After going
through the twenty-second and twenty-third chapters of
the Book of Job,
and the twenty-fourth to the middle of verse twenty
with a brief
explanation, he brings the third Part to a close.
[LITERAL INTERPRETATION]
THOSE
persons, who being opposed to the words of truth, get the worst in making
out a case, often repeat even what is well known, lest by holding their
tongue they should seem defeated. Hence Eliphaz, being pressed closely by
the sayings of blessed Job, utters things which no one but is aware of. For
he says,
Ver.
2. Can a man be compared unto God, even when he has perfect knowledge?
[i]
1.
By comparison with God, our knowledge is ignorance, for it is by
participation, and not by comparison, with God that we become imbued with
wisdom. What wonder then when that is said, as if in the way of
instruction, which might have been known, even if it had been kept silent?
And yet further he subjoins the power of God as defending it.
Ver.
3 Is it any profit to the Almighty that thou art righteous? or is it
gain to Him, that thou makest thy ways perfect?
[ii]
2.
For in all that we do well, we are doing good to ourselves and not to God.
And hence by the Psalmist it is said, O my soul, thou hast said unto the
Lord, Thou art my God, seeing that Thou needest not my goods. [Ps. 16,
2] For He is truly ‘Lord’ to us, because He is also assuredly ‘God,’ Who
needs not the good in him that serveth Him, but bestows the goodness which
He receives, so that the goodness which is offered up should avail not
Himself, but those that first receive and afterwards render back. For
though the Lord, when He cometh for Judgment, saith, Inasmuch as ye have
done it unto the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me; it
is with extraordinary pitifulness that He says this, by sympathy with His
members. And He the same Being hereby, viz. that He is our Head, aids, Who
by our good deeds in His members is aided. Yet further Eliphaz adds what
there is no man but is aware of, saying,
Ver.
4. Will He reprove thee for fear of thee? Will He enter with thee into
judgment?
[iii]
3.
Who that was out of his senses even would think this, that from fear the
Lord reproves us, and from dread sets His judgment against us? But they who
do not know how to mete their words, doubtless slip down to idle discourse.
Wherein if they never at all take themselves to task, without delay they
leap forth to words mischievous and insulting. Hence Eliphaz, who brought
in idle words, immediately burst out into abusive ones, saying,
Ver.
5. Is it not for thy wickedness that is great, and thine iniquities that
are infinite?
[iv]
4.
Observe how from a deadened heart he came to idle words, and from idle words
in the heinousness of lying he blazed out into insults. For these are the
descents of increasing sin, that the tongue when not restrained should never
there where it has fallen lie still, but be always descending to what is
worse; but these things that are subjoined, because they are very plain
taken after the history, do not need to be set forth after the letter.
5.
But whereas we have said that the friends of blessed Job bear the likeness
of heretics, but that he himself bears the representing of Holy Church, the
words of Eliphaz how they fit the falseness of heretics, let us now at once
point out. For it proceeds;
Ver.
6-8. For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and
stripped the naked of their clothing. Thou hast not given water to the
weary, thou hast withholden bread from the hungry. In the might of thine
arm thou didst possess the land, and as the most powerful thou didst hold
it.
[v]
[ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
6.
In Holy Scripture by the term of ‘a pledge’ sometimes the gifts of the Holy
Spirit, and sometimes the confession of sin, are denoted. Thus pledge is
taken as the gift of the Holy Spirit, as where it is said by Paul, And
given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. [2 Cor. 1, 22] For we
receive a pledge for this, that we may hold an assurance touching the
promise that is made to us. And so the gift of the Holy Spirit is called a
pledge, in that by this our soul is strengthened to assuredness of the
inward hope. Again by the name of a ‘pledge’ confession of sin is used to
be intended, as it is written in the Law; If thy brother oweth thee
aught, and thou takest away a pledge from him, restore the pledge before the
setting of the sun. [Ex. 22, 25. 26.] For our brother is made a debtor
to us, when any fellow-creature is proved to have done any thing wrong
against us. For sins we call ‘debts.’ Whence it is said to the servant
when he sinned, I forgave thee all that debt. [Matt. 18, 32] And in
the Lord’s Prayer we pray daily, Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our
debtors. [Matt. 6, 12] Now we ‘take a pledge’ from our debtor, when
from the lips of him who is found to have sinned against us, we have now
gotten a confession of his sin, whereby we are entreated to remit the sin,
which was committed against us. For he that confesses the sin that he has
done, and begs pardon, has already as it were given a ‘pledge’ for his debt,
which pledge we are bidden to ‘restore before the sun set,’ because before
that in ourselves through pain of heart the Sun of righteousness shall set,
we are bound to render back the acknowledgment of pardon to him, from whom
we receive the acknowledgment of transgression, that he who remembers that
he has done amiss towards us, may be made sensible that what he has done
amiss is by us at once remitted. Therefore whereas Holy Church, when it
receives back any returning from heretics to the truth of the faith, first
persuades them that they must confess the sin of their error, it is said by
Eliphaz as under the likeness of heretics; For thou hast taken away a
pledge from thy brother for nought, i.e. ‘From those, that come to thee
from us, thou didst exact a confession of error to no purpose.’ But, as we
said before, if we suppose a ‘pledge’ the gifts of the Holy Spirit, heretics
say that Holy Church has ‘taken away the pledge of her brothers,’ because
they imagine that those that come to her, lose the gifts of the Spirit.
Hence it follows, And stripped the naked of their clothing.
7.
Those whom they draw after them by their perverted preaching, heretics count
to have the precepts of their teaching as a kind of garments, and they
esteem them to be clothed so long as the things which they themselves
preached they witness observed by them, and when any persons return to Holy
Church from them, they immediately fancy that they have lost the garments of
instruction. But whereas one that is naked cannot he spoiled, we have to
enquire how they are first mentioned as ‘naked,’ and afterwards as
‘stripped?’ Now it is necessary to know that every one that enjoys purity
of mind, by the very circumstance that he has not the cloak of
double-dealing, is ‘naked.’ And there are some among the Heretics, who have
purity of heart indeed, but yet take up the corrupt tenets of their
teaching. These same are at once by their own purity ‘naked,’ and by the
preaching of those persons they are as it were clothed. And whereas all
such are easily brought back to Holy Church, for this reason that they do
not use the wickedness of doubledealing, those persons heretics acknowledge
as naked, whom they call stripped by her of their clothing, because they
look upon all the simple-minded as slow and dull, who, they see, have parted
with their own corrupt tenets.
8.
It follows; Thou hast not given water to the weary, and thou hast
withholden bread from the hungry. Heretics in proportion as they hold
not the solid substance of truth, so sometimes they busy themselves, that
they may appear full of discourse, and against the faith of Catholics they
are boastful as of the knowledge of learning; all that they see they seek to
draw to them by their wicked discoursings, and by the very same act, whereby
they are joining others to themselves for destruction, they think themselves
doing something conducive to life. Now we call those ‘weary’ that are worn
down under the wearisome load of this world. And hence Truth saith by
Himself, Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and will
give you rest. Matt. 11, 28] And so whereas heretics never cease
to preach their own doctrines, they mock at Holy Church as if for ignorance.
Thou hast not given water to the weary, and thou hast withholden bread
from the hungry. For themselves they think they ‘give water to the
weary’ when to persons travailing under their earthly load they supply the
cup of their own error. And they look upon it that they themselves have not
‘withholden bread from the hungry,’ in that when questioned even touching
things invisible and incomprehensible, they answer with pride and boldness;
and they then set themselves down as learned above all men, when they most
miserably presume to speak on things unknown. But Holy Church when she sees
anyone hungering for that which it would not be for his good to get, either
on the one hand if they be things already known to her keeps them back with
reserve, or if they appear to be unknown as yet, confesses it with humility;
and such she recalls to a sense of well-regulated humility, when she bids
everyone of them by her Preacher, not to be wise of himself above that he
ought to think, but to think soberly. [Rom. 12, 3] And again, Be not
highminded, but fear. [Rom. 11, 20] And again, Seek not out the
things that are too deep for thee; neither search the things that are above
thy strength. [Ecclus. 3, 21] And again, Hast thou found honey? eat
so much as is sufficient for thee, lest perchance thou be filled therewith,
and vomit it. [Rrov. 25, 16] For to ‘find honey,’ is to taste the
sweetness of holy intelligence. Which is eaten enough of then, when our
perception according to the measure of our faculty is held tight under
control. For he is ‘filled with honey, and vomits it,’ who in seeking to
dive deeper than he has capacity for loses that too from whence he might
have derived nourishment. And so, seeing that Holy Church forbids it to
feeble minds to dive into deep truths, it is said to blessed Job, And
thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.
9.
And her greatness also because heretics envy, because she keeps the
companies of people every where in the true faith, when they meet with a
season of earthly prosperity, they launch out against her in terms of pride,
and by their upbraiding disclose how greatly before they secretly envied her
power. Thus it follows; For in the might of thine arm, thou didst
possess the earth, and as the most powerful thou didst hold it. As if
he said in plain words, ‘Whereas thou didst take possession of the earth
every where in thy preaching, it was the power of might, and not the
reasonableness of truth. For whereas they see that Christian princes hold
fast her preaching, all the credit which is given to her by the people, they
look upon not as the efficacy of righteousness, but the account of secular
power. It goes on;
Ver.
9. Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless hast
thou broken.
[vi]
10.
The common multitudes that are brought under to heretics on their preaching
by a carnal understanding conceive the corrupt seeds of their false
doctrine, and are joined to them in their condemnation. But when the
preachers of errors themselves, Holy Church either receives into her bosom
subdued by reason, or binds in under the fetters of her discipline, being
hardened by attachment to evil; heretics, being deserted, when they see that
the people remain left with themselves without preachers, what else do they
but lament the ‘widows’ left empty by Holy Church? And whereas when the
masters of heretics are withdrawn, they imagine that their disciples are
enfeebled in their practice, they complain that the arms of the fatherless
are broken by Holy Church as it were. Or in another way, because when Holy
Church receives persons coming to her from heretics, it is plain without a
doubt that she stands up against their former error. Thus there are some
that are so attached to virginity of the flesh, that they condemn marriage,
and there are some who so extol abstinence, that they abhor those that take
necessary nourishment. Concerning whom it is said by Paul, Forbidding to
marry, and commanding to abstain, from meats, which God hath created to be
received with thanksgiving of them which believe. [1 Tim. 4, 5] Those
persons then seeing she recalls from the carnal bias of their superstitious
belief, when heretics see such living otherwise than they taught them, they
bear witness that to the way of acting which they before maintained, their
‘arms are broken’ by Holy Church. And hence in this period of discipline,
if any piece of misfortune chance to befall her, they suppose that it has
come in meet retribution for her sins. For it is added;
Ver.
10. Therefore snares are round about thee; and sudden fear troubleth
thee.
[vii]
11.
That man ‘sudden fear doth trouble,’ who neglects to consider what there is
hanging over his head from the severity of the Judge, when He comes.
Therefore, whereas heretics look upon the faithful people as borne down by
sins of misbelief, they make it a charge that ‘snares are round about
them.’ And because they believe that it does not foresee the future, they
suppose this people under the smiting to be ‘troubled with sudden fear;’
which persons adding yet further insult subjoin,
Ver.
11. And thou thoughtest [V. And thoughtest thou?] thou
wouldest not see darkness; and that thou wouldest not be borne down with the
force of overflowing waters.
As if
he said in plain speech; ‘Thou didst promise thyself security of peace in
hope, and therefore thou wast glad for thine assurance as for the light, nor
ever thoughtest for thyself to be oppressed with tribulation. But see,
whilst thou art afflicted with evils coming upon thee, whether what thou
maintainest be right, the very darkness of trouble which weighs upon thee
makes plain; which same troubles Eliphaz compares to ‘overflowing waters,’
in that whilst one set rushes in over another, as in swoln waters waves
follow waves. It goes on,
Ver.
12-14. Dost thou bethink thee that God is in the height of heaven, and
high above the height of the stars? And thou sayest, How doth God know?
and, He judgeth as in the dark. Thick clouds are a covering to Him, that He
seeth not our matters; and He walketh in the circuit of heaven.
[viii]
12.
There are very many so dull that they cannot dread aught, saving what they
see in a bodily form. Whence it is brought to pass that they do not fear
God, in that they cannot see Him. But heretics because they think
themselves wise utter words of insult against Catholics, and imagine that He
is not feared by them, because they are unable to see Him in a bodily shape,
so that as it were from deadness of perception they think that their Maker,
because He is higher than heaven and exalted above the tops of the stars, is
not able to see from a distance, and that because between ourselves and the
seat of heaven the regions of the air are interposed, He, ‘as it were buried
in a cloud passes judgment out of the darkness,’ and intent upon things
above, the less considers those below, and whilst He holds together the
binges of heaven by encircling them, doth not see into the interior parts.
But who that was out of his right mind even, could suspect such things of
God. Who indeed, whereas He is always Omnipotent, so minds all things that
He is present to each one individually, and so present to each that His
Presence is never wanting to all together. For though He forsakes persons
when they sin, yet to those very persons He is present in respect of
judgment, to whom He is seen to be wanting in respect of aidance. Therefore
He so encircles what is without that He yet fills what is within, so fills
what is within that He yet encircles what is without, so rules the heights
above that He does not quit the depths below, is in such sort present to the
parts beneath that He does not depart from those above, is so concealed in
His own appearance that nevertheless He is known in His working, so known in
His work that yet He cannot be comprehended by the calculation of the person
knowing Him; He is in such a way present that yet He cannot be seen, in such
a way impossible to be seen that yet His very own judgments bear witness to
His Presence, so yields Himself to be understood by us that yet the very ray
of the perception of Himself He overclouds to us, and again so holds us in
by the darkness of ignorance that notwithstanding He shines into our minds
with the rays of His brightness, so that at once by being lifted up it may
see something, and made to recoil may tremble all over, and because such as
He is it is impossible to see Him, may yet know Him by seeing Him some
little. But all this heretics do not reckon Holy Church to be acquainted
with, because by a foolish judgment they suppose that they alone are wise.
In a type of whom it is yet further added;
Ver.
15. Wouldest thou mark the old way, which wicked men have trodden?
[ix]
[LITERAL INTERPRETATION]
13.
As the ‘way’ of our Redeemer is humility, so the way of the world is pride.
And so wicked men tread the way of the world, in that by the desires of this
world they walk in self-exaltation. Of which same wicked persons it is yet
further added;
Ver.
16. Which were taken away before their time, whose foundation was
overflown with a flood.
[x]
14.
Whereas the period of our life is assuredly foreordained for us in the
foreknowledge of God, it is a very important question on what principle it
is said now, that the wicked are withdrawn from the present world ‘before
their time.’ For Almighty God though He often change His sentence, yet His
counsel never. At that time, then, is every man ‘taken away’ from this
life, at which by Divine power he is foreknown to be before all times. But
it is necessary to be known, that Almighty God in creating and disposing of
us, according to the deserts of each one also appoints his bounds too, so
that either that bad man should live a short time, lest he do mischief to
numbers doing right; or that this good man should last longer in life, that
he may prove a helper of good practice to numbers; or again that the bad man
should be detained longer in life, to add yet more to his wicked deeds,
purified by the testing whereof the righteous may live a truer life; or that
the good man should be withdrawn more speedily, lest if he were to live long
here, wickedness should spoil his innocence. Yet it is to be borne in mind,
that it is the loving-kindness of God, to vouchsafe to sinners space for
repentance. But because the times vouchsafed they do not turn to the fruits
of penance, but to the service of iniquity, what by the mercifulness of God
they might have obtained, they let go out of their hands. Although Almighty
God foreknows that time of each individual for death, at which his life is
brought to an end; nor could any one ever have died at any time, saving at
that actual time when he does die. For if to Hezekiah fifteen years are
related to have been added for life, the time of his life was increased from
that end, indeed, in which of himself he deserved to die; for God’s
providence foreknew his time at that point whereat He afterwards withdrew
him out of the present life. This then being so, what does it mean that it
is said, that the wicked were cut down before their time, but that
all they that love the present life, promise to themselves longer periods of
that life? But when death coming on withdraws them from the present life,
the spaces of their life, which they were wont as it were in imagination to
draw out to themselves longer, it cuts asunder. Of whom it is rightly said,
whose foundation was overflown with a flood.
15.
For the wicked while they neglect in heart to go on to the things of
eternity, and do not observe that all things present are fleeting, fix their
heart on the love of the present life, and as it were therein construct for
themselves the foundation of a long abode, because by desire they are
established in earthly things. Thus Cain is described the first to have
constructed a city upon earth, who thereby is plainly proved an alien, in
that the same set a foundation upon earth, who was alien to the stedfastness
of the eternal world; for being a stranger to the things above, he has
settled his foundation in things beneath, who has placed the settling of his
heart in earthly delight. And hence, in the stock of that man, Enoch, which
is by interpretation ‘dedication,’ is born the first. But in the offspring
of the Elect Enoch is described to have been the seventh, in this way,
because the sons of perdition by building dedicate themselves in this life
which comes first, but the Elect await the dedication of their building up
in the end of time, i.e. the seventh number. For one may see great numbers
minding temporal things alone, seeking after honours, open-mouthed after the
compassing of good things, look out for nothing after this life. What then
do these but ‘dedicate themselves’ in the first generation? One may see the
Elect seeking nothing of present glory, gladly bearing want, undergoing the
ills of this life with a composed mind, that they may be crowned at the
end. And so to the Elect Enoch is born in the seventh generation, in that
the dedication of their joy they look for in the glory of the last
retribution. [Gen. 5, 21] And whereas by the daily lapse of time the mortal
state in the present life itself runs to an end, and destroys the dedication
of the children of perdition by removing those very children of perdition,
it is rightly said of the wicked, Whose foundation was overflown with a
flood; i.e. the mere course of changeableness overthrows in them the
settlement of wicked rearing. It goes on;
Ver.
17. Which said unto God, Depart from us.
[xi]
16.
That this too blessed Job had said, who can doubt? But what we have
unfolded in his words, on account of wearying the reader, we forbear to
repeat. [Job 21, 14] It goes on;
And
as though the Almighty could do nothing, so reckoned concerning Him.
In
this part likewise the wording, and not the statement, is changed. For what
was expressed by blessed Job; What is the Almighty that we should serve
Him? [Job 21, 15] is expressed by Eliphaz, And as though the
Almighty could do nothing, so reckoned concerning Him. It goes on;
Ver.
18. Yet He has filled their houses with good things.
[xii]
17.
The Lord ‘filleth the houses of the wicked with good things,’ in that even
to the unthankful He refuses not His gifts, that either they may blush at
the loving-kindness of their Creator and be brought back to goodness, or
altogether despising to return thereto, may from the same cause be there
worse punished, that here they rendered an evil return for God’s more
bounteous good, so that severer woes should there chastise those whose
wickedness here not even gifts overcame. It goes on;
But
let their sentence be far from me.
This
too was expressed by blessed Job. For he says, Whose counsel be far from
me. [Job 21, 16] Though ‘sentence’ may be taken for one
thing and ‘counsel’ for another; for ‘sentence’ is in the mouth, ‘counsel’
in the thoughts. And so whereas Eliphaz wished himself far from the
‘sentence’ of the wicked, and blessed Job from the ‘counsel,’ it is plain
without denial, that the first desires to be unlike the words of the wicked,
but the other unlike their way of thinking even. It goes on;
Ver.
19. The righteous shall see it and be glad; and the innocent one shall
laugh them to scorn.
[xiii]
18.
The righteous when they see the unrighteous erring here cannot be glad for
the error of persons ruining themselves. For if they rejoice in errings,
they cease to be righteous. Again, if in the feeling of triumph they be
glad, for this that they are not such as they see others are, they are
altogether full of pride. Hence the Pharisee lost his justification,
because being glad he set himself above the merits of the Publican, saying,
I thank Thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust,
adulterers, or even as this Publican. Again, if we say that the
righteous can triumph with a perfect joy over the death of the wicked, what
sort of thing is joy for vengeance on sinners in this world, wherein the
life of the righteous is still uncertain? Let us then distinguish between
the times of trembling and exulting. For the righteous see the unrighteous
now, and pine at their wickedness; and when they see those smitten, they are
made distrustful touching their own life too. When then shall the righteous
see the destruction of the wicked and be glad, saving when with the strict
Judge they incorporate henceforth with perfect sureness of triumphing, when
in that final Inquest they shall see the condemnation of those, and shall
now no longer have aught to fear for themselves? Now therefore they see the
children of perdition and groan, then they shall see them and laugh them to
scorn, because in triumphing they shall set at nought those, whom now they
neither see doing wickedness without groaning nor dying for their wickedness
without fearing. Hence by that which is added it is proved that the thing
is spoken as concerning their final condemnation. For the sentence is
directly introduced,
Ver.
20. Is not their erecting cut down, and the remnant of them the fire
hath consumed [al. shall comsume]?
[xiv]
19.
For here the wicked are erected, in that they are lifted up in bad deeds.
For they both do wickedly, and yet for their wicked deeds they are not
stricken. They sin and thrive, they add to their sins, and multiply earthly
good. But ‘their erecting is cut down’ then, when they are either dragged
from the present life to destruction, or from the sight of the Eternal Judge
to the eternal burning of hell. Which people, though here they quit their
dead flesh, yet that same in the resurrection they receive again, that
together with that flesh they may burn, in which flesh they did their sin.
For as their sin was in mind and body, so the punishment shall be in spirit
and flesh alike. Therefore, whereas not even that shall be quit of torment
to them, which here they leave dead, it is rightly said now, the remnant
of them the fire hath consumed. It goes on;
Ver.
21, 22. Be at one then with Him, and be at peace; thereby thou shalt
have the best fruits. Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay
up his words in thine heart.
[xv]
20.
There is the sin of pride in teaching one better than one’s self, which
heretics are often guilty of, who touching things which they have wrong
notions of, take upon them as if to instruct Catholics. For such they think
are then ‘at one with God,’ if it chance for them to assent to their bad
ways; and to those thus ‘at one’ they promise peace in that they henceforth
cease to quarrel with those who agree with themselves. Now ‘the best
fruits’ they promise to those agreeing with themselves, in that they believe
that they only do good works, whom they triumph in themselves drawing in to
their own tenets; which persons this also suits that he adds, Receive, I
pray, the law out of His mouth; because the things they think of their
own heads, they fancy proceed from the mouth of God. And lay up His
words in thine heart; as if he asserted it in plain words, saying,
‘which up to this present time in thy mouth thou hast held, and not in thine
heart.’ For because he [al. Holy Church] rejected their corrupted tenets,
they allege against him [al. her, &c.] that the words of God he had held not
in the feeling, but in the shewing off. Whence, as if under a certain
appearance of sweetness, they insinuate the poison of pestilent persuading,
so as to admonish the Church to lay up the words of God in the heart; which
words, if they had ever departed from her heart, from those persons she
would never have heard such things. It follows;
Ver.
23. If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt
put away iniquity far from thy tabernacle.
[xvi]
21.
That the faithful people have gone away from God is the opinion of heretics,
because they see it opposed to their preachings; which same, when they see
it afflicted with present calamities, they endeavour, as if by admonition,
to draw to their Maker’s Grace, saying, If thou return to the Almighty,
thou shalt be built up. As if they said in plain words; Whereas by
gainsaying our doctrines thou hast gone away from the Lord, therefore to the
building up of righteousness thou art undone. Now by a tabernacle we
understand sometimes the habitation of the body, and sometimes the
habitation of the heart; for as by the soul we inhabit the body, so by the
thoughts we inhabit the mind. Therefore ‘iniquity in the tabernacle’ of the
mind is an evil bent in the attachment of the thought. But ‘iniquity in the
tabernacle’ of the body is carnal doing in the fulfilment of the deed. Thus
Eliphaz, forasmuch as he was the friend of a blessed person, seeing some
things true, and yet in those points in which he departs from the right
line, holding the likeness of heretics, not knowing that it was in
consequence of good qualities blessed Job was stricken, fancied that he had
erred whom he saw smitten, and makes him promises if he would return to
Almighty God, saying, Thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy
tabernacles. As if he said in plain speech, ‘Whosoever after erring
ways is brought back to God, is purified both in thought and in deed
together.’ It follows;
Ver.
24. He shall give the flint for earth, and for the flint golden
torrents.
[xvii]
[ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
22.
What is denoted by ‘earth’ but weakness in conduct, what by the hardness of
the flint but strength, what do we understand by ‘the golden torrents,’ but
the instruction of interior brightness? Now to those that turn themselves
to Him Almighty God ‘gives for earth the flint,’ in that for weak conduct He
bestows the strength of vigorous practice. He also gives ‘for the flint
golden torrents,’ in that for vigorous practice He redoubles the instruction
of bright preaching, that every converted sinner may from weak be enabled to
prove strong, and in his strength rise up even to the uttering forth words
of the inner brightness, so that in that person, both weakness of conduct,
in which like earth he is crumbled, by strength of good living may be firmly
settled, and whereas perception is derived from the life, from that same
firmness torrents of gold may run out, seeing that in the mouth of those
that live well brightness of teaching runs over. It follows;
Ver.
25. Yea the Almighty shall be against thine enemies, and thou shalt have
heaps of silver.
[xviii]
23.
What other enemies are we more subject to than evil spirits, who in our
thoughts besiege us, that they may break into the city of our minds, and
hold it, taken captive, under the yoke of their dominion? Now by the name
of ‘silver,’ the Psalmist testifies the sacred oracles are denoted, when he
says, The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace
of earth. [Ps. 12, 6] And often when we apply ourselves to the sacred
oracles, we are more grievously subject to the artifices of evil Spirits, in
that they sprinkle upon our mind the dust of earthly thoughts, that the eyes
of our heeding they may darken to the light of the interior vision. Which
same the Psalmist had undergone when he said, Depart from me, ye evil
ones, and I will search into the commandments of my God; i.e. plainly
teaching us that he could not search into the commandments of God, when he
was suffering in mind the snares of the evil spirits. Which thing in the
work of Isaac too we know to he represented under the evil doing of the
Philistines, who with a heap of earth filled up the wells which Isaac had
dug. For these very same wells we ourselves dig, when in the hidden
meanings of Holy Scripture we penetrate deep. Which wells however the
Philistines secretly fill up, when to us advancing to deep things unclean
spirits bring in earthly thoughts, and as it were take away the water of
divine knowledge which has been discovered. But because no one can overcome
these enemies by his own power, it is said by Eliphaz, Yea the Almighty
shall be against thine enemies, and thou shalt have heaps of silver. As
if it were said in plain words; ‘While the Lord drives away from thee the
evil spirits by His power, the shining talent of divine revelation within
gains growth.’ It proceeds;
Ver.
26. Then shalt thou abound with delicacies over the Almighty.
[xix]
24.
To ‘abound with delicacies over the Almighty’ is in the love of Him to be
filled to the full with the banquet of Holy Scripture. In Whose words
surely we find as many delicacies, as for our profiting we obtain
diversities of meaning, so that now the bare history should be our food,
now, veiled under the text of the letter, the moral allegory refresh us from
our inmost soul, and now to the deeper things contemplation should hold us
suspended, already, in the darkness of the present life, shining in upon us
from the light of eternity. And it is necessary to be known, that whosoever
‘abounds with delicacies,’ is released in a kind of loosening of himself,
and slacks from devotion to labour as it were from weariness, because the
soul when it has begun to abound with the interior delicacies, henceforth
consents not ever to give itself to earthly employments, but being
captivated by the love of the Creator, and by its captivity henceforth free,
for the contemplating of His likeness fainting it draws breath, and as it
were wilst giving over, is invigorated; because whereas sordid burthens it
is now no longer able to bear, unto Him through rest it hastens Whom it
loves within. Hence also in admiration of the spouse it is written, Who
is this that cometh up from the wilderness abounding with delicacies?
[Cant. 8, 5. Vulg.] in that truly except Holy Church ‘abounded with the
delicacies’ of God’s words, she could not mount up from the deserts of the
present life to the regions above. Thus she ‘abounds with delicacies and
comes up,’ in that whilst she is fed by mystical senses, she is lifted up
for the contemplating day by day the things above. Hence likewise the
Psalmist says, Even the night shall be light about me in my delicacies;
[Ps. 139, 11. Vulg.] in that while by mystical perception the earnest mind
is regaled, henceforth the darkness of the present life is lighted up in her
by the radiance of the day to come. So that even in the blindness of this
state of corruption the force of the future light should break out into her
understanding, and she being fed with delicacies of words, might learn by
thus foretasting what to hunger for of the food of truth. It goes on;
And
shall lift up thy face unto God.
[xx]
25.
To ‘lift up the face to God’ is to raise the heart for the searching into
what is loftiest. For as by the bodily face we are known and
distinguishable to man, so by the interior figure to God. But when by the
guilt of sin we are weighed to the earth, we are afraid to lift the face of
our heart to God; for whereas it is not buoyed up by any of the confidence
of good works, the mind is full of affright to gaze on the highest things,
because conscience of itself accuses self. But when by the tears of penance
sin is now washed out, and things committed are so bewailed that nothing to
be bewailed is any more committed, a great confidence springs up in the
mind, and for the contemplating the joys of the recompensing from above ‘the
face of our heart is lifted up.’ Now these things Eliphaz would have spoken
aright, if he had been admonishing one that was weak; but when he looks down
upon a righteous man on account of his scourges, what is this, but that he
pours out words of knowledge in not knowing? Which same words if we bring
into a type of heretics, they are they that with false promises engage for
us to ‘lift our face to God.’ As if they said plainly to the faithful
people, ‘As long as thou dost not follow our preaching, thine heart thou
sinkest down in things below.’ But whereas Eliphaz charged blessed Job to
return to God, from Whom observe that same blessed man had never departed,
he yet further subjoins, as promising;
Ver.
27. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto Him, and He shall hear thee.
[xxi]
26.
For they make their prayer to God, but never obtain to be listened to, who
set at nought the precepts of the Lord, when He enjoins them. Whence it is
written, He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his
prayer shall be abomination. [Prov. 28, 9] So long then as Eliphaz
believed that blessed Job was not heard, he determined that that person had
surely done wrong in his practice. And hence he adds further,
And
thou shalt pay thy vows.
He
that has vowed vows, but is unable from weakness to pay the same, has it
dealt to him in punishment of sin, that whilst willing good, the having the
power should be taken away from him. But when in the sight of the interior
Judge, the sin which hinders is done away, it is immediately brought to
pass, that the being able attends upon the vow. It goes on;
Ver.
28. Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto
thee.
[xxii]
27.
This is used to be the special conclusion of those going weakly, that in
such proportion they esteem a man righteous as they see him obtain all that
he desires; whereas in truth we know that earthly goods are sometimes
withheld from the righteous, while they are bestowed with liberal bounty
upon the unrighteous; seeing that to sick persons also when they are
despaired of, physicians order whatever they call for to be supplied, but
those whom they foresee may be brought back to health, the things which they
long for they refuse to have given them. Now if Eliphaz introduced these
declarations with reference to spiritual gifts, be it known that ‘a thing is
decreed and is established’ to a man, when the virtue which is longed for in
the desire, is, by God’s granting it, happily forwarded by the carrying of
it out as well. And hence it is yet further added;
And
the light shall shine upon thy way.
[xxiii] [LITERAL AND MORAL
INTERPRETATION]
28.
Since for ‘light to shine in the ways’ of the righteous, is by extraordinary
deeds of virtue to scatter the tokens of their brightness, that wherever
they go in the bent of the mind, from the hearts of those beholding them
they may dispel the night of sin, and by the example of their own practice
pour into them the light of righteousness; but whatever justness of practice
there may be, in the eye of the interior Judge it is nothing, if pride of
heart uplifts it. Hence it is added;
Ver.
29. For he that has been abased shall be in glory, and he that has bent
down his eyes, the same shall be saved.
[xxiv]
29.
Which same sentence is not at variance with the mouth of ‘Truth,’ when It
says, For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that
humbleth himself shall be exalted. [Luke 14, 11] And hence it is said by
Solomon, Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before
honour is humility. [Prov. 18, 12] But it is properly said, For he
that has bent down his eyes, the same shall be saved; in that so far as
it is to be discovered through the ministering of the members, the first
manifestation of pride is used to be with the eyes. Hence it is written,
And wilt bring down high looks. [Ps. 18, 27] Hence it is said of the
very head himself of those that behave proudly, He beholdeth all high
things. [Job 41, 34] Hence it is written concerning her, who by
unbelief attached herself to him, There is a generation, O how lofty are
their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up. [Prov. 30, 13] So to ‘bend
down the eyes, is no man on looking upon him to look down upon, but one’s
self to look upon as inferior and below all one sees. He then that ‘bends
down his eyes shall be saved’; because he who quits the false height of
pride, scales the loftiness of truth. It goes on;
Ver.
30. The innocent shall be saved, but he shall be saved by the cleanness
of his hands.
[xxv]
30.
Which same sentence now if it be delivered touching the recompense of the
kingdom of heaven, is supported by truth, in that whereas it is written
concerning God, Who rendereth to every man according to his deeds
[Rom. 2, 6], that man in the Last Inquest the justice of the Judge
Eternal saveth, whom here His pitifulness sets free from impure deeds. But
if a man is to this purport supposed to be here saved by the cleanness of
his own hands, that by his own powers he should be made innocent, assuredly
it is an error; for if Grace above do not prevent him when faulty, assuredly
it will never find anyone faultless to recompense without fault. Whence it
is said by the truth-telling voice of Moses; And no man of himself is
innocent in Thy sight. [Exod. 34, 7] And so heavenly pity first works
something in ourselves without the help of ourselves, that, our own free
will following it up as well, the good which we now desire, it may do along
with ourselves; yet the good coming by grace bestowed, in the Last Judgment,
He so rewards in ourselves, as if it had proceeded only from ourselves. For
whereas the Goodness of God prevents us to make us innocent, Paul says,
But by the grace of God I am what I am. [1 Cor. 15, 10] And whereas our
free will follows that grace, he adds, And His grace which was bestowed
upon me was not in vain, but I laboured more abundantly than they all. Who
whereas he saw that he was nothing of himself, says, Yet not I, and
yet forasmuch as he saw that he was something in union with grace, he added,
but the grace of God with me. For he would not have said, with me,
if together with preventing grace he had not had free will following it up.
Therefore in order to shew that he was nothing without grace, he says,
Yet not I, but that he might shew that along with grace he had worked by
free will, he added, but the grace of God with me. Thus ‘the
innocent man shall be saved by the cleanness of his hands,’ in that he who
is here prevented by the gift, that he may be made innocent, when he is
brought to judgment, is rewarded of merit. All which things, as was before
said, Eliphaz though he delivered rightly, yet to whom he was delivering
them he knew not; because one better than himself it was not his business to
teach, but to hear. All which particulars however agree in a figure with
the promises of heretics, who when they find any of the faithful afflicted
in the present life suppose them stricken for the sin of misbelief, and
promise them if they will follow their doctrine the saving health of
innocency by cleanness of good works. But the mind of the faithful looks
down upon them so much the deeper down, in proportion as it does not see
them to possess the innocency which they promise. Whence it is well said by
Solomon, Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any winged fowl.
For the ‘winged fowl’ are the spirits of good men, which whilst in the hope
of truth they soar up to the higher regions, shun the nets of bad men set
for their deceiving. It goes on;
Chap. xxiii. 1, 2. Then Job answered and said, Now also is my complaint
bitter: and the hand of my stroke is heavier than my groaning.
[xxvi] [ALLEGORICAL
INTERPRETATION]
31.
In his own way blessed Job sets out with the plainer sort of words, but his
declaration he closes by the deep following on of mystery. For the pain of
the afflicted man ought to have been healed by the consoling of his friends,
but because their consoling broke out into the soothings of deceit, the pain
of the stricken man was made harsher. For whereas Eliphaz was not afraid to
promise him better things on being converted, it was as if by a poisonous
remedy the wound were increased. Hence it is rightly said, Even to-day
is my complaint bitter, and the hand of my stroke is heavier than my
groaning, in this respect, viz. that the straining of unregulated
consoling increased the stroke manifold, which it ought to have diminished;
by which same words taken in a type of Holy Church, the pain of the faithful
is likewise set forth, who groan the more, the more they see the wicked
using the acts of flattery, who, according to the declaration of Paul, by
good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.
32.
Which words may also be rightly applied to the viewing with greater
exactness the mind of the faithful, who can never be without bitterness even
if they seem to prosper in this world. Which persons when adversity too
befalls, it redoubles that pain which it finds. Whence it is rightly said,
Now also is my complaint bitter, that it might be plainly shewn that
even in prosperity the mind of the Elect should not be without bitterness.
And it is well said, And the hand of my stroke is heavier than my
groaning. For ‘the hand of a stroke,’ is the force of the striking.
For their first striking the Elect see to be, that from the vision of their
Creator they are parted, that the brightness of the interior illumining they
never enjoy, but groan as being banished in the exile of the present life as
in a place of darkness. Thus they always have their groaning in this ‘hand
of their stroke;’ but when over and above adversities also befall them in
this life, ‘the hand of their stroke is heavier than their groaning.’ For
there was groaning for the stroke even when the adversities of the present
life were away. But the bitterness of the original stroke is increased over
and above by the trial of adversity. Therefore he says, And the hand of
my stroke is heavier than my groaning? In that any just man adversity
did not smite whilst happy in this life, but came to redouble in him the
pain of the wound. Yet it happens by the extraordinary governance of
Almighty God, that when in this life the spirit of the righteous man
travails most in adversities, he thirsts the more ardently after the
beholding of his Maker’s face. Hence it is fitly subjoined here,
Ver.
8. O that one would grant me that I might know and find Him, that I
might come even to His seat!
[xxvii]
33.
An elect person if he did not know God, assuredly would not love Him. But
it is one thing to ‘know’ by faith, and another to know by His own Form, one
thing to find by trustfulness, another to find Him by contemplation. In
consequence whereof it is brought to pass that Him Whom they know by faith,
all of the Elect long to see by His own Form as well. With the love of Whom
they burn and glow because the honey of His sweetness they already taste of
in the mere certainty of their faith. Which that person in the country of
the Gerasenes cured of the devils well represents, who wishes to depart with
Jesus; but by the Master of health it is, told him, Return to thine own
house, and shew what great things God hath done unto thee. [Luke 8, 39]
For on him that loves delay is still imposed, that by the longing of love
delayed the title to rewarding may be heightened. And so to us Almighty God
is made sweet in miracles, and yet in His own loftiness remains hidden from
our eyes, that both by shewing something of Himself, He may by secret
inspiration set us on fire in the love of Him, and yet by hiding the
gloriousness of His Majesty may increase the force of that love of Him by
the heat of longing desire. For except the holy man sought to see This
Being in His Majesty, surely he would not bring in the words, that I
might come even to His seat? For what is the ‘seat’ of God but those
angelical Spirits, who as Scripture testifies are called ‘Thrones?’ He then
that desires to ‘come to the seat of God,’ what else does he long for but to
be among the Angelic spirits, that no failing moments of the periods of time
he henceforth be liable to, but rise up to abiding glory in the
contemplation of eternity.
[LITERAL AND ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
34.
Which words nevertheless are likewise appropriate to the righteous whilst
placed in this life. For when they see any thing done against their wish
and desire, they have recourse to the hidden judgments of God, that therein
they may read that that is not irregularly ordered within, which seems to
pass irregularly without. For when they behold with the eyes of faith the
Creator of all things, ruling over the Angelical Spirits, then they ‘come to
His seat.’ And whereas they observe that He, Who rules the Angels in a
wonderful manner, does not dispose of man in any way contrary to justice,
then indeed the principles of cases they see to be as just as they are,
whilst the cases themselves externally seem to be unjust. And whereas they
do this with humility, they often lay blame to themselves in their will, and
their own wishes they sometimes judge in themselves, whilst they ponder that
those things are better which the Creator appoints. Hence it is well added
in addition,
Ver.
4. I will order my cause before Him, and fill my mouth with reproaches.
[xxviii]
35.
To ‘order our cause before God’ is within the secret depth of our mind by
the contemplating of faith to open the eyes of our view to the awful
inquisition of His Majesty, to mark what man as a sinner deserves, of the
now hidden and secret Judge to take thought how terrible He will hereafter
appear. In consequence of which it happens, that the soul is recalled to
the knowledge of itself with greater exactness, and in proportion as it sees
its secret Judge the greater object of alarm, is so much the more horribly
wrung with fears for its actions. It trembles with anxious alarm; its
offences it prosecutes with lamentation; in repenting it charges home what
it remembers itself to have been; whence now too after it had been said,
I will order my cause before Him, it is rightly subjoined, And fill
my mouth with reproaches. For he who ‘orders his cause before God,’
does ‘fill his mouth with reproaches,’ in that while he beholds the exact
scrutiny of the awful Judge directed against himself, he pursues himself
with the charges of bitter repentance. Now it often happens that whilst we
neglect to take account of our faults, what blaming of them may follow in
the Judgment we are left ignorant of: but whilst we pursue them by
exercising repentance what the Judge in His Inquisition may say to us
concerning them, we find out. Whence it is further added with propriety,
Ver.
5. That I may know the words that he will answer me, and understand what
he will say unto me.
[xxix]
36.
For we then bewail our sins, when we begin to weigh them; but we then weigh
them the more exactly, when more anxiously we bewail them, and by our
lamentations it rises up [one Ms. ‘is known’] more perfectly in our hearts,
what the severity of God threatens those with that commit sin, what will be
those rebukings upon the children of perdition, what the terror, what the
abhorrence of the unappeasable Majesty. For so great things shall the Lord
then being angry ‘say’ to the lost, as great as He permits them of justice
to undergo. Which same words of His visitation, the righteous, because now
they anxiously fear them, escape free from. But who in that inquisition
might be found righteous, if God according to the Majesty of His Might, so
sifted the life of man? Therefore it is fitly subjoined,
Ver.
6. I would not that He should contend with me with great power, nor
oppress me with the weight of His mightiness.
[xxx]
37.
For the soul of one however righteous, if he be judged with strictness by
Almighty God, is borne down by the weight of His mightiness. In which same
words this is likewise to be understood, that whereas the holy man shews the
might of God, what else of Him does he desire, but His weakness? And it is
written, the weakness of God is stronger than men. [1 Cor. 1, 25]
Whence too he directly adds,
Ver.
7. Let Him put forth equity against me, and my judgment shall come unto
victory.
[PROPHETICAL INTERPRETATION]
For
who else saving the Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus, is
denoted by the title of ‘equity?’ Concerning Whom it is written, Who of
God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness. [I Cor. 1, 30] And
whereas this same righteousness came into this world against the ways of
sinners, we get the better of our old enemy, by whom we were held captive.
So let him say, I would not that He should contend with me with great
power, nor oppress me with the weight of His mightiness. Let Him put
forth equity against me, and my judgment shall come unto victory. i.e.
‘for the rebuking of my ways, let Him send His Incarnate Son, and then the
plotting foe, by the sentence of mine absolving, I as victor will turn
out.’ For if the Only-begotten Son of God had so remained invisible in the
strength of the Divine Nature, as not to have admitted aught derived from
our weakness, when could weak men ever have found the access of grace to
Him? For the weight of His greatness, being considered, would rather have
oppressed than aided him; but the Strong above all things came weak among
all things, that whereas He agreed with us by assumed weakness, He might
elevate us to His own abiding strength. For in Its loftiness the Divine
Nature could never have been apprehended by us, inasmuch as being too
little, but He bowed Himself down to man through human nature, and we as it
were mounted up on Him laid low; He rose, and we were lifted up. Whence
this too is added directly, whereby the Divine Being may be shewed invisible
and incomprehensible. Thus it goes on;
Ver.
8, 9. If I go to the East, He appeareth not; if I go to the West, I
shall not understand Him; if I go to the left hand, what shall I do? I
shall not comprehend Him; if I turn myself to the right hand I shall not see
Him.
[xxxi]
38.
For the Creator of all things is not in a part, inasmuch as He is every
where. And then He is found the less, when He, That is whole every where,
is sought in a part. For the Incomprehensible Spirit containeth all things
within Itself, Which at the same time both while filling encompasseth, and
while encompassing filleth, both in supporting overtops, and in overtopping
supports; and it is well that after it had been said, if I go to the
East, He appeareth not; if I go to the West, I shall not understand Him; if
I go to the left hand, what shall I do? I shall not comprehend Him; if I
turn myself to the right hand I shall not see Him; he thereupon added,
But He knoweth the way that I take. As if he said in plain words, ‘I
am unable to see Him, Who seeth me, and Him that beholdeth me most minutely,
I have no power to behold:’ that is to say, that he might shew that He is so
much the more heedfully to be feared, in proportion as He is not
discernible. For He Who so beholds us that He may not be by us beheld, is
so much the more to be dreaded in proportion as in seeing all things He is
not seen in the least degree. For when we believe that there is anyone
hidden in ambush to assault us, we dread him the more that we do not at all
see him; and when we do not at all discover his ambush where it is placed,
we apprehend it even there where it does not exist. And our Creator, Who is
whole every where, and while discerning all things is not discerned, is the
more to be dreaded in proportion as continuing invisible, what He may
determine concerning our actions and at what time is not known. Which
words, too, may be understood in another sense also. For we ‘go to the
East,’ when we lift up our mind in thinking of His Majesty. But ‘He
appeareth not,’ seeing that such as He is in His own Nature, by mortal
thought He cannot be seen to be. If I go to the West, I shalt not
understand Him; we ‘go to the west,’ when the eye of the heart that is
lifted up in God, but made to recoil by the mere immensity of the light, we
bring back to our own selves, and being spent with labour, we learn that the
thing is very much above us which we were seeking; and viewing our own
mortal condition find out that as yet we are creatures unfit to have the
power to behold One that is Immortal. If I go to the left hand what
shall I do? I shalt not comprehend Him. To ‘go to the left hand’ is to
yield one’s self to the enjoyments of our sins. And it is surely plain,
that he cannot ‘apprehend God,’ who still in the gratification of sin lies
prostrate along the left side. If I turn myself to the right side I shall
not see Him. He truly is ‘turned to the right hand,’ who is lifted up on
the ground of virtuous attainments. But he cannot see God, who is glad with
selfish joy for his good deeds; because in that man the swelling of pride
weighs down the eye of the heart. Whence it is well said elsewhere, Thou
shalt not decline to the right hand nor to the left. [Deut. 17, 11] In
all which particulars the soul very often searches out itself, nor yet is
able perfectly to find out itself. Whence it is fitly added here,
But
He Himself knoweth the way that I take.
[xxxii]
[LITERAL INTERPRETATION]
39.
As if he said in plain terms, ‘I for mine own part both search myself
strictly, and am not able to know myself thoroughly; yet He, Whom I have not
power to see, seeth most minutely all the things that I do.’ It goes on;
And He shall try me like gold which passeth through the fire.
Gold
in the furnace is advanced to the brightness of its nature, whilst it loses
the dross. And so like ‘gold that passeth through the fire’ the souls of
the righteous are tried, which by the burning of tribulation through and
through, both have their defects removed, and their good points increased.
Nor was it of pride that the holy man likened himself as set in tribulation
to gold, in that he who, by the voice of God, was pronounced righteous
before the stroke, was not for this reason permitted to be tried that bad
qualities might be cleared off, but that excellences might be heightened;
but gold is purified by fire; less then than he was did he think of his own
self, in that, being delivered over to suffer tribulation, he believed that
he was being purified, whereas he had not any thing in him to be purified.
40.
Now it is necessary for us to know, that though the mind of the righteous
entertains humble thoughts touching itself, yet the several things that they
do, they see to be as right as they are, while they never presume on the
rightness of them. Whence it is yet further added; My foot hath held his
steps, his way have I kept and not declined. Neither have gone back from
the commandment of his lips, and I have hid the words of his mouth in my
bosom. But in the midst of all this let us see whether he thinks
himself to be any thing. It follows; But He is Himself alone. By
the subjoining of which sentence, he shews that amidst all the good things
which he had done he believed himself to be nothing. But taking up these
same words from the beginning, let us run over them as well as we are able.
Ver.
11. My foot hath held His steps.
[xxxiii]
41.
For as a kind of footsteps of God are His doings which we see, by which
doings both the good and bad man is governed, by which the righteous and
unrighteous are arranged in their classes, whereto both everyone that is
subject is led on day by day to better things, and he that is in rebellion
against them is borne with going headlong into worse. Concerning which same
footsteps the Prophet said, Thy goings have been seen, O God. [Ps.
68, 24] And so we, when we behold the efficacy of His long-suffering
and pitifulness, and upon so beholding strive to imitate the same, what else
do we but follow the ‘footsteps of His goings,’ in that we imitate some
outskirts of His method of proceeding. Thus these footsteps of His Father
‘Truth’ gave it in charge to imitate when He said, Pray for them which
persecute you and falsely accuse you; that ye may be the children of your
Father Which is in heaven. For He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on
the good. [Matt. 5, 44. 45.] It may be too that blessed Job who had
already said with assured faith, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that
I shall arise at the latter day from the earth [Job 19, 25]; so dwelt on
the future working of Wisdom Incarnate to be, in like manner as we behold by
faith the works of that Wisdom now past, how that the Mediator between God
and man should be kind to give, humble to bear, patient to afford an
example. Whose life while blessed Job, filled with the Spirit from above,
regarded with heedful intentness, foreseeing the future lowliness of His
mild character, he refers as it were to a pattern set before him, so that
whatever he did in this life he might bind fast to His footsteps in
imitating, that so he who was incapable of seeing the high things of His
secret ordering, as it were looking on the ground, might keep His footsteps
for imitation. Of which same ‘footsteps’ of Him it is said by Peter,
Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should
follow His footsteps. [1 Pet. 2, 21] Concerning whom it is yet further
added;
Ver.
11. His way have I kept, and not declined.
[xxxiv]
42.
For he ‘keeps the way and does not decline,’ who practises the thing whereon
his mind is bent. Since to ‘keep’ in the bent is ‘not to decline’ in the
practice. For this is the anxiety of the righteous, that day by day they
should try their actions by the ways of truth, and proposing these as a rule
to themselves, they should not decline from the track of their right
course. Thus day by day they strive to get above themselves, and in
proportion as they are lifted up upon the summit of virtues, they judge with
heedful censure, whatever there is of themselves left remaining below
themselves. And they are in haste to draw the whole of themselves there,
where they find that they have been brought in part. It goes on;
Ver.
12. Neither have I gone back from the commandments of His lips.
[xxxv]
43.
As servants that serve well are ever intent upon their masters’
countenances, that the things they may bid they may hear readily, and strive
to fulfil; so the minds of the righteous in their bent are upon Almighty
God, and in His Scripture they as it were fix their eyes on His face, that
whereas God delivers therein all that He wills, they may not be at variance
with His will, in proportion as they learn that will in His revelation.
Whence it happens, that His words do not pass superfluously through their
ears, but that these words they fix in their hearts. Hence it is here
added;
I
have hid the words of His mouth in my breast.
[xxxvi]
44.
For we ‘hide the words of His mouth in the bosom of our heart,’ when we hear
His commandments not in a passing way, but to fulfil them in practice.
Hence it is that of the Virgin Mother herself it is written, But Mary
kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. Which same words
even when they come forth to the practising lie hidden in the recesses of
the heart, if through that which is done without, the mind of the doer be
not lifted up within. For when the word conceived is carried on to the
deed, if human praise is aimed at herein, the word of God assuredly is not
‘hidden in the bosom of the mind.’ But I would know, O blessed man,
wherefore thou examinest thyself with so much earnestness, wherefore thou
takest thyself to task with so much anxiety? It goes on,
Ver.
13. But He is Himself alone, and no man can turn away His thought.
[xxxvii]
45.
Are there not angels and men, the heavens and the earth, the air and the
waters of the ocean, all the winged creatures, quadrupeds, and creeping
things? And surely it is written, Which God created that they should be.
[Gen.2, 3] Whereas then there is such a multitude of things in the circle
of nature, wherefore is it now said by the voice of the blessed man, He
is Himself alone? Why, it is one thing to be, and another thing to BE
primarily, one thing to be subjectly to change, and another thing to BE
independently of change. For these are all of them in being, but they are
not maintained in being in themselves, and except they be maintained by the
hand of a governing agent, they cannot ever be. For all things subsist in
Him by Whom they were created, nor do the things that live owe their life to
themselves, nor are those that are moved, but do not live, by their own
caprice brought to motion. But He moveth all things, Who quickens some with
life, whilst some that are not so quickened He preserves, disposing them in
a wonderful way for last and lowest being. For all things were made out of
nothing, and their being would again go on into nothing, except the Author
of all things held it by the hand of governance. All the things then that
have been created, by themselves can neither subsist nor be moved, but they
only so far subsist, as they have obtained that they should be, are only so
far moved, as they are influenced by a secret impulse. For see the sinner
is ordained to be scourged by human accidents; the earth is parched in his
toilings, the sea tossed in the shipwreck of him, the air on fire in his
sweating, the heavens are darkened in floods upon him, his fellow creatures
burn with fire in oppressions of him, and the angelical powers are made
active in his troubling. Are all these things which we have named being
inanimate, or which we have named endued with life, put into activity by
their own instincts, or rather by impulses from God? Whatever therefore it
be that is arrayed against us outwardly, in that thing That Being is to be
regarded Who ordains it inwardly. In every case then He is to be regarded
as alone, Who IS primarily, Who also saith to Moses, I AM THAT I AM, Thus
shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, He that IS hath sent me unto you.
[Ex. 3, 14] And so, when we are scourged by the things that we see, we
ought anxiously to fear Him Whom we do not see. And so let the holy man
look down upon all that alarms him without, all that in respect of its being
would go on to nothing except it were ruled, and with the eye of the mind,
all else being kept back, let him see Him only in comparison with Whose
Being for ourselves to be is not to be, and let him say, He only is
Himself alone.
46.
Concerning Whose unchangeableness it is directly after added with propriety,
No man can turn away His thought, for as He is unchangeable in
Nature, so He is unchangeable in Will. For ‘none turneth away His thought,’
in that no man has power to resist His secret judgments. Since though there
have been persons who might seem to ‘have turned away His thought,’ yet His
interior thought was this, that they should by praying have power to avert
His sentence, and that they should obtain from Him what to effect with Him.
So let him say, and no man turneth away His thought, in that His
judgments once fixed can never be altered. Whence it is written, He hath
made a decree which shall not pass. [Ps. 148, 6] And again,
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
[Mark 13, 31] And again, For My thoughts are not as your
thoughts, neither are your ways as My ways. [Is. 55, 8] And so whenever
outwardly the sentence appears to be altered, inwardly the counsel is not
altered, in that in relation to each particular thing that is unalterably
established within, whatever is done alterably without. It goes on;
And
what His soul desireth, even that He doeth.
[xxxviii]
47.
Whereas God is exterior to all bodies, interior to all minds, that identical
power of His, whereby He penetrates all things, and regulates all things, is
called His ‘soul.’ Whose will not even those things oppose, which appear to
be done contrary to His will, seeing that even what He does not order, to
this end He sometimes suffers to be done, that so through this thing that
which He does order may be the more surely done. For the will of the
Apostate Angel is bad, yet by God it is wonderfully ordered, so that even
his very artifices as well should promote the welfare of the good, whom they
purify whilst they try. So then ‘whatever His soul desireth, that He
doeth,’ that from the same source as well He might fulfil His will, whence
there seemed to be a resisting of His will. Therefore let the holy man be
filled with alarm, and contemplating the weight of that great Majesty, let
him find himself out to be weak.
48.
But it is well to put the question amidst these words, and to say, ‘O
blessed Job, wherefore in the midst of such scourges dost thou dread still
further afflictions?’ Thou art already encompassed with sorrows, by
innumerable calamities thou art already straitly beset. Misfortune is to be
apprehended, which is not yet entered upon. Thou being in the midst of such
great sorrow, what dost thou apprehend? But mark how the holy man
satisfying our questioning adds;
Ver.
14. For when He hath accomplished His will in me, there are many other
such things with Him.
[xxxix]
49.
As if he said in plain words, ‘Already I weigh well what I am suffering, but
I still dread things that I may undergo.’ For He accomplishes His will in
me, in that He afflicts one with many strokes, but ‘there are many like
things with Him,’ in that if He is minded to strike, He sees yet further
where the stroke may be added to. Hence we may collect how fearful he was
before the scourge, who even after being scourged still dreads lest he
should be farther stricken. For seeing the incomprehensible force both of
power and penetration that resides in Him, the righteous man would not even
on the ground of the scourge upon him be secure. And hence fearing still
more He adds;
Ver.
15. Therefore am I troubled at His presence; when I consider I am afraid
of Him.
[xl]
50.
He is rightly ‘troubled at the presence of the Lord,’ who sets before the
view of his eyes the terribleness of His Majesty, and is throughly shaken by
dread of His Righteousness, whilst he sees that he is not fit to render his
accounts if he be judged with severity. Now it is rightly said, When I
consider I am afraid of Him, because the force of the Divine visitation
when a man considers little, He dreads but little, and in this life is as it
were secure, in proportion as he is a stranger to the consideration of the
interior strictness. For the righteous are ever turning back into the
secret chamber of the heart, contemplating the power of the hidden
strictness, presenting themselves to the judgment of the interior Majesty,
that they may one day be the more secure, in proportion as they would not
make themselves secure here so long as they lived. For when the minds of
evildoers refuse to consider what they have to fear, sooner or later by
rejoicing they are brought to that, which they do not by fearing in any way
escape. But see in regard to blessed Job, we know that he was devoted to
frequent sacrifices to God, that he was given up to acts of hospitality, to
the necessities of the poor, that he was humble towards his own dependants
even, kind towards those that opposed him, and yet he received such
numberless scourges, nor now became secure amidst them, but still
entertained fear, still thinking of the power of the Divine strictness he is
made to tremble. What then shall we miserable creatures say? what shall we
sinners say, if he so fears, who so acted? But let him make known whether
the weight of this great fear he has from himself. It goes on;
Ver.
16. For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me.
[xli]
51.
By divine gift the heart of the righteous man is said to be made soft, in
that it is penetrated with the fear of the judgment from Above. For that it
is soft, which is capable of being penetrated, but that is hard, which
cannot be penetrated. Whence it is said by Solomon, Happy is the man
that feareth always, but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into
mischief. [Prov. 28, 14] And so the merit of his dread he ascribes not
to himself but to his Creator, who says, For God maketh my heart soft,
and the Almighty troubleth me. Now the hearts of good men are not
secure but troubled, in that whilst they think of the heavy weight of the
future reckoning, they do not seek to enjoy rest here, and they interrupt
their security by the thought of the interior severity. Which persons
nevertheless, in the midst of the very chastenings of fear, often recall
their mind to the gifts, and that by comforting they may cheer themselves,
amidst this which they fear, they bring back the eye to the gifts which they
have received, that hope may buoy up him whom fear bears down. Hence too it
follows;
Ver.
17. Because I have not perished on account of the overhanging darkness;
neither hath the darkness covered my face.
[xlii]
52.
For he, being set under the scourge, dies off from the health of the body
‘on account of the overhanging darkness,’ who is for this reason smitten for
the past that he may be shielded from future punishments. For scourges
inflicted on the good either wipe out evil things done, or parry off future
ones which might have been done. But blessed Job, forasmuch as when set
under the rod he was neither purified from foregoing sins nor shielded from
those that threatened, but only had his goodness increased under the stroke,
says with confidence, Because I have not perished on account of the
overhanging darkness, neither hath the darkness covered my face. For he
that always had before his eyes the weight of divine dread, the face of his
heart the darkness of sin never covered. And he whom no punishments
followed, did not lose the health of the body ‘on account of the overhanging
darkness.’
53.
And it is to be noted, that in his own person telling what had gone before,
he never says ‘neither hath darkness touched my face,’ but ‘neither hath
darkness covered my face;’ for often even the hearts of the righteous do
thoughts arising defile, and affect them with the gratifications of things
earthly, but whereas they are speedily put away by the hand of holy
discretion, it is quickly brought to pass that darkness should not cover the
face of the heart, which was already touching it by unlawful enjoyment; for
often in the very sacrifice of prayer urgent thoughts press themselves on
us, that they should have force to carry off or pollute what we are
sacrificing in ourselves to God with weeping eyes. Whence when Abraham at
sunset was offering up the sacrifice, he was subject to birds setting on,
which he diligently drove away, that they might not carry off the sacrifice
which had been offered. So let us, when we offer to God a holocaust upon
the altar of our hearts, keep it from unclean birds, that the evil spirits
and bad thoughts may not seize upon that which our mind hopes that it is
offering up to God to a good end. It goes on;
C.
xxiv. 1. Times are not hidden from the Almighty; they that know Him,
know not His days.
[xliii]
54.
What are called ‘the days’ of God, save His very Eternity itself? which is
sometimes described by the announcement of ‘one day,’ as where it is
written, For one day in Thy courts is better than a thousand. [Ps.
84, 10] But sometimes on account of its length it is represented by
the expression of a number of days, whereof it is written, Thy years are
throughout all generations. [Ps. 102, 24] We then are wrapped up
within the divisions of time, through this that we are created beings. But
God, Who is the Creator of all things, by His Eternity encompasses our
times. And so he says, Times are not hidden from the Almighty;
they that know Him, know not His days; seeing that He, indeed, sees all
of ours to the comprehending thereof, but all that is His we are in no
degree able to comprehend. But whereas the nature of God is simple, it is
very much to be wondered at why he should say, They that know Him, know
not His days. For it is not that He Himself is one thing and His ‘days’
another; since God is that thing which He hath. For He hath eternity, yet
He is Himself Eternity. He hath Light, yet He is Himself His own Light. He
hath brightness, yet He is Himself His own Brightness. And so in Him it is
not one thing to be, and another thing to have. What does it mean then to
say, They that know Him, know not His days, except that even they
that know Him, do not know Him as yet? For even they who already hold Him
by faith, as yet know Him not by appearance. And whereas He, Whom we truly
believe, is Himself eternity to Himself, yet in what way there is that
eternity of Him we know not. For in the thing that we hear touching the
power of the Divine Nature, we are sometimes used to imagine such things as
we know by experience. Thus every single thing that begins and ends, is
bounded by the beginning and ending. And if it be by any little delay
stayed from being ended, it is called long; on which same length whilst a
man carries back the eyes of his mind in recollection, and stretches them
out before in anticipation, as it were over a space of time he expands them
in imagination. And when he hears the eternity of God mentioned in human
sort, to his mind on the stretch he sets forth long spaces of life, in which
same he may ever measure both what has gone away in the rear as a thing to
be retained in the memory, and what remains before as a thing to be looked
forward to in the intention.
55.
But as often as in the case of eternity we have such thoughts, we do not as
yet know eternity. For that which is neither commenced by a beginning nor
finished by an ending, is there, where neither is there looked forward to
that which shall come, nor does there pass by that which may be recalled to
mind, but that alone is, which is everlasting BEING. Which though we and
the Angels with a beginning begin to see to be, yet we see it to be without
beginning, where it is to be always without end, in such a way, that the
mind never extends itself to things following in a sequence, as if things
that are were multiplied and made long. For though by the Spirit of
Prophecy it is said, The Lord shall reign for ever and [LXX so.]
for worlds and further [Exod. 15, 18]; after the manner of Holy Writ,
the Spirit spoke in man’s way to men, so as to speak of ‘further’ there,
where looking forward could not enter. For eternity has no ‘further,’ which
has it always to be, wherein no part of its length goes by that another part
should take its place, but the whole at once is Being, that nothing should
seem to be wanting to it, which it may not see, in which eternity every
thing that is the mind sees to be at once not slow and long. But in
speaking such things of the days of eternity we are trying to see something
more than we do see. And so let it be rightly said, They that know Him
know not His days; in that though we already know God by faith, yet how
His Eternity is at once without a past before all ages, without a future
after all ages, long without delay, and everlasting without looking forward,
we do not see. Thus blessed Job, whilst bearing a type of Holy Church,
(because he restrains himself under a great bridling of knowledge, so as not
to be wiser than he ought to be,) and testifying that the days of God can
never be understood, directly brings back the view of the mind to the pride
of Heretics who aim to be deeply enlightened, and what they are incapable of
taking in at all, they boast that they know in perfect measure, Thus it goes
on;
Ver.
2. Others remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and
feed them.
[xliv]
[ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
56.
Whom does he denote by the title of ‘others,’ saving Heretics, who to the
bosom of Holy Church are strangers? For they the same persons remove
landmarks, in that the constitutions of the Fathers they by walking awry do
overstep. Concerning which same constitutions it is written, Remove not
the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set. [Prov. 22, 28] And
these violently take away the flocks, and feed them, in that all the
inexperienced, by wicked persuasions, they draw to themselves, and with
baneful lessons nourish them for slaughtering. For that the ignorant
multitudes are represented by the designation of ‘flocks,’ the words of the
Spouse bear witness, Who addresses His Espoused, in the words, Except
thou know thyself, O beautiful amongst women, depart forth, and go after the
footsteps of the flocks; i.e. ‘excepting that by living well, thou
knowest thine honour whereby thou art created after the likeness of God,
depart forth from the sight of the contemplation of Me, and follow the life
[al. ‘the way’] of the uninstructed multitudes. It goes on;
Ver.
3. They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow’s ox
for a pledge.
[xlv]
57.
Whom do we understand by the fatherless in this place, but the Elect of God,
who are set in tenderness of mind, are nourished with the efficacious grace
of faith, and do not yet see the face of their Father, Who has already died
in their behalf. And there are very many in the Church, who see certain
persons aiming at the things of heaven, having all earthly things in
contempt, and though they themselves are toiling with all their strength in
this world’s labours, yet to those whom they see panting after heavenly
things, from the goods which they possess in this world, they bring this
life’s aid and support. And though they cannot themselves follow a
spiritual life, yet to those reaching forth to the things above they gladly
yield means of support. For an ass is used to bear the burthens of men. He
then is as it were a kind of ass of the Elect, who whilst yielding himself
to earthly courses, carries loads for the uses of men. And often when
Heretics turn aside any such person from the bosom of Holy Church, they are
as it were driving off the ass of the fatherless, in that when they force
him into their own misbelief, they drive him away from tendance on the good.
58.
But who is to be understood by the ‘widow’ saving Holy Church, who is bereft
in the mean seas out of the sight of her slain Husband? Now ‘the ox’ of
this ‘widow’ is every individual preacher. And it often chances that
Heretics by their perverted tenets draw over even those very persons that
appeared to be preachers. And so they ‘take the widow’s ox,’ when they
carry off from Holy Church even a person preaching. And it is rightly added
here for a pledge. For when a pledge is taken away, one thing indeed
is held in our hands, but another yet further is sought for. And very often
Heretics for this reason try to carry off those that preach, that they may
draw to them their followers likewise. Thus ‘the widow’s ox is taken away
for a pledge,’ when the same person that practised preaching is for this
reason carried off, that others may follow after him. By whose downfall it
is very often brought about, that they also go forth from the bosom of Holy
Church, who, imbued with godly habits in her, seemed to be meek and humble.
Hence it is added;
Ver.
4. They have turned the needy out of the way; and have oppressed
together the meek of the earth.
[xlvi]
59.
For by the term of ‘poverty,’ humility is very often denoted, and very often
they that appear gentle and humble, if they have not learnt to maintain
discretion, fall by the examples of other men. But there are some Heretics,
who eschew to mix themselves with the multitudes, and seek the retirement of
a life of greater privacy, and these very often with the bane of their
persuasion poison those that they meet with the more, in proportion as by
the claims of their life they the more seem deserving of respect.
Concerning whom it is subjoined;
Ver.
5. Others as wild asses in the desert go forth to their work.
[xlvii]
60.
For the ‘onager’ is a wild ass; and in this place Heretics are rightly
likened to ‘wild asses,’ in that being let loose in their pleasures, they
are strange to the fetters of faith and reason. Hence it is written; A
wild ass used to the wilderness that snuffeth up the wind of his love at his
pleasure. For he is a wild ass used to the wilderness, who whilst he
does not cultivate the ground of his heart with excellence of discipline,
there dwells, where there is no fruit. Since he ‘snuffeth up the wind of
his love at his pleasure,’ in that the things that from the desire of
knowledge he conceives in his mind, are efficacious to puff up but not to
edify. Against whom it is said, Knowledge puffeth up, but charity
edifieth. [1 Cor. 8, 1] Hence here too the words are suitably
brought in; they go forth to their work. For it is not the work of
God, but their own work that they do, whereas they follow not right
doctrines, but their own desires. For it is written, He that walketh in
a perfect way, he served me. [Ps. 101, 6] So he that does not
walk in a perfect way, serves himself more than the Lord. It goes on;
Watching for a prey, they provide bread for their children.
[xlviii]
61.
They ‘watch for a prey,’ who are always trying to seize the words of the
righteous according to their own perception, that by them they may provide
the bread of error for evil minded children. Of which some bread it is said
in Solomon, in the words of the woman that bears the figure of heretical
wickedness, Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is
pleasant. [Prov. 9, 17] It goes on ;
Ver.
6. They reap a field not their own, and the vineyard of him whom they
have oppressed by violence they gather.
[xlix]
62.
By the name of a ‘field’ may be denoted the wide compass of Holy Scripture,
and Heretics ‘reap’ it not being their own, in that they carry away from it
sentences which are infinitely removed from their own notions; which same is
furthermore described by the title of a ‘vineyard,’ in that through the
sentences of truth it puts forth the clusters of the virtues; the owner of
which vineyard, i.e. the originator of Holy Scripture, they as it were
‘oppress with violence,’ because they endeavour violently to twist and turn
a sense of His upon [L. only reads ‘in the words’] the words of Holy Writ;
as He saith, But thou hast made Me to serve with thy sins, thou hast
given Me labour in thine iniquity. [Is. 43, 24] And they ‘reap the
vintage of that vineyard,’ in that they heap together therefrom clusters of
sentences after the bent of their own understanding. It may be that by the
title of a ‘field’ or of a ‘vineyard’ the Church Universal is set forth,
which corrupt preachers ‘reap,’ and by oppressing in His members the Author
of it, ‘gather the vintage,’ in that in bearing down upon the grace of our
Creator, whilst they seize off therefrom persons who seemed to be righteous,
what else is this but that they carry off ‘ears’ or ‘clusters’ of souls? Of
whom it is yet further added;
Ver.
7. They send men away naked, taking away their garments, who have no
covering in the cold.
[l]
63.
As garments cover the body, so do good works the soul. Whence it is said to
one, Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk
naked, and they see his shame. [Rev. 16, 15] So Heretics, when in the
minds of any they destroy good works, manifestly take away the garments of
clothing; and it is well said, who have no covering in the cold. For
‘covering’ has relation to righteousness, ‘cold’ to sin. And there are some
that in some points commit sin, but in some points follow good works. He
then that does wrong by one set of actions, and practises righteousness by
another, what is this man but clothed in the cold? He is cold, and he is
covered, in that in one part of practice he is made warm for righteousness,
in another he is made cold for sin. But whenever Heretics take away their
good works from such persons, they bring it to pass that they have not in
the cold wherewith to clothe themselves. Therefore it is rightly said,
They send men away naked, taking away their garments, who have no covering
in the cold; that is, for the cold of sin by itself to kill those whom
the warmth of a different practice in some degree covered. But it may be,
that by the cold there is denoted desire, by the garment practice. And
there are great numbers who are still agitated with wrong desires, but
striving with themselves in the spirit, they fight against themselves by
right works, and with good actions cover that which they perceive through
temptation to spring against them of the wrong sort. And so these from the
cause that they desire what is evil are cold, and by the act by which they
practise what is good, they are clothed. But when Heretics by wrong
statements do away with the works of a right faith, what else do they bring
to pass but that those that still feel the cold of carnal desires should die
without the clothing of good works? It proceeds;
Ver.
8. They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the
stones for want of a garment.
[li]
64.
‘The showers of the mountains’ are the words of the learned. Of which same
‘mountains’ it is delivered by the voice of Holy Church; I lifted up mine
eyes unto the hills: and so those persons, ‘the showers of the mountains
wet,’ in that the streams of the holy fathers fill them to the full. But as
we have already said before, ‘the garment’ we take for the covering of good
practice, with which a man is covered, that in the eyes of Almighty God the
filthiness of his depravity should be clothed over. Whence it is written,
Blessed are they whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
[Ps. 32, 1] Whom do we understand by the title of ‘the stones’ but the
strong ones within the bounds of Holy Church, to whom it is declared by the
first shepherd; Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house.
[1 Pet. 2, 5] And so those who on the grounds of their own practice have no
reliance, fly to the protection of the holy Martyrs, at their sacred bodies
set themselves to tears, and entreat, at their intercessions, to obtain
pardon [a]. What then do these do by such self-abasement, but because they
lack the covering of good practice ‘embrace the stones?’ It goes on;
Ver.
9. They have done violence in preying on the fatherless, and have
spoiled the common folk of the poor [vulgus pauperum].
[lii]
65.
When Heretics lack the good fortune of the present life, to weak minds they
recommend by words of soft persuasion things that are wrong; but if the good
fortune of the present time at all smiles upon them, they do not cease even
by violence to draw those they are able. So that by the title of
‘fatherless’ they are denoted who are still delicate, being set within the
pale of Holy Church, whose life their merciful Father by dying preserved,
who are already brought forward to a good purpose of mind, but are not yet
confirmed with any efficacy in good deeds. The Heretics, then, ‘do violence
in preying on the fatherless,’ in that upon the weak minds of the faithful
they make assault with violence in words and deeds. But ‘the common folk of
the poor’ are the uninstructed multitude, which, if it had the riches of
true knowledge, would never part with the covering of its faith. For
genuine teachers are like a kind of senators within the bounds of Holy
Church, who, while they multiply knowledge in the heart, abound in the true
riches in themselves. But Heretics ‘spoil the common sort of the poor,’ in
that whilst the learned they cannot, all the unlearned by their pestilent
preaching they strip naked of the covering of the faith. It goes on;
Ver.
10. From the naked, and those going without clothing and a hungered,
they have taken away the ears of corn.
[liii]
66.
What he calls naked he repeats in the words without clothing, but it
is one thing to be naked and another thing to go naked. Thus every person
that does neither what is good nor what is bad is naked and idle; but he
that does what is evil ‘goes naked,’ in that without the covering of good
practice he is going by the road of wickedness. But there are some who, as
knowing the evil of their wickedness, are in haste to be filled with the
bread of righteousness, and hunger to receive the sayings of Holy Scripture;
and these, as often as they turn over in thought the sentences of the
Fathers for the improvement of the mind, as it were from a good crop they
carry ears of corn. And so ‘from the naked and those going without clothing
and a hungered, Heretics take away ears of corn;’ in that whether any
persons be idle and never exercise themselves in any thing good, or whether
they are going by the way of shamelessness without the covering of good
practice, even if they at any time have now the desire to return to
repentance, and long for the food of the word, from those same being a
hungered they take away the ears of corn, because in the minds of those
persons by mischievous persuasions they destroy the sentences of the
Fathers. Nor do we improperly say that the ears of corn signify the
sentences of the Fathers, in that often whilst they are delivered in forms
of figurative diction, we remove the covering of the letter from them like
the chaff of corn, that we may be regaled with the marrow of the Spirit. It
goes on;
Ver.
11. They rest at mid-day amid the heaps of those that thirst with the
winepresses being trodden.
[liv]
67.
All those that persecute Holy Church, what else do they but ‘tread the
winepress?’ Which is allowed to be by the Divine appointment, that the
clusters of souls may flow out into spiritual wine, and being divested of
the corruptible flesh run into the heavenly realms as into a receptacle.
For whilst the unrighteous bear down the righteous, they as it were put
clusters of the grape beneath their feet. And the clusters being squeezed
run over for the fulness of the heavenly feast, which were before as if
hanging in the freedom of this air. Thus David the Prophet, regarding the
chastening of Holy Church [b], writes the Psalm ‘for the winepresses.’ Now
all that bear hard upon the life of the faithful, tread and thirst, in that
by doing things that are cruel they are rendered the more savage; being
blinded by just deserts of their ungodliness, they go about to do things
more grievous the more they have already done grievous things. But
Heretics, when they have not themselves the power of persecuting, stir up
the men of this world that have power, and incline their minds for the
exercising persecution, and inflame them with what persuasions they are
able. And when they see these pursuing cruel measures against the lives of
the Catholics, they as it were rest in the very fervour of the sun.
Therefore it is well said now, They rest at mid-day amidst the heaps of
those that thirst with the winepresses being trodden, in that they join
the multitude of those whom they see already employed in hard measures and
still thirsting after harder ones. And whilst the fervour of these
satisfies their desires, they rest in the deeds of such as in the mid-day.
It goes on ;
Ver.
12. They have caused men to groan out of the cities.
[lv]
68.
Whereas cities (civitates) are so called from the people living
together, (conviventes,) by the designation of ‘cities’ the churches
of the true faith are not unfitly represented, which being settled in the
different parts of the world constitute one Catholic Church, in which all
the faithful thinking what is right concerning God live together in
harmony. For this very harmony of people living together the Lord even by
the distinguishing of places set forth in the Gospel, when being about to
satisfy the people with five loaves, He bade them lie down by fifties or
hundreds in ranks, so that the crowd of the faithful might take its food at
once separate in places, and united in ways. For the rest of the jubilee is
contained in a mystery of the number fifty, and fifty is carried twice to be
brought to a hundred. Therefore because there is first rest from bad
practice, that the soul may afterwards rest more perfectly in the thoughts,
some lie down by fifties and some by hundreds, since there are some that
already enjoy the rest of practice from evil deeds, and there are some that
already enjoy the rest of the soul from evil thoughts. Wherefore since
Heretics often, attaching themselves to the powerful evil-doers of this
world, bear down upon the united life and harmony of the good, it is rightly
said in this place, They have caused men to groan from the cities.
Whom blessed Job rightly describes as ‘men,’ in that Heretics rather go
about to put an end to those, who with perfect steps run in the way of God
not effeminately and loosely but manfully; who when they see the wound of
misbelieve inflicted in the mind of the faithful little ones, always fall
back to crying out and groaning. And hence it is rightly said,
And
the soul of the wounded crieth, and God suffereth him not to go unavenged.
[lvi]
69.
For the soul of the righteous is ‘wounded,’ when the faith of the weak is
unsettled, unto whom this identical thing ‘to cry’ is to be now consumed for
the downfall of another. But God does not suffer him to go unavenged, in
that though by just appointment he suffers an unjust thing to be done, yet
He does not let that unjust thing go unavenged which He has justly permitted
to be done, seeing that at once by the injustice of the sons of perdition He
smites certain sins of the Elect, which He sees to be in them, and yet by
Eternal Justice does not neglect to smite the injustice of those smiters.
It goes on,
Ver.
13. They are rebellions against the light.
[lvii]
[LITERAL INTERPRETATION]
70.
Very often wicked people at once know the right things that they ought to
follow, and yet neglect to follow what they know; and so they are
‘rebellious against the light,’ in that following their desires, they
contemn the good that they know. They then that do wrong not from
ignorance, but pride, present the shield of their exaltation against the
darts of truth, that they may not be stricken in heart to their good. By
which same pride of theirs it is brought to pass, that whereas they will not
do the things that they know, neither do they now know the good they should
do, but that their own blindness should utterly exclude them from the light
of truth. And hence it is fitly subjoined,
They
know not the ways thereof, nor have returned by the paths thereof.
[lviii]
71.
For they that are first rebels knowing it, are afterwards blinded so as not
to know; as it is said of certain, Because that when they knew God they
glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful. [Rom 1, 21] Of whom it
is added a little while afterwards, God gave them over to a reprobate
mind, to do those things which are not convenient. [v. 28] For because
they would not glorify Him Whom they knew, being given over to a reprobate
sense, they were left to this fate, that they should not any longer know how
to estimate the evil things they did. And it is well said, They know not
the ways thereof, neither have returned by the paths thereof. For a
‘path’ is narrower than a ‘way.’ Now those that care not to do the plainer
good works, never attain to the understanding of the more refined. But
Almighty God waited that they might go ‘by the paths thereof.’ And would
that they had been minded even to have ‘returned’ by them, that the paths of
life which they would not keep by innocency they might at least keep by
repentance. Wherein of what great mercifulness are the bowels of God is
shewn, in that those whom He sees departing from Him, He seeks that they may
return. Hence after the sins; of those doing wrong having been enumerated,
He calls back the Synagogue by the voice of Prophecy, saying; Therefore
at least from this time cry unto Me, My Father, Thou art the guide of my
youth. [Jer. 3, 4] It proceeds;
Ver.
14. The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and
in the night is as a thief.
[lix]
[MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION]
72.
Whereas the murderer in the killing of his neighbours is wont to come upon
them chiefly in the silence of the night, why is it that he is said in this
place to ‘rise with the light’ in order to ‘kill the poor and needy,’ whilst
‘in the night’ he is described ‘to be as a thief?’ Now forasmuch as the
letter in the bare words alone is not consistent with itself, we are called
back for the investigating the hidden meanings of the Spirit. In Holy
Scripture the ‘morning’ is sometimes used to be put for the coming of the
Lord’s Incarnation, sometimes for the coming of the henceforth dreadful and
searching Judge, sometimes for the prosperity of the present life. Thus the
coming of the Lord’s Incarnation proved a ‘morning,’ as the Prophet saith,
The morning cometh, and also the night; [Is. 21, 12] in that both the
beginnings of the new light shone forth in the appearing of our Redeemer,
and yet the shades of their misbelief were not cleared off from the hearts
of the persecutors. Again, by the ‘morning’ the coming of the Judge is
denoted. Whence it is said by the Psalmist, Early I will destroy all the
wicked of the land. [Ps. 101, 8] As also when personating the Elect, he
says, In the morning will I stand in Thy presence, and will look up.
[Ps. 5, 3] Again, by the ‘morning’ this life’s prosperity is represented.
as where it is said by Solomon, Woe to thee, O land, when thy King is a
child, and thy princes eat in the morning. [Ecc. 10, 16] For whereas
the morning is the first part of the day and the evening the last, we ought
not ever to be regaled by this life’s prosperity which goes first, but by
those things which at the end of the day, that is at the termination of the
world, follow after. Thus those ‘eat in the morning,’ who by this world’s
successes are lifted up, and whilst they passionately interest themselves
with present things, pay no heed to the things of the future. For
whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. [1 John 3, 15] So the
‘murderer rises up with the earliest dawn,’ in that every wicked man is set
up in the glory of the present life, and bears down the life of those, who
whilst they thirst after the glory to follow, as it were anxiously look out
to be filled in the evening. For the bad man in this world whilst seizing
on the dignity of transitory power spreads himself out the more cruelly for
the enacting of what is evil, in proportion as there is no man he loves in
the bowels of charity. For as often as in the thoughts of his heart he is
maddened against the good, so often does he kill the life of the innocent.
73.
And if, God ordaining it, he suddenly lose the glory of the power he has
gotten, he changes his place but not his disposition, for he directly falls
away to that, which is subjoined, And in the night is as a thief.
For in the night of his tribulation and sunkenness, though he has no power
to put forth the hand of cruelty, yet to those whom he sees to be empowered,
he recommends counsels of wickedness, and goes about hither and thither, and
prompts whatever things he is able toward the injuring of the good. And he
is rightly called ‘as a thief,’ because in all those very evil counsels of
his he dreads lest he should be caught out. He then that towards the poor
and needy is a murderer in the morning, in the night like a thief is hidden
out of sight, in that every bad man, who in this life’s prosperity by
bearing down kills the life of the humble, being in adversity and abasement,
by evil counsels does mischief in a concealed way, and what he is unable to
accomplish by himself, that he puts in practice by attaching himself to the
powerful ones of this world. It goes on;
Ver.
15. The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No
eye shall see me.
[lx]
74.
There is nothing to hinder but that this may be understood even after the
latter, seeing that he who desires to commit adultery, seeks out the dark.
But whereas it is a sentence uttered against Heretics, it is meet that this
thing which is declared be understood in a mystical sense. Thus Paul says,
For we are not as many that adulterate [Vulg. adulterantes]
the word of God. [2 Cor. 2, 17] For the adulterer seeks not offspring,
but pleasure in the act of carnal copulation. And every bad man, and that
is also a slave to vain-glory, is rightly said to ‘adulterate’ the word of
God, because by the sacred word of Revelation he desires not to beget
children to God, but to exhibit his own knowledge. For he that is drawn to
speak by lust of glory, bestows his pains rather on gratification than the
production of children. And it is rightly added there, No eye shall see
me; because the adultery which is committed in the interior is very hard
indeed that it should be penetrated by the eye of man. Which same the
froward soul commits with the more assurance, in proportion as it does not
fear being seen by men, whom it may blush at. Moreover it is to be known
that as he that commits adultery joins to himself unlawfully the flesh of
another man’s wife, so all heretics, while they carry off the faithful soul
into their own error, are as it were bearing off another’s wife, in this
way; because the soul which is spiritually wedded to God and joined to Him
as if in a kind of bridechamber of love, when by wicked persuasions it is
led on into corruptness of doctrine, is as it were like the wife of another
defiled by the corrupter. And it is well added;
And
disguiseth his face.
[lxi]
75.
It is for this reason that the adulterer ‘disguises his face;’ that he may
not be known. Now every man who either in thinking or in acting lives
badly, ‘disguises his face,’ because by corruptness in doctrine or in
practice he is tending to this, that he should not be able to be recognised
in the Judgment by Almighty God. Hence He shall say to certain persons at
the end, I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.
[Matt. 7, 23] And what is the ‘face’ of the human heart, save the likeness
of God? which same face the bad man ‘disguiseth,’ that he may not be able
to be known, when his life discomposes either by bad deeds, or by the error
of misbelief. But every such person when he sees the righteous upheld by
this world’s good fortune, never ventures to prompt what is wrong to them,
but if any storm of adversity falls upon those persons, he directly breaks
out into words of pestilent persuasion. And hence it is added;
Ver.
16. In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for
themselves in the day time; they know not the light.
[lxii]
76.
For what is there here denoted by the title of ‘houses’ but consciences,
wherein we dwell, when we do any thing, busying ourselves with it? Whence
it is said to one on being healed, Return to thine own house, and shew
how great things God hath done unto thee [Luke 8, 39]; i.e. henceforth,
secure from the evil habit of sin, turn back to thy conscience, and be thou
roused into the voice of preaching.’ And so when in the present world the
righteous are brightened by the day of prosperity, to those persons the
leaders of false tenets are afraid to recommend what is wrong. But they
search out counsels, with all care they await the abasement of their
prosperity, that in the darkness of adversity they may by their persuading
dig through the minds of those, to whom whilst living prosperously they
never presumed to speak wrong things, whom as soon as they see under
adversity they rise up and maintain, that no otherwise saving in desert of
their sins those suffer such things; because loving the glory of the present
life alone, the stroke they take for condemnation. So ‘in the dark they dig
through houses,’ in that the minds of the good by their mere misfortune
alone to corrupt is their endeavour. Now it is well said, which they had
marked in the day time, in that when they saw the righteous to have been
made to shine with the light of prosperity, because they were prevented
speaking, they were only at liberty for concocting malevolent designs
against them. But whether it be heretics or any bad persons, they rejoice
when they see the righteous in a depressed condition, whereas when they see
those break forth to the height of power for ruling, they are confounded,
they are filled with fears, they are consumed with misery. And hence it is
added,
Ver.
17. If the morning suddenly appear, it is to them even as the shadow of
death.
[lxiii]
77.
For the wicked look for the afflicting of the righteous, and long to see
them in distress, and ‘in the dark they dig through houses,’ when the heart
of the innocent but weak ones they corrupt in the season of their casting
down by the worst mode of discourse. But it commonly happens that when they
see the good in a sunken state, on a sudden, by the secret appointment of
God, any righteous one that seemed to be borne down is upheld by some share
of the world’s power, and the prosperity of the present life smiles on him,
whom the darkness of adversity before overlaid. Which same prosperity of
that man when the wicked behold, as it has been said, they are troubled.
For directly they turn back to their own hearts, they bring back before
their minds’ eye whatever they remember themselves to have done amiss, they
fear for every particular sinful habit to be avenged in them, and by the
same means by which he that receives power is made to shine the bad man who
dreads to be corrected is darkened in sorrow. And so it is well said, If
the morning suddenly appear, they think it is the shadow of death. For
‘the morning’ is the mind of the righteous man, which quitting the darkness
of its sin, now breaks out unto the light of eternity, as it is said of Holy
Church likewise; Who is she that looketh forth as the morning? [Cant.
6, 10] Therefore in the same measure that every righteous person shining
with the light of righteousness is in the present life reared to a height
with honours, in the same measure before the eyes of the wicked comes the
‘darkness of death,’ in that they who remember that they have done bad
things are in fear of being corrected. For they desire always to have a
loose given them in their iniquities, to live free from correction, and from
sin to have delight; whose fatal mirth is itself appropriately described in
the words that are directly introduced,
And
they walk so in darkness, as in the light.
[lxiv]
78.
For with a froward mind they delight in deeds of wickedness, through their
sin they are day by day being dragged to punishment, and are full of
assurance. Hence it is said by Solomon, And there are wicked men that
are as secure as if they had the deeds of the righteous. Concerning
whom it is written again, Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the most
wicked doings. Thus ‘they walk in darkness as in the light,’ in that
they so delight in the night of sin as if the light of righteousness spread
around them. Or otherwise, whereas darkness not inappropriately represents
the present life, wherein the consciences of other men are not seen, whilst
our light is the eternal land, in which when we look at faces, our hearts
within us we mutually see; and because the wicked so love the present life,
and embrace these times of exile, as if they already reigned in their native
country, it is rightly said, They walk in darkness as in the light,
in that they are as full of gladness in the present state of blindness, as
if they already enjoyed the light of the eternal country. It goes on;
He is
light above the face of the water.
[lxv]
79.
From the plural number he returns to the singular because most frequently
one person begins what is bad, and numbers by imitating him follow after,
but the fault is primarily his, who to the bad men following after furnished
examples of wickedness; and hence the sentence frequently returns to him who
was the leader in sin. Now the surface of water is carried hither and
thither by the breath of the air, and not being steadied with any fixedness
is put in motion every where. And so the mind of the wicked man is ‘lighter
than the surface of water,’ in that every breath of temptation that touches
it, draws it on without any retarding of resistance. For if we imagine the
unstable heart of any bad man, what do we discover but a surface of water
set in the wind? For that man one while the breath of anger drives on, now
the breath of pride, now the breath of lust, now the breath of envy, now the
breath of falsehood forces along. And so he is ‘light above the surface of
the water,’ whom every wind of error when it comes drives before it. Whence
too it is well said by the Psalmist, O my God, make them like a wheel, as
the stubble before the wind. For the wicked are ‘made like a wheel,’ in
that being sent into the round of labour, whilst the things that are before
they neglect, and those which ought to be given up they follow, in the hind
parts they are lifted up, and in the fore parts they fall. And they are
likewise rightly compared to ‘stubble before the face of the wind,’ in that,
when the breath of temptation comes upon them, having no principle of
gravity to rest upon, they are only lifted up to be dashed to the ground,
and they often account themselves of some merit in proportion as the blast
of error bears them on high. It goes on;
Let
their portion be cursed in the earth; and let him not walk by the way of the
vineyards.
[lxvi]
[LITERAL INTERPRETATION]
80.
Whoever in the present life does what is right and meets with misfortunes,
is seen indeed to travail in adversity, but for the blessing of the
everlasting inheritance he is finished complete; but whoever does what is
bad and yet meets with good fortune, and does not even by the bountifulness
of blessings withhold himself from wicked deeds, is seen indeed to prosper,
but is tied fast by the bond of everlasting cursing. Hence it is rightly
said now, Let their portion be cursed in the earth, in that though he
is blessed for a time, yet he is held fast in the bond of cursing.
Concerning whom too it is fitly added, He walketh not by the way of the
vineyards. For ‘the way of the vineyards,’ is the rightness of the
Churches. Wherein nothing hinders but that we understand either the heretic
or every carnal man, because ‘the way of the vineyards,’ i.e. the rightness
of the Churches, is parted with, when either the right faith or the right
rule of just living is not held. For he ‘walks by the way of the
Vineyards,’ who taking to heart the preaching of the Holy Catholic Church,
deviates neither from the right line of faith nor of good deeds. Since to
‘walk in the way of the vineyards’ is to behold the Fathers of Holy Church
as hanging clusters of the vine, whose words whilst he heeds in the toils of
the journey, he is intoxicated with the love of Eternity. It goes on;
Ver.
19. Let him pass to excessive heat from the snow waters.
[lxvii]
81.
Iniquity is on this account likened to cold, because the mind that sins it
binds up with insensibility. Hence it is written; As a fountain has made
her waters cold, so she has made her wickedness cold. Contrariwise
charity is ‘heat,’ in this respect that it fires the soul it fills. Of
which ‘heat’ is written, Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many
shall wax cold. And there are some who while they shun the cold or
their wickednesses come to true faith or to the wearing of sanctity, but
because they presume on their own faculties for perceiving more than should
be, oftentimes in the faith which they receive they are minded to pry
curiously into the things that they do not take in, so as to be held fast in
God rather by reason than by faith. But because the mind of man has not
power to dive into the mysteries of God; all that they cannot get to the
bottom of by reason, they care not to believe, and by overmuch investigation
they fall into error. So these, when they did not as yet believe, or were
still busied for works of wickedness, were ‘snow waters;’ but when
abandoning carnal deeds, in the faith to which they have been brought they
aim to dive deeper than they have capacity for, they are hot beyond what
they ought to be. And so touching this wicked kind of person the sentence
of one prophesying only and not wishing the thing is rightly delivered.
Let him pass in overmuch heat from the snow waters. As if it were said
in plain speech; ‘he that is not restrained in humility under the fetters of
self-discipline, from his unbelief, or from the coldness of bad practice,
through immoderate wisdom falls into error. Whence too the great Preacher
getting quit of this excessive heat of too refined wisdom from the hearts of
his disciples saith well, Not to be wise of himself above that he ought
to be wise; but to be wise unto sobriety. [Rom. 12, 3] Lest perchance
excessive heat might destroy those, of whom ‘snow waters,’ i.e. unbelief, or
the fruits of deadened actions, held possession in the way to die. And
because it is very difficult for him who accounts himself wise to bring down
his mind to humility and believe those that preach right things, and reject
the view of his own wrong thought, it is rightly said;
Ver.
19. And his sin even to hell.
[lxviii]
82.
For sin is ‘brought even to hell,’ which before the end of the present life
is not by chastening reformed unto repentance. Of which same sin it is said
by John, There is a sin unto death, I do not say that he shall pray for
it. For ‘a sin unto death’ is a sin even until death in this way, that
the pardon of that sin is sought in vain which is not corrected here.
Concerning which same it is yet further subjoined;
Ver.
20. Let mercy forget him.
Almighty God’s mercy is said to ‘forget him,’ who has forgotten Almighty
God’s justice, in that whoever does not fear Him now as just, can never find
him merciful afterward. Which same sentence is not only held out against
him, who abandons the preachings of true faith, but against him likewise,
who being in the right faith lives a carnal life, in that the vengeance of
eternal condemnation is not got quit of, whether sin lie in faith or
practice. For though the kind of condemnation be unequal, yet guilt which
is not wiped away by repentance, there is no means supplied for the
absolving thereof. It goes on;
The
worm is his sweetness.
[lxix]
83.
Whoever desires to make his way prosperous in this world, to surpass the
rest of the world, to swell high with substance and honours, to this man no
doubt worldly business is a delight, and repose a labour. For he is very
much tired if the business of the world be lacking wherewith to be tired.
Now because it belongs to the nature of worms to be put in motion
unceasingly every moment, restlessness of thoughts is not unjustly denoted
by the name of ‘worms.’ And so ‘the worm is the sweetness’ of the wicked
soul, in that he is fed to his satisfaction from the same source whence he
is unceasingly agitated in restlessness. Moreover it may be that by the
title of the ‘worm’ the flesh may be more plainly denoted. Hence it is said
further on, How much less man that is a worm? or the son of man which is
a worm? [c.17, 14. and 25, 6] And so of everyone that is full of lust
and devoted to the pleasures of the flesh, how great is the blindness is
shewn, when it is said, The worm, is his sweetness. For what is our
flesh but ‘rottenness’ and ‘the worm?’ And whosoever pants with carnal
desires, what else does he but love ‘the worm?’ For what the substance of
the flesh is, our graves bear witness. What parent, what faithful friend
can bear to touch the flesh of one however beloved fraught with worms? And
so when the flesh is lusted after, let it be considered what it is when
lifeless, and it is understood what it is that is loved. For nothing has so
much efficacy to subdue the appetite of carnal desire, as for every one to
consider, what that which he loves alive will be when dead. For when we
consider the corruption of the flesh, we see in a moment, that when the
flesh is unlawfully lusted after, corruption is desired. Therefore it is
well said of the mind of the lustful man, the worm is his sweetness,
in that he who is on fire with the desire of carnal corruption, pants after
the stink of rottenness.
All
this, as I remember that I promised in the beginning of this third part, I
have run over in brief, that the things which follow after in this work, as
they are involved in great obscurity, may with God’s aid be more fully gone
into.
BOOK XVII