain, which is
sown without a stalk or leaves, springs up with a stalk and leaves; so that
he, in heightening the glory of the resurrection, did not say that what it
was is wanting to it, but that what it was not is present: but this man,
whereas he denies the real body to rise again, does not say that what was
wanting is there, but that what it was is wanting.
74. Upon
this, then, we being led on in long disputing on this point, we began to
recoil from one another with the greatest animosity, when the Emperor
Tiberius Constantine, of religious memory, bringing myself and him to a
private audience, learnt what dispute was being carried on between us, and
weighing the statement of both sides, and by his own allegations as well
disproving that same book which he had written concerning the resurrection,
determined that it ought to be consumed in the flames. Upon our leaving
whom, I was seized with a grievous sickness, while to that same Eutychius
sickness and death shortly followed. And when he was dead, because there
was well nigh no one who followed his statements, I held back from
prosecuting what I had commenced, lest I should seem to be darting words at
his ashes, but while he was still alive, and I sick of violent fever, I if
any of my acquaintance went to him for the sake of greeting him, as I learnt
from their relation, he used to take hold on the skin of his hand before
their eyes, saying, ‘I confess that we shall all rise again in this flesh;’
which as they themselves avowed he was before wont altogether to deny.
75. But let
us, laying aside these considerations, minutely search out in the words of
blessed Job, if there will be a true resurrection, and the true body in that
resurrection; for, lo, we are no longer able to doubt of the hope of the
resurrection, in that he says, And that I shall rise at the last day from
the earth. Moreover he has removed all doubting of the true renewal of
the body, in that he says, And I shall be again encompassed with my skin.
And he still further adds, with the view of removing the misgivings of our
thought;
And in my
flesh shall I see God.
[lvii]
76. Mark, he
owns the resurrection, ‘the skin,’ ‘the flesh,’ in explicit words. What is
there left then, by which our mind should have occasion to doubt? If this
holy man then before the fact of the Lord’s resurrection, believed in the
flesh being destined to be brought back to its entire state, what will be
the guilt of our doubting, if the true resurrection of the flesh not even
after the proof of our Redeemer obtains credit? For if after the
resurrection there will not be a palpable body, surely another person rises
again than dies: which is profane to say; viz. to believe that it is I who
die, and another that doth rise again [ABCD, ‘another shall rise.’].
Wherefore I entreat thee, blessed Job, add how thou art minded, and remove
from us all ground of scruple on this point. It follows;
Ver. 27.
Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.
77. For if,
as certain votaries of false opinions believe, after the resurrection there
shall be no palpable body, but the subtle quality of an invisible body shall
be called the flesh, though there be no substance of flesh, then surely he
that dies is one person, and he that rises again is another. But blessed
Job destroys this assertion for them by a truthtelling voice, in that he
says, Whom I shall see for myself; and mine eyes shall behold, and not
another. But we, following the faith that blessed Job held, and truly
believing the palpable Body of our Redeemer after His resurrection, confess
that our flesh after the resurrection will be at once both the same and
different, the same in respect of nature, different in respect of glory, the
same in its reality, different in its power. Thus it will be subtle, in
that it will be incorruptible; it will be palpable, in that it will not lose
the essence of its very and true nature. But that same assurance of the
resurrection the holy man subjoins with what sure hope he holds it, with
what certainty he awaits it. It goes on;
This my hope
is laid up in my bosom.
[lviii]
18. We
suppose that we hold nothing more surely than what we have in our bosom; and
so he kept ‘hope laid up in his bosom,’ in that he laid hold beforehand on
true certainty concerning the hope of the resurrection. But whereas he made
known that the day of the resurrection would come, he now, whether in his
own voice, or in a figure of the holy and universal Church, reproves the
deeds of the wicked, and foretells the Judgment which ensues on the day of
the resurrection. For he straightway adds;
Ver. 28, 29.
Wherefore then do ye now say, Let us persecute him, and find out the root
of the word against him? Fly therefore from the face of the sword, for the
sword is an avenger of wickedness; and know that there is a judgment.
79. For in
the first sentence he reproved the deeds of the wicked, while in the
following he made known the punishments proceeding from the Divine judgment,
Thus he saith, Wherefore then do ye now say; Let us persecute him and
find out the root of the word against him? Wicked persons, because they
hear with wrong earnestness things well put forth, and seek to find in the
tongue of the righteous an inlet for accusation, what else do they but ‘seek
the root of the word against him,’ from which same they may take the
commencement of speaking, and in the accusing of him expand the branches of
evil talkativeness? But when the holy man meets with such things at the
hands of wicked men, it is not against them but rather for them that he
feels sorrow, and reproves the things wickedly harboured in the heart, and
shews them evil for them to escape, saying, Fly therefore from the face
of the sword; for the sword is the avenger of wickedness; and know that
there is a judgment. Everyone that does wicked things, even herein,
that he is too indifferent to fear this, does not know of there being a
judgment of God. For if he did know that this was a thing to be feared, he
would never do things that are destined to be punished in it. For there are
very many who know that there is a final Judgment as far as the words go,
but by acting wickedly they bear witness that they do not know it. Since
whereas he does not dread this as he ought, he does not yet know with what a
tempest of terror it will come. For if he had [al. ‘he who had’] been
taught to estimate the weight of the dreadful scrutiny, surely in fearing he
would guard against the day of wrath. Moreover, ‘to fly from the face of
the sword,’ is to propitiate the sentence of the strict visitation before it
appears. For the terribleness of the Judge cannot be avoided saving before
the Judgment. Now He is not discerned, but is appeased by prayers. But
when He shall sit on that dreadful inquest, He is both able to be seen and
not able any longer to be propitiated; in that the doings of the wicked
which He bore long while in silence, He shall pay back all of them together
in wrath. Whence it is necessary to fear the Judge now, while He does not
yet execute judgment, while He bears patiently for long, while He still
tolerates the wickedness that He sees, lest when He has once plucked out His
hand in the awarding of vengeance, He strike the more severely in judgment,
in proportion as He waited longer before judgment.
BOOK XV