38. But if we would not then have inquest made on our night, we must take especial care now to exercise a watchful eye in examining it, that no sin whatever may remain unpunished by us, that the froward mind be not bold to vindicate what it has done, and by that vindication add iniquity to iniquity. And hence it is rightly added, Ver. 7. Lo, let that flight be solitary, and worthy of no praise.
xxi. 39. There are some men that not only never bewail what they do, but who do not cease to uphold and applaud it, and verily a sin that is upheld, is doubled. And against this Ecclus. j^ is rightly said by one. My son, hast thou sinned? add not ' ' again thereto. For he * adds sin to sin,' who over and above maintains what he has done amiss; and he does not ' leave the night alone,' who adds the support of vindication Night of sin best left solitary. IVho curse it. 209 also to the darkness of his fault. It is hence that the first Book man, when called in question concerning the * night' of his — error, would not have the same * night' to be * solitarj^,' in that while by that questioning he was called to repentance, he added the props of self-exculpation, saying. The icoynan whom Thou gavest to be with me^ she gave me of the tree., and I did eat; i. e. covertly turning the fault of his transgression upon his Maker; as if he said, ' Thou gavest me occasion of transgressing, Who gavest me the woman.' It is hence that in the human race the branch of this sin is drawn out from that root so far as to this present time, that what is done amiss should be yet further maintained. Let him say then. Let that night be solitary^ and not worthy of any praise. As though he besought in plain words, * Let the fault that we have done remain alone, lest while it is praised and upheld, it bind us a hundredfold more in the sight of our Judge. We ought not indeed to have sinned, but would that, by not adding others, we would even leave those by themselves, Avhich we have committed.'
40. But here it is to be impressed upon our minds, that he in a true sense bears hard upon his sin, whose heart is no longer set to the love of the present state of being by any longing for prosperity, who sees how deceitful are the caresses of this world, and reckons its smiles as a kind of persecution; and hence it is well added, Ver. 8. Let them curse it that curse the day.
4L As if he said in plain words; * Let them strike the darkness of this night by truly repenting, who henceforth despise and tread u})on the light of worldly prosperity.' For if we take * the day,' for the gladness of delight, of this * night' it is rightly said. Let them curse it that curse the day. In that, indeed, they do truly chastise the misdeeds committed with the visitations of j)enancp, who are henceforth earned away by no sense of delight after deceitful goods. For of those whom other mischievous practices still delight, it is all false whereinsoever they are seen to bewail one set they have been guilty of. But if, as we have said above, we understand thereby the crafty suggestion of our old enemy, those are to be understood to curse the * night,' that curse the * day,' in that surely they all really punish their past sins, xxii.
210 Casting off sin rouses Leviathan^ s rage* Job 8, who in the mere flattering suggestion itself detect the snares of the malicious deceiver. But it is well added; Who are ready to rouse up Leviatlian.
xxiii. 42. For all they that with the spirit tread under foot the things which are of the world, and with a perfect bent of the mind desire the things that belong to God, rouse up Leviathan against themselves, in that they inflame his malice, by the incitements of their life and conduct. For those that are subject to his will, are as it were held in possession by him with an undisturbed right, and their tyrannizing king, as it were, enjoys a kind of security, while he rules their hearts with a power unshaken. But when the spirit of each man is quickened again to the longing after his Creator; when he gives over the sloth of negligence, and kindles the frost of former insensibility with the fire of holy love; when he calls to mind his innate freedom, and blushes that his enemy should keep him as his slave; because that enemy marks that he is himself contemned, and sees that the ways of God are laid hold of, he is stung that his captive struggles against him, and is at once fired with jealousy, at once pressed to the conflict, at once raises himself to urge countless temptations against the soul that withstands him, and stimulates himself in all the arts of mangling, that launching the darts of temptation he may pierce the heart, which he has long held with an undisputed title. For he slept, as it were, whilst he reposed at rest in the corrupt heart. But he is * roused,' in challenging the fight, when he loses the right of wicked dominion. Let those then curse this light, that are ready to rouse up Leviathan, i. e. * let all those gather themselves resolutely to encounter sin with the stroke of severe judgment, who are no wise afraid to rouse up Leviathan Ecclus. in his tempting of them.' For so it is written. My son, if Vule thou come to serve the Lord, stand in righteousness and in fear, a?id prepare thy soul for temptation. For whosoever hastes to gird himself in the service of God, what else does he than prepare against the encounter of the old adversary, that the same man set at liberty may take blows in the strife, who, when slaving in captivity under tyrannizing power, was left at rest? But in this very circumstance that the mind is braced to meet the enemy, that some vices it has under its Infirmities left in good men to hinder pride. 211 feet, and is striving against others, it sometimes happens Hook that somewhat of sin is permitted to remain, nevertheless not — so as to do any great injury.
43. And often the mind, which overcomes many and forcible oppositions, is unable to master one within itself, and that perchance a very little one, though it be most earnestly on the watch against it. Which doubtless is the effect of God's dispensation, lest being resplendent with virtue on all points, it be lifted up in self-elation, that while it sees in itself some trifling thing to be blamed, and yet has no power to subdue the same, it may never attribute the victory to itself, but to the Creator only, whereinsoever it has power to subdue with resolution; and hence it is well added, Ver.9. Let the stars thereof be overshadowed with darkness.
44. For the stars oj this night are overshadoiced uith dark- xxiv. nesSy when even they that already shine with great virtues, still bear something of the dimness of sin, while they struggle against it, so that they even shine with great lustre of life, and yet still draw along with unwillingness some remains of the night. Which as we have said is done with this view, that the mind in advancing to the eminence of its righteousness, may through weakness be the better strengthened, and may in a more genuine manner shine in goodness by the same cause, whereby, to the humbling of it, little defects overcloud it even against its will. And hence when the land of promise now won was to be divided to the people of Israel, the Gentile people of Canaan are not said to be slain, but to be made tributaiy to the tribe of Ephraim; as it is written. The Canaanites dwelt in the midst of Ephraim Jos. 16, under tribute. For what does the Canaan ite, a Gentile people, denote saving a fault? And oftentimes we enter the land of promise with great virtues, because we are strengthened by the inward hope that regards eternity. Hut while, amidst lofty deeds, we retain certain small faults, we as it were permit the Canaanite to dwell in our land. Yet he is made tributary, in that this same fault, which we cannot bring under, we force back by humility to answer the end of our wellbeing, that the mind may think meanly of itself even in itsliighesl excellencies, in proportion as it fails to master by its own strength even ihe small things that it aims at. Hence it is well written p2 2\'2 Mati's light overclouded through night of consent to sin.
Job 3, again, Noiv these are the nations which the Lord left^ to •-_ prove Israel by them. For it is for this that some of our Jud. 3, least faults are retained, that our fixed mind may ever be practising itself heedfully to the conflict, and not presume upon victory, forasmuch as it sees enemies yet alive within it, by whom it still dreads to be overcome. Thus Israel is trained by the Gentile people being reserved, in that the uplifting of our goodness meets with a check in some very little faults, and learns, in the little things that withstand it, that it does not subdue the greater ones by itself.
45. Yet this that is said. Let the stars thereof he overshadowed with darkness, may also be understood in another sense; for that nigltt, viz. consent to the sin, which was derived to us by the transgression of our first parent, has smitten our mind's eye with such a dimness, that in this life's exile, beset by the darkness of its blinded state, with whatever force it strain after the light of eternity, it is unable to pierce through; for we are born condemned sinners after post punishment has begun \ and we come into this life together with the desert of our death, and when we lift up the eye of the mind to that beam of light above, we grow dark with the mere dimness of our natural infirmity. And indeed many in this feeble condition of the flesh have been made strong by so great a force of virtue, that they could shine like stars in the world. Many in the darkness of this present life, while they shew forth in themselves examples above our reach, shine upon us from on high after the manner of stars; but with whatsoever brilliancy of practice they shine, with whatever fire of compunction they enkindle their hearts, it is plain that while they still bear the load of this corruptible flesh, they are unable to behold the liglit of eternity such as it is.
So then let him say. Let the stars thereof be overshadowed with darkness; i. e. * let even those in their contemplations still feel the darkness of the old night, of whom it appears that they already spread the rays of their virtues over the human race in the darkness of this life, seeing that, though they already spring to the topmost height in thought, they arc yet pressed down below by the weight of the first offence. And hence it comes to pass that at the same time that without they give specimens of light, like the stars, yet within, pcenam Dawn of true Light hidden from sinful eyes. 213 being closely encompassed by the darkness of night, they Book fail to mount up to the assuredness of an immoveable — vision. Now the mind is often so kindled and inflamed, that, though it be still set in the flesh, it is transported into God, and every caraal imagination brought under; and yet not so that it beholds God as He is, in that, as we have said, the weight of the original condemnation presses upon it in corruptible flesh. Oftentimes it longs to be swallowed up, just as it is, that if it might be so, it might attain the eternal life without the intervention of the bodily death. Hence Paul, when he ardently sought for the inward light, yet in some sort dreaded the evils' of the outward • damna death, said, For tee that are^ in this tabernacle do (/roan,2 Cot. 5 j being burtliened, for that we would not be unclothed, but ' ^^' clothed upon, that niortalifg might be sivallowed up of life. Therefore holy men long to see the true dawn, and, if it were vouchsafed, they would even along with the body attain that deep of inmost light. But with whatever ardour of purpose they may spring forth, the old night still weighs upon them, and those eyes of our corruptible flesh, which the crafty enemy has opened to concu])iscence, the just Judge holds back from the view of His inward radiance. And hence it is well added, f.et it look for light and have none, neither let it see the dawning of the day.
46. For with whatever strength of purj^ose the mind, while xxv. yet in this pilgrimage, labours to see the Light as It is, the ])Ower is withheld, in that this is hidden from it by the blindness of its state under the curse. ['Now the * rising of the dautV is the brightness (jf inward truth, which ought to be ever new to us. And this the night assuredly seeth not, because our infirmity, blind by reason of sin, and still jdaced in the corruptible flesh, mounts not up to that light wherewith our fellowcitizens above are already irradiated. For the rising of this dawn is in the interior, where the brightness of the Divine Nature is manifested ever new to the spirits of the Angels, and where that bliss of light is as it were ever •• al. $0 long as we are — tr^. and there without any notice to shew ' The passage in brackets is found where it comes from. (Ben.) It is not only in the Edition of Gussanville, in the Oxford Mss.
214 Sin conceived through lust, born through consent. Job 9, dawning, which is never brought to an end.] But the risi?ig Moral of the dawfi, is that new birth of the Resurrection, whereby Holy Church, with the flesh too raised up, rises to contemplate the sight of Eternity; for if the very Resurrection of our flesh were not as it were a kind of birth, Truth would never Matt, have said of it, In the Regeneration, when the Son of Man ' shall sit upon the throne of His glory. This then, which He called a rege?ieratio?i, He beheld as a rising. But with whatever virtue the Elect now shine forth, they' cannot pierce to see what will be that glory of the new birth, wherewith they will then mount up together with the flesh to 1 Cor. contemplate the sight of Eternity. Hence Paul says. Eye ' * hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. Let him say then. Let it look for light and have none, 7ieither let it see the dawning of the day. For our frail nature, darkened by its spontaneous fault, penetrates not the brightness of inward light, unless it first discharge its debt of punishment by death. It goes on; Ver. 10. Because it shut not up the doors of my mother'' s womb, nor took away sorrow from mine eyes.
xxvi. 47. As has been likewise remarked above, the words, it shut not lip, are * it opened,' and it took not away, ' it brought upon me.' So that this night, i. e. sin, opened the door of the womb, in that to man, conceived unto sin, it unsealed the lust of concupiscence"", w^hereof the Prophet Isaiali says. Enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors. For we ' enter our chambers,' when we go into the recesses of our own hearts. And we ' shut the doors,' when we restrain forbidden lusts; and so whereas our consent set open these doors of carnal concupiscence, it forced us to the countless evils of our corrupt state. And so now we henceforth groan under the weight of mortality, though we came" thereunto by our own free will, in that the justice of the sentence against us requires thus much, that what we have done willingly, we should bear with against our will. It proceeds; " One Ms. ap. Ben. ' in that lust reading. See p. 217. opened the desires that were conceived " Al. * came not/ which reading in men toward sin.' This rending is of 2 Mss. Hen. seems right in rejectnot ill suited to the sequel and to§. 49. ing. He is speaking of habitual sin, but it looks like an explanation, (and and of a figurative conception, is the true explanation,) of the common Conception, hirth, nursing^ and sucklijig of nn, 215 Ver. 11, 1*2. Why died I not from the womb? II hy did I Book 7iot give up the ghost when I came out of the belly? Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that J should stick '^ 48. Be the thought far from us, that blessed Job, who wasxxvii. endued with such high spiritual knowledge, and who had such a witness of praise from the Judge within, should wish that he had perished in abortive birth! But seeing, what we also learn by the reward which he received, that he has within the witness of his fortitude, the weight of his words is to be reckoned within.
49. Now sin is committed in the heart in four ways, and in four ways it is consummated in act. For in the heart it is committed by the suggestion, the pleasure, the consent, and the boldness to defend. For the suggestion comes of the enemy; the pleasure, of the flesh; the consent, of the spirit; and boldness to uphold, of pride. For the sin, which ought to fill the mind with apprehension, only exalts it, and in throwing down uplifts, while by uplifting it causes its more grievous overthrow; and hence that upright frame, wherein the first man was created, was by our old foe dashed down by these four strokes. For the serpent tempted, Eve was pleased, Adam yielded consent, and even when called in question he refused in effrontery to confess his sin. The serpent tempted, in that the secret enemy silently suggests evil to man's heart. Eve was pleased, because the sense of the flesh, at the voice of the serpent, presently gives itself up to pleasure. And Adam, who was set above the woman, yielded consent, in that whilst the flesh is carried away in enjoyment, the spirit also being deprived of its strength gives in from its uprightness. And Adam when called in question would not confess his sin, in that, in proportion as the spirit is by committing sin severed from the Truth, it becomes worse hardened in shamelessness at its downfall.
Sin is likewise completed in act by the self-same four methods; for first the fault is done in secret, but afterwards it is done openly before men's eyes without the blush of guilt, and next it is formed into a habit, finally, whether by the cheats of false hope, or the stubbornness of reckless despair, it is brought to full growth.
216 Fear^ without haired of sin, humbles not.
Job 3, 50. These four modes of sin then, which either go on secretly in the heart, or which are executed in act, blessed Job views, and bewails the many stages of sin wherein the human race was fallen, saying, Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not gii^e np the yhost when I came out of the belly? Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck '^ For ^ the womb of conception' at the first was the tongue of the evil suggestion. Now the sinner would ' perish in the womb,' if only man knew in the very suggestion itself that he would bring death upon himself. Yet ' he came forth from the belly,' in that, as soon as the tongue had conceived him in sin by its suggestions, the pleasure likewise innnediately hurried him forth; and after his coming forth, ' the knees prevented him,' in that having issued forth in the carnal gratification, he then completed the sin by the consent of the spirit, all the senses being made subservient like knees underneath. And * the knees preventing him, the breasts did also give him suck.' For whereas, in the spirit's consenting to the sin, the senses were drawn into the service, the many reasonings of vain confidence followed, which nourished the soul thus born in sin with poisoned milk, and lulled it with soothing excuses, that it should not fear the bitter punishment of death. And hence Gen. 3, the first man waxed bolder alter his sin, saying, The woman whom tJtou gavest to he with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And truly, he had fled to hide himself out of fear, yet when he was called in question, he made it appear how swoln he was with pride while he feared; for when punishment is feared as the present consequence of sin, and the face of God being lost is not loved, the fear is one that » timor proceeds from a high stomach ^, and not from a lowly spirit.
more ^^"^ ^^ is full of pride who does not give over his sin, if he may go unpunished.
51. But, as we have said, sin is committed in these four ways, as in the heart, so also in the deed; for he saith. Why died I not in the womb? For the womb to the sinner is the secret fault in man, which conceives the sinner under cover, and as yet hides its guilt in the dark. Why did I not give lip the ghost, when I came out of the belly? For there is * a coming out of the \a omb from tlie belly,' when the sinner Man should kill his sinful life in its beginnings. 217 does not blush to do openly as well the things, which he has Book been guilty of in secret. Thus they had as it were come 1_ out of the womb of their hiding place, of whom the Prophet spake it; And tltey declare Iheir sin as Sodom, they hide it I?. 3, 9. not. Why did the knees prevent me? In that the sinner, when he is not confounded at his wickedness, is strengthened in the same by the further stays of most heinous custom. The sinner is as it were nursed on the knees, till he grow bigger, so long as the sin is confirmed by habitual acts, till it acquires strength. Or why the breasts that I should suck? For when the sin has once begun to issue into habit, then, alas! the sinner feeds himself either with the fallacious hope of God's mercy, or with the open recklessness of despair, tliat he never may return back to self-amendment, in so far as he either extravagantly colours to himself the pitifulness of his Maker, or is extravagantly terrified at the sin that he has done. Let the blessed man, then, take a view of man's fall, and mark down what precipice he has plunged himself into the pit of iniquity, saying, M'hy died 1 not in the womb? i. c. ' Why would 1 not, in the very secret act of sin in the heart, kill myself to the life of the flesh?' U hy did I not give up the ghost, when I came out of the belly? i.e.
* Why, when I came forth in the overt act, died I not, was I not then at least instructed that I was undone?' For he would have ' given up the ghost' in his condemnation of himself, if he had known that he was lost. Why did the knees prevent me? i.e. * Even after the open act of sin, why, yet further, did the custom too take me up in it, to make me stronger to commit sin, and to nurse and sustain me with habitual wicked acts?' ^^hy the breasts, that I should suck? i. e. * After I entered into the habit of sin, why did I rear myself to a more tremendous j)itch of iniquity, either by reliance on false hope, or by the milk of a miserable despair?' For when the fault lias been brought into a habit, the mind, even if it be inclined, by this time resists more feebly: for it becomes bound upon the mind by as many chains, as there are recurrences of the evil j)ractice that clench it fast. Whence it haj)pcns that tlie mind, being sapped of strength, when it has no j)o\ver to get free, turns to some resource or other of fallacious consolation, so as to 218 Our Lord raised the dead, but not those of the dead. Job 3, flatter itself that the Judge, Who is to come, is of so great — -^ — ^ mercy, that even those, whom He shall find deserving of condemnation. He will never wholly destroy. Whereunto there is this worst addition, that the tongue of many like him abets him, since there are many who magnify with their praises these very misdeeds; whence it comes to pass that the fault is continually growing, nourished by applauses. Also then we neglect to heal the wound, which is counted worthy of the meed of praise. Hence Solomon says well, Ftox. i,My so?i, if sinners give thee suck, consent thou not. For • * the wicked * give suck,' whenever they either put wicked acts in our way to be done by their enticements, or applaud them with marks of favour when done. Does not he suck Ps.io 3. of whom the Psalmist says, For the wicked man is com- ^^^S'^f mended in his hearfs desire: and he that doeth iniquity receives a blessing?
52. We must also know, that those three modes of being sinners are more easily corrected as they come in their order downwards; but the fourth is not corrected but with difiiculty. And hence our Saviour raises the damsel in the house, the young man without the gate, while Lazarus He raises in the grave; for he that sins in secret is as yet lying dead in the house, he is already being carried without the gate, whose iniquity is done openly, even to the shamelessness of commission in public; but he is pressed with the sepulchral mound, who, in the commission of sin, is over and above pressed and overlaid with the use of habit. But all these in mercy He restores to life; in that it is often the case that Divine grace enlighteneth with the light of its regard those that are dead not only in secret sins, but likewise in open evil practices, and that are overlaid with the weight of evil habit. But our Saviour knows indeed of a fourth being dead from the disciple's lips, yet never raises him to life; iu that it is hard indeed for one, whom, after continuance in bad habit, the tongues of flatterers too get hold of, to be recovered from the death of the soul; and of such an one it is said Luke 9, with justice. Let the dead bury their dead. For ' the dead bury the dead,' as often as sinners load sinners with their ap- Mss. proval. For what else is it to ' sin,' but to lie down in death > ^^'■y and to * bury,' except it be to hide? But they that pursue the Recovery easier from an earlier stage. 219 sinner with their applauses, bury the dead body under the Book mound of their words. Now Lazarus too was dead, yet he '— was never buried by the dead. For the believing women, who also gave tidings of his death to the Quickener, had laid him under the ground. And hence he forthwith returned back to the light; for when the soul is dead in sin, it is soon brought back, if anxious thoughts live over it. But sometimes, as we have likewise said above, it is not false hope that cuts off the mind, but a more deadly despair pierces it. And whereas this totally cuts off all hope of pardon, it supplies the soul with the milk of error in greater abundance.
53. Let the holy man then consider, what wickedness man has been guilty of, yet for the worse, after the first sin, and, after he had lost paradise, to what broken steeps he descended in this place of exile, and let him say, Mhy died I not in the xcomh? i. e. * When the suggestion of the serpent conceived me a sinner, O that I had then known the death that would come upon me; lest the suggestion should transport me to the length of delight, and should link me more closely to death.' Why did I not give up the ghost when T came out of the helhj? As though he said, * O that when 1 came out to the external gratification, I liad known that I was parting with the internal light; so that I had at least died^ at the point of this gratification only, thatM.e.died death miffht not inflict a sharper stinpr through the consent.' "^P^.
° 1 o o sinning.
Why did the knees prevent me? As though he said, * O that the consent had never caught me, my senses being made to bear up my frowardness, that my own consenting might not hurry me yet for the worse into shamelessness.' Or why the breasts that I should suck? As though he said, * O that I had at least refused to flatter myself, after ill acts committed, that 1 might not attach myself thereby the more wickedly to my fault, the more softly I dealt with myself therein.' So then in these words of reproach, he charged himself with having sinned in our first j)art lit. Hut had man never been brought down to tlie wretchedness of this place of banishment, by committing sin, let liim say what peace he might have liad. It proceeds; Ver. 13. For now should I have lain still and been quiet; I should have slept ^ then had I been at rest.
220 Inward strife the consequence of former sin. Jobs, 54. For this was man set in Paradise, that, had he attached himself by the chains of love to an obedient following of his MoilAL xxviii. Creator, he might one day be transported to the heavenly comitry of the Angels, and that, without the death of the flesh. For he was made immortal in such sort, that, if he sinned, he would yet be capable of dying, and in such wise mortal, that, if he sinned not, he should even be capable of never dying, and that, by desert of a free choice, he might attain the blessedness of those realms, wherein there is neither possibility of sinning nor of death. There then, where, since the time of the Redemption, the Elect are conveyed, with the death of the flesh intervening, to the same place our first Parents, if they had remained stedfast in the state of their creation, would undoubtedly have passed, and that, without the death of the body. Man then would have lain still and been quiet, he would have ' slept and been at rest,' in that being brought to the rest of his eternal country, he would have found as it were a retreat from these clamours of human frailty. For since sin, he, as it were, is kept awake and crying aloud, who bears with struggling opposition the strife of his own flesh.
This stillness of peace-^man, when he was created, enjoyed, when he received the freedom of his will, to encounter his enemy withal. And because he yielded himself up to him of his own accord, he forthwith found in himself what was to rise in clamours against him, forthwith met in the conflict with the riotings of his frail nature; and though he had been created by his Maker in peaceful stillness, yet, once of his own will laid low under the enemy, he had to endure the clamours of the fight. For the very suggestion of the flesh is a kind of outcry against the mind's repose, which man was not sensible of before the transgression, plainly because there was nought that he could be exposed to undergo from infirmity of his own. But since he has once voluntarily subjected himself to his enemy, now being bound with the chains of his sins, he serves him in some tilings even against his will, and sutt'ers clamours in the mind, when the flesh strives against the Spirit. Did not clamours within meet his ears, who was pressed with the words of an evil law at variance Rom. 7, with himself, saying, But J see another laiv in my members, Creatures mutually subordinate. Angelic Princes. 2Q1 warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into Book captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Let '■ — then the holy man reflect in vvliat a peace of mind he would have reposed, if man had refused to entertain the words of the serpent, and let him say, For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have.slept, then had I been at rest; i.e. * I should have withdrawn into the retirement of my breast to contemplate my Creator, had not the fault, the first sin of consent, betrayed me out of myself to the riotings of temj)tation; and let him add to the joys of this state of tranquillity, whom he would have had for his fellows in the enjoyment thereof, saying, Ver. 14. il ith the Ixings and counsellors of the earth.
55. From things without sense we learn what to think of xxix, beings endowed with sense and understanding. Now the earth is rendered fruitful by the air, while the air is governed by the quality of the heaven. In like manner man is over the beasts, the Angels over man, and the Archangels are set over the Angels. Now that man has sovereignty over the beasts, we both perceive by the common use, and are instructed by the words of the Psalmist, who says, Thou hastPs.s,G. put all things under his feet; all sheep and oxen, yea, and '' the beasts of thejield. And that the Angels are placed over man is testified by the Prophet, in these words. But the prince Dan.io, of the kingdom of Persia withstood me. And that the Angels ' ' are under the governance of authority in suj)erior Angels, the Prophet Zechariah declares; And, behold, the Angel that Ztch. 2, talked uitli me went forth, and another Angel went out to^'^'