ib. 27. and nakedness. And let him say, when caught amidst such numerous assaults, with what a watchful defence he at the same time guarded the camp too. For he forthwith proib. 28. ceeds, Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. See how bravely he takes upon himself those fights, how mercifully he spends himself in defending his neighbours. He describes the ills which he suffers, he subjoins the good that he imparts. So let us consider how toilsome it must be, at one and the same time to undergo troubles without, and to defend the weak within. Without, fightings are his lot, in that he is torn with stripes and bound with chains; within he suffers alarm, in that he dreads lest his sufferings do a mischief, not to himself but to his disciples. And hence 1 Thess. he writes to those same disciples, saying. That no man should ' * be moved by these ajfiictions; for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. For in suffering himself he feared for the fate of others, lest while the disciples perceive him to be afflicted for the faith with stripes, they be backward to confess themselves to be of the faithful. Oh! bowels of boundless love! All that he suffers himself, he disregards, and is concerned lest the disciples should suffer ought of evil prompting within the heart. He slights the wounds of the body in himself, and heals the wounds of the soul in others. For the righteous have this proper to themselves, that in the midst of the pain of their own woe, they never give over the care of others' weal, and when in suffisring afflictions they grieve for themselves, still by giving needful instruction they provide for others, and are like some great physicians, that being smitten are brought into a state of sickness. They themselves suffer from the lacerations of the wound, yet they proffer the salves of saving health to others.
But it is very far less toilsome, either to instruct when you are not suffering, or to suffer when you are not giving instruction. Hence holy men skilfully apply their energies to both objects, and when they chance to be stricken with afflictions, they so meet the wars from without, that they take anxious thought that their neighbour's interior be not rent and torn. Thus holy men stand up courageously in the line, Holy Church, looking above, reviles not when wronged. 15Ji and on the one band bmite with the iaveUn the breasts Book . III.
advanced against them, and on the other cover with the shield their feeble comrades in the rear. And thns with a rapid glance they look out on either side, that they may at the same time pierce their daring foes in front, and shield from wounds their trembling friends behind. Therefore, because holy men then are skilled so to meet adversities without, that they are at the same time able to correct froward counsels within, it may be well said. Thou speakest as one of (lie foolish women speakelh. For as it is said to the Elect, Act like men, and He shall comfort your heart; so Pg. 31, the minds of caraal men, which serve God with a yielding Vuig. purpose, are not undeservedly called ' women.'
4 1. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil f As though he said, * If we are bent upon eternal blessings, what wonder if we meet with temporal evils?' Now these blessings Paul had his eye fixed on with earnest interest, when he submitted with a composed mind to the ills that fell upon him, saying. For /Rom. 8, reckon that the sufferings of this present time are )wt worthy ^^' to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
In all this did not Job sin icith his lips. When holy men undergo persecution both within and without, tliey not only never transgress in injurious expressions against God, but they never launch words of reviling against their very adversaries themselves; which Peter, the leader of the good, rightly warns us of when he says, But let tiane of you ^ Pet. 4, suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an^ evil speaker. \ g^ For the evil speaker's way of suffering is, in the season of his ^"^g* suffering, to break loose in abuse at least of his persecutor. But forasmuch as the Body of our Redeemer, viz. Holy Church, so bears the burthen of her sorrows, that she never transgresses the bounds of humility by words, it is rightly said of this sorrower; In all this did not Job sin with his lips.
Ver. 11. Now when Job's three friends heard of all this ev^il that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Elijjhaz the Temanite^ and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naainathite.
42. In the Preface to this work we said that the friends xxii.
160 Heretics comefroyn ' iheir oioi placed i. e, pride.
Job 2, of blessed Job, though tliey come together to hhn with a good purpose, yet do for this reason bear the likeness of Alleg.
heretics, in that they fall away into sin by speaking without discretion; and hence it is said to them by blessed Job, Job 13, Surely 1 icould speak to the Almighty, I desire to reason with God; but ye are forgers of lies, and followers of corrupt doctrines. Thus Holy Church, which is set in the midst of tribulation all this time of her pilgrimage, whilst she suffers wounds, and mourns over the downfall of her members, has other enemies of Christ besides to bear with, under I Christ's name. For to the increasing of her grief, heretics also meet together in dispute and strife, and they pierce her with unreasonable words like as with a kind of dart.
43. And it is well said, they came every one from his own place. For ' the place' of heretics is very pride itself For except they first swelled with pride in their hearts, they would never enter the lists of false assertion. For the place of the wicked is pride, just as reversely humility is ' the Eccles. place' of the good. Whereof Solomon saith, If the spirit of ' ' the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place. As though he said in plain words, ' If thou perceivest the spirit of the Tempter to prevail against thee in aught, quit not the lowliness of penitence;' and that it was the abasement of penitence that he called ^ our place,' he shews by the words that follow, Mb. fidiym^, for healing^ pacifieth great offences. For what else " ^* is the humility of mourning, save the remedy of sin. Heretics therefore ' come each from his place,' in that it is from pride tliat they are urged to attack Holy Church.
44. And their froward conduct, moreover, is collected from an interpretation of their names. For they are named ' Eliphaz,' ' Baldad,' ' Sophar;' and as we have said above, Eliphaz is, by interpretation, rendered, ' contempt of God.' For if they did not condemn God, they would never entertain wrong notions concerning Him. And Baldad is rendered * oldness alone.' For while they shrink from being fairly defeated, and seek to be victorious with froward purpose, they pay no regard to the conversation of the new life, and all that they give heed to is ' of oldness alone.' And Sophar, 'dissipating prospect;' for they that are set in Holy Church humbly contemplate with true faith the mysteries Meaning of the several habitations of Job* s friends. 161 of their Redeemer, but when heretics come to them with Book false statements, they * dissipate the prospect,' in that they turn aside from the aim of right contemplation the minds of those, whom they draw over to themselves.
45. Now the places from whence the\' come are described in fitting accordance with the practices of heretics. For there is aThemanite, and a Suhitc, and a Naamathite named. Now Theina is by interpretation * the south;' Suhi^ ' speaking;' Nomina, * comeliness.' But who does not know tliat the south is a hot wind; so heretics, as they are over ardent to be wise, studv to have heated wits bevond what needs. For sloth goes with the torpor of cold, whilst reversely the restlessness of unrestrained curiosity accords with unabated teeming heat, and so because they long to feel the heat of wisdom beyond what they ought, they are said to come from * the south.' Paul busied himself to cool the minds of the faithful to this heat of unrestrained wiseness, when he said, Not to be overwise beyond what he ought to be wise, Rom. but to be wise nnto sobriety. It is hence that David smites Vuig. at the valleys of salt, viz. in that our Redeemer, by the 2 5am. piercing of His severity, extinguishes the foolishness of unre- ' strained wit in all that entertain wrong notions regarding Him. And Suhi is rendered ' talking,' for they desire to be warm-witted, not that they may live well, but that they may talk high; thus they are said to come from Theina and Suhi, i. e. fi'om * heat,' and * talkativeness,' for herein, viz. that thev shew themselves as studious of Scripture, they teem with words of talkativeness, but not with bowels of love. And Naama is interpreted * comeliness,' for because they aim not to be, but to appear learned, by words of deep learning ihey put on the guise of well living, and by their teeming wit in talk, exhibit in themselves a form of * comeliness,' that by the comeliness of the lips they may more easily recommend evil counsels, in proportion as they commonlv hide from our senses* the foulness of their lives, liut neither are the very names of the j)laces set down in undistinguished order in the relation. For Thema is set first, then Suhi, and next Naama, in that first an excessive warmtli of wit sets them on fire, next smartness of speech lifts them up, and I al. u ther hide by the running of their thought. M 162 Heretics kindly called friends. They know not the Church, Job 2, then, finally, dissimulation presents them comely to the eyes of men.
For they had made an appointment together to come ana mourn with him and to comfort him, xxiii. 46. Heretics * make an appointment together,' when they hold in common certain false opinions contrary to the Church, and in the points wherein they are at variance with the truth agree together in falsehood. But all they that give us instruction concerning eternity, what else are they doing, save amid the tribulations of our pilgrimage administering consolation to us? And forasmuch as heretics desire to impart to Holy Church their own opinions, they come to her as though to comfort her. Nor is it strange if they who set forth a figure of enemies, are called friends, when it is said Mat.26,to the very traitor. Friend^ wherefore art thou corned and the Lukeie "^^^^ ™^^^ *^^^ ^^ consumed in the fire of hell, is called son 25- by Abraham. For though the wicked refuse to be amended by us, yet it is meet that we style them friends, not of their wickedness, but by virtue of our own lovingkindness.
Ver. 1 2. And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept. xxiv. 47. All heretics, in contemplating the deeds of Holy Church, lift up their eyes, in that they are themselves down below, and when they look at her works, the objects, which they are gazing at, are set high above them. Yet they do not know her in her sorrow, for she herself covets to * receive evil things' here, that so being purified she may attain to the reward of an eternal recompence, and for the most part she dreads prosperity, and joys in the hard lessons of her training. I Therefore heretics, who aim at present things as something great, know her not amidst her wounds. For that, which they see in her, they recognise not in the reading of their own hearts. While she then is gaining ground even by her adversities, they themselves stick fast in their stupefaction, because they know not by experiment the things they see.
And they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven.
XXV. 48. Like as we take the garments of the Church for the whole number of the faithful; (and it is hence that the Is. 49, Prophet saith, Thou shall clothe thee with them all as with They rend those Ihey put on. Their thouyJits like dust. 163 an ornament;) so the garments of heretics are all they that Book attaching themselves with one accord to them are implicated in their errors. But heretics have this point proper to I themselves, that they cannot remain stationary for long in that stage wherein they leave the Church, but they are day by day precipitated into further extremes, and by hatching worse opinions they split into manifold divisions, and are in most cases parted the wider from one another by their contention and disordcrment. Thus because all those, whom they attach to their ill faith', are further torn by them in ' perfiendless splitting, it may well be said that the friends who come rend theii* garments', but when the garments are rent, the body ' rumis shewn through; for it oftentimes happens, that when the^"° followers are rent and torn, the wickedness of their imaginings is disclosed, for discord to lay open the artifices, which their great guilt in agreeing together had heretofore kept close.
49. But now, they ' sprinkle dust upon their heads to heaven.' What is represented by c^W5/, saving earthly senses; what by the head, saving that which is our leading principle, viz. the mind \ What is set forth by ' heaven,' but the law of heavenly revelation } So, to ' sprinkle dust upon the head to heaven,' is to con'upt the mind with an earthly perception, and to put earthly senses upon heavenly words. Now they generally canvas the words of God more than they take them in, and for this reason they sprinkle dust upon their heads, forasmuch as they strain themselves in the precepts of God, following an earthly sense, beyond the powers of their mind.
Ver. 13. So they sat down with him vpon the yroityid seven days and seven nights.
50. In the day we make out the objects that we look at, xxvi. but in the night, either from the blindness we discern nothing, or from the uncertainty we are bewildered. Accordingly by * day' we have * understanding' represented, and by * night,' * ignorance.' And by the number seven the sum of completeness is ex})ressed; and hence in seven days, and no more, the whole of this transitory period is accomplished. How then is it that the friends of blessed Job are said to sit with him seven days and seven nights, saving that heretics, whether in those things wherein they admit the true light, 164 Sitting with Job is a partial right belief.
Job 2, or in those wherein they are under the darkness of ignorance, — ^^' as it were feign to let themselves down to Holy Church in ' her weakness, while under colour of caresses, they are preparing their snares to catch her withal? and though, whether in the things which they do understand, or in those which they are unable to understand, through the swelling^ of a bloated self-elation, they account themselves great in their own eyes, yet sometimes in semblance they bend to Holy Church, and while they make soft their words, they insinuate their venom. ' To sit upon the earth,' then, is to exhibit somewhat of the figure of humility, that whilst their exterior appears humble, they may recommend the proud doctrines which they teach.
51. But it is possible that by * the earth' may be also represented the Incarnation of our Mediator. And hence it Exod ^^ ^^^^ ^^ Israel, An altar of earth shall thou then make unto 20, 24. Me. For to make an altar of earth for the Lord is to trust in the Incarnation of our Mediator. For then our gift is received by God, when our humility has placed upon His Altar, i. e. upon the belief of our Lord's Incarnation, all the works that it performs. Thus we place our offered gift upon an altar of earth, if our actions be firmly based upon faith in the Lord's Incarnation. But there are some heretics, who do not deny that the Incarnation of the Mediator took place, but either think otherwise concerning His Divinity than is true, or in the character of the Incarnation itself are at variance with us. They then that with us declare the true Incarnation of our Redeemer, as it were sit alike with Job upon the earth, and they are described as sitting upon the ground seven days and seven nights; forasmuch as w hether in this very thing that they understand somewhat of the fulness of truth, or in this that they are thoroughly blinded by the darkness of their foolish minds, they cannot yet deny the mystery of the Incarnation. And so to sit upon the earth with blessed Job, is to believe in the true Flesh of our Redeemer in unison with Holy Church.
52. Now sometimes heretics WTeak their animosity against us in punishments as well, sometimes they pursue us with words only. Sometimes they provoke us when quiet, but h typo. There can be no doubt that ' typho' is meant.
Heretics keep silence till opportunity. 165 sometimes, seeing us hold our peace, they remain quiet, and Book they are friendly to the dumb, but hostile to them that open '— their lips, and hence forasmuch as blessed Job had not as yet said aught to them in converse, it is rightly added. And none spake a word unto him. For we find our adversaries bold their peace, so long as we forbear by preaching to beget sons of the true faith. But if we begin to speak aright, we immediately feel the weight of their reviling by their reply; forthwith they start into hostility, and burst out into a voice of bitterness against us, doubtless because they fear lest the hearts, which the weight of folly presses down beneath, should be drawn up on high by the voice of him that speaketh aright. Therefore, as we have said, because our enemies love us when mute, and hate us when we speak, it is rightly said in the case of Job keeping silence, Aiid none spake a word unto him.
53. Yet sometimes when they see the hearts of believers xxvii. vacant through sloth, they do not cease to scatter the seeds of error by speech. But when they see the minds of the good busied on high, seeking the way back to their country, earnestly sorrowing over the toils of this place of exile, they rein in their tongues with anxious heed; in that they see that whilst they assail those sorrowing hearts with fruitless words, they are speedily made to hold their peace. And hence whereas it is well said, none spake a word unto him, the cause of their silence is immediately brought in by implication, when it is said, For they saw that his grief was very great.
54. For when our hearts are pierced with violent griefxxviii. from the love of God, the adversary fears to speak frowardly at random, for he sees that by provoking the fixed mind, he not only has no power to draw it to untoward ways, but that by its being stirred up, he may chance to lose even those whom he held bound.
55. Perhaps it may influence some that we have so made out these particulars, that what was well done by the friends should denote that which was to be ill done by heretics. Yet in this way it very often happens that a circumstance is virtue in the historical fact, evil in its meaning and import, just as an action is sometimes in the doing ground of condemn- Alleg 166 Da old in Iris sin a type of Christ, Job 3, ation, but in the writing, a prophecy of merit, which we shall the sooner shew, if we shall bring forward one testimony of Holy Writ to prove both points. For who, that hears of it, not only among believers but of unbelievers themselves also, does not utterly loathe this, that David walking upon his solar' lusteth after Beershebah the wife of Uriah? Yet when he returns back from the battle, he bids him go home to 2 Sam. wash his feet. Whereupon he ansvvered at once, The Ark of the Lord ahideth in tents, shall I then take rest in my house f David received^ him to his own board, and delivers to him letters, through which he must die. But of whom does David walking upon his solar bear a figure, saving of Ps. 19, Him, concerning Whom it is written. He hath set his taher-' tiacle in the sun? And what else is it to draw Beersheba to himself, but to join to Himself by a spiritual meaning the Law of the formal letter, which was united to a carnal people? For Beersheba is rendered ' the seventh well,' assuredly, in that through the knowledge of the Law, with spiritual grace infused, perfect wisdom is ministered unto us. And whom does Uriah denote, but the Jewish people, whose name is rendered by interpretation, * My light from God?' Now forasmuch as the Jewish people is raised high by receiving the knowledge of the Law, it as it were glories ' in the light of God.' But David took from this Uriah his wife, and united her to himself, surely in that the strong-handed One, which is the rendering of ' David,' our Redeemer, shewed Himself in the flesh, whilst He made known that the Law spake in a spiritual sense concerning Himself. Hereby, that it was held by them after the letter, He proved it to be alienated from the Jewish people, and joined it to Himself, in that He declared Himself to be proclaimed by it. Yet David bids Uriah ' go home to wash his feet,' in that when the Lord came Incarnate, He bade the Jewish people turn back to the home of the conscience, and wipe off with their tears the defilements of their doings, that it should under- > Vulg. solarium, which S. Greg. 1. xxii. c. 87. Corn, a Lapide ad loc.
derives from ' sol,' though perhaps it quotes also St. Ambrose, but says the is rather to be deduced from 'solum,' allegory is of the less perfect kind. St.
like 'terrace' from * terra,' Still the Ephraim, in Sam. t. i.p. 409. c. speaks event seems typical. St. Augustine of Uriah in a similar way. See also p.
has a similar interpretation, with some 443. A. difference in particulars, Contr. Faust. •« Several Mss. ' suscipit.'
Uriah, in well doing, a type of erring Jews. 167 stand the precepts of the Law in a spiritual sense, and find- Book ing the fount of Baptism after the grievous hardness of the_JiI:^ commandments, have recourse to water after toil.
But Uriah, who recalled to mind that the ark of the Lord was under tents, answered, that he could not enter into his house. As if the Jewish people said, I view the precepts of God in carnal sacrifices, and 1 need not to go back to the conscience in following a spiritual meaning. For he, as it were, declares ' the ark of the Lord to be under tents,' who views the precepts of God as designed for no other end than to shew forth a service of carnal sacrifice. Yet when he would not return home, David even bids him to his table, in that though the Jewish people disdain to retura home into the conscience, yet the Redeemer at His coming avouches the commandments to be spiritual, saying. For had ye be- John 5, lieved Moses, ye would ^ have believed Me: for he wrote o/fy, Me, And thus the Jewish peo])le holds that Law, which uw/W tells of His Divinity, whereunto that people deigns not to^^^"^^^ give credence. And hence Uriah is sent to Joab wnth letters, according to which he is to be put to death, in that the Jewish people bears itself the Law, by whose convicting testimony it is to die. For whereas holding fast the commandments of the Law it strives hard to fulfil them, clearly it does itself deliver the judgment whereupon it is condemned. ^Vhat, then, in respect of the fact, is more foul than David?
What can be named purer than L^riah? What again in respect of the mystery can be discovered holier than David, what more faithless than Uriah? Since the one by guiltiness of life prophetically betokens innocency, and the other by innocency of life ])rophctically represents guilt. Wherefore it is with no inaptitude that by the things that are well done by the friends of Job we have represented to us those to be done amiss by heretics, in that it is the excellency of Holy Writ so to relate the past as to set forth the future; in such wise to vindicate the case in the fact, that it is against it in the mystery; so to condemn the things done, that they are commended to us as fit to be done in the way of mystery.
56. So then as we have completed the allegorical mys-Mop^^L. teries, unravelling them piece by piece, let us now proceed to follow out the sense of tlie moral truth, hastily touching 168 Job's sorea like inioluniary ill Ihoughls from Satan.
Job 2, thereupon, for the mind hastens forward to make out the — - parts of greater difficulty, and if it is for long wrapped up in the plain parts, it is hindered from knocking as it were fit at those which are closed. Oftentimes our old enemy, after he has brought down upon oiu* mind the conflict of temptation, retires for a time from his own contest, not to put an end to his wickedness, but that upon those hearts, which he has rendered secure by a respite, returning of a sudden, he may make his inroad the more easily and unexpectedly. It is hence that he returns again to try the blessed man, and demands pains on the head of him, whom nevertheless the Supreme Mercy while keeping fast yields up to him, saying, \ er. 6. Behold^ he is in tJdne hand: hut save his life.
xxix. 57. For He so forsakes us that He guards us, and so guards us that by the permitted case of temptation. He shews us our state of weakness. And he immediately icent forth from before the face of the Lord, and by smiting him whom He had thus gotten he wounded him from the sole of his foot even to his crown. Thus, viz. in that when he receives permission, beginning with the least, and reaching even to the greater points, he as it were rends and pierces all the » corpus body of the mind ^ with the temptations which he brings 2 ani- upon it, yet he does not attain to the smiting of the souP, in mam that deep at the bottom of all the thoughts of the heart, the interior purpose of our secret resolution holds out, in the i midst of the very wounds of gratification which it receives, so that although the enjoyment may eat into the mind, yet it does not so bend the set intent of holy uprightness as to bring it to the very softness of consenting. Yet it is our duty to cleanse the mere wounds of enjoyment themselves by tlie sharp treatment of penance, and if aught that is dissolute springs up in the heart to refine it with the chastening hand of rigorous severity. And hence it is rightly added immediately, Ver. 8. And he look him a potsherd to scrape the humour withal. XXX. 58. For what do we understand by the ' potsherd,' saving forcibleness of severity, and what by the ' humour,' save laxity of unlawful imaginations? And thus we are smitten, and * scrape off the humour with a potsherd,' when after Ill thouyhts to he cleansed off by self-chastisement. 169 the defilements of unlawful thoughts, we cleanse ourselves Book III by a sharp judgment. By the potsherd too we may understand the frailness of mortality. And then to * scrape the humour with a potsherd,' is to ponder on the course and frailty of our mortal state, and to wipe off the rottenness of a wi'etched self-gratification. For when a man bethinks himself how soon the flesh returns to dust, he readily gets the better of that which originating in the flesh foully assails him in the interior. So, when bad thoughts arising from temptation flow into the mind, it is as if humour kept running from a wound. But the humour is soon cleansed away, if the frailty of our nature be taken up in the thought, like a potsherd in the hand.
59. For neither are these suggestions to be lightly esteemed, which though they may not draw us on so far as to the act, yet work in the mind in an unlawful way. It is hence that our Redeemer was come, as it were, ' to scrape the humour from our wounds,' when He said, Ye have heard Matt. 5, that it was said by them of old time, Thou shall not commit ' adultery. But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. ' The humour,' therefore, * is wiped ofi',' when sin is not only severed from the deed, but also from the thought. It is hence that Jerubbaal saw^ the Angel judg. e, when he was winnowing com from the chaff, at whose ^^* ^'''* bidding he forthwith dressed a kid and set it upon a rock, and poured over it the broth of the flesh, which the Angel touched with a rod, and thereupon fire coming out of the rock consumed it. For what else is it to beat corn with a rod, but to separate the grains of virtues from the chaff of vices, with an upright judgment? But to those that are thus employed the Angel presents himself, in that the Lord is more ready to communicate interior truths in proportion as men are more earnest in ridding themselves of external things. And he orders a kid to be killed, i. e. every appetite of the flesh to be sacrificed, and the flesh to be set upon a rock, and the broth thereof to be poured upon it.
Whom else does the ' rock' represent, saving Him, of Whom it is said by Paul, And that rock was Christ / We * set flesh i Cor. then upon the rock,' when in imitation of Christ we crucify ^^' **' 170 Care of thoughts to be practised with humility.
Job 2, our body. He too pours the juice of the flesh over it, who, — — '- — in following the conversation of Christ, empties himself even of the mere thoughts of the flesh themselves. For ' the broth' of the dissolved flesh is in a manner ' poured upon the rock,' when the mind is emptied of the flow of carnal thoughts too. Yet the Angel directly touches it with a rod, in that the might of God's succour nev^er leaves our striving forsaken. And fire issues from the rock, and consumes the broth and the flesh, in that the Spirit, breathed upon us by the Redeemer, lights up the heart with so fierce a flame of compunction, that it consumes every thing in it that is unlawful either in deed or in thought. And therefore it is the same thing here ' to scrape the humour with a potsherd,' that it is there to ' pour the broth upon the rock.' For the perfect mind is ever eagerly on the watch, not only that it may refuse to do bad acts, but that it may even wipe off" all that is become foul and soft in it, in the workings of imagination. But it often happens that war springs up from the very victory, so that when the impure thought is vanquished, the mind of the victor is struck by self-elation. Therefore it follows that the mind must be no otherwise elevated in purity, than that it should be heedfully brought under in humility. And hence, whereas it was said of the holy man. And he took a potsherd, and scraped the humour withal, it is forthwith fitly added.
And he sat down upon a dunghill.
xxxi. 60. For * to sit down upon a dunghill' is for a man to entertain mean and abject notions of himself For us to ' sit upon a dunghill,' is to carry back the eye of the mind, in a spirit of repentance, to those things which we have unlawfully committed, that when we see the dung of our sins before our eyes, we may bend low all that rises up in the mind of pride. He sits upon a dunghill, who regards his own weakness with earnest attention, and never lifts himself up for those good qualities, which he has received through grace. Did not Abraham sit by himself upon a dunghill, Gen. 18, when he said. Behold, now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am hut dust and ashes? For it is plain to see in what place he had sot himself, who, at the very moment that he was speaking with God, reckoned him- Humility aided by close examination. 171 self to be * dust and ashes.' If he then thus despises him- Book self who is raised to the honour of converse with the Deity