55. And it is very deserving of observation, that he that * lays his head upon a stone,' is he who sees the Angels in his sleep, surely because that same person by resting from external works penetrates internal truths, who with mind intent, which is the governing principle of man, looks to the imitating of his Redeemer. For to ' lay the head upon a stone' is to cleave to Christ in mind. Since they that are withdrawn from this life's sphere of action, yet whom no love transports above, may have sleep, but can never see the Angels, because they despise to keep their head upon a stone. For there are some, who fly indeed the business of the world, but exercise themselves in no virtues. These, indeed, sleep from stujiefaction, not from serious design, and therefore they never behold the things of the interior, becau.se they have laid their head, not upon a stone, but upon the earth. Whose lot it most frequently is, that in proportion as they rest more secure from outward actions, tiie more amply they are gathering in themselves from idleness an uproar of unclean thoughts. And thus under the like- 284 Effort of abstraction needed for contemplation.
Job 4, ness of Judaea the Prophet bewails the soul stupefied by - — ^indolence, where he says, TJie adversaries saw her, and did 7. mock at her sabbaths. For by the precept of the Law there is a cessation from outward work upon the Sabbath Day.
Thus her ' enemies looking on mock at her sabbaths,' when evil spirits pervert the very waste hours of vacancy to unlawful thoughts. So that every soul, in proportion as it is supposed to be devoted to the service of God, by being removed from external action, the more it drudges to their tyranny, by entertaining unlawful thoughts. But good men, who sleep to the works of the world, not from inertness, but from virtue, are more laborious in their sleep than they would be awake. For herein, that by abandoning they are made superior to this world's doings, they daily fight against themselves, maintaining a brave conflict, that the mind be not rendered dull by neglect, nor, subdued by indolence, cool down to the harbouring of impure desires, nor in good desires themselves be more full of fervour than is right, nor by sparing itself under the pretext of discretion, may slacken its endeavour after perfection. These are the things she is employed withal: she both wholly withdraws herself from the restless appetite of this world, and gives over the turmoil of earthly actions, and in pursuit of tranquillity, bent on virtuous attainments, she sleeps waking. For she is never led on to contemplate internal things, unless she be heedfully withdrawn from those, which entwine themselves about her without. And it is hence that Truth declares by His Matt. 6, own mouth. No man can serve two masters. Hence Paul 2%im ^^^^'^^ ^^ man that warreth entanfjleth himself with the 2, 4. affairs of this life, that he may please him that hath chosen him to he a soldier. Hence the Lord charges us by the Ps. 46, Prophet, saying, Be still^, and know that f am the Lord, \y\Q^^Q'TheYeioi'e, because inward knowledge is not cognisable by ie at ^is except there be a rest from outward embarrasments, the leisure m season of the hidden word, and of the whisperings of God, is in this place rightly set forth, when it is said. In the horror of a vision of the night, when deep deep falleth upon men, in that truly our mind is never caught away after the force and power of inward contcm})lation, unless it be first carefully lulled to rest from all agitation of earthly desires. But the Inmian mind, lilted on high by the engine as it were of its H7iat is strongest in us fails hcfore God. -285 contemplation, in proportion as it sees things higlier above Book itself, the more terribly it trembles in itself. And hence it is — fitly added, Ver. 14. Fear came upon me and trembling, which made all my hones to shake.
56. What is denoted by ^bones' but strong deeds? Ofxxxii. which also it is said by the Prophet, He keepeth all fheir^s. 34, bones. And it often happens that the things which men do, they reckon to be of some account, because they know not, how keen is the discernment of His inward sifting; but when, transported on the wings of contemplation, they behold things above, in some sort they melt away from the security they felt in tlieir presumption, and quake in sight of God the more, in ])roportion as lliey do not even reckon their excellences fit for the searching eye of Ilim, Whom they behold. For it is hence that he, who had gained ground in doing strong deeds, being lifted up by the Spirit, exclaimed, All mg bones Ps. 35, shall sag. Lord, who is like utiio TItee? As though he said, ' My rtesh is without words, in that my infirmities are wholly silent before Thee, but my bones sing the praises of Thy greatness. In that the very things, which I thought to be strong in me, tremble at the view of Thee.' It is hence that Manoah shrinking al the vision of the Angel, says, l^Ve shall surely die, Judg. for we have seen The Lord. Whom his wife immediately com- 23.'
forts, witli these words, If the Lord were pleased to kill us. He would not have received a burnt-offering, and a meat-offering al our hand. But how is it that the man becomes fearful at the vision of the Angel, and the woman bold; but that as often as heavenly things are shewn us, the spirit indeed is shaken with affright, yet hope has confidence? For hope lifts itself to dare greater feats from the same cause, whereby the spirit is troubled, in that it sees the first the things that are above. '^I'herefore because, when the mind, being lifted on high, beholds the higher depths of the secrets of heaven, all that is most solid of human strength trembles, it is well said here, Fear came upon me and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. As though it were expressed in plain words; * When I perceived the secrets of inmost.subtlety, in that quarter where I thought myself in my own eyes strong, I faltered in the siglit of the Judge/ For contemplating 286 fVe know not ourselves. High visions stay not.
Job ^, the strictness of Divine Justice, we justly fear even for the very works themselves, which we flattered ourselves we had so done that they were strong. For our uprightness, when drawn parallel to the inward rule, if it meets with strict judgment, comes cross, with many sinuosities of its windings, to the inward uprightness. And hence, when Paul both perceived that he had the bones of the several virtues, and yet that these same bones trembled under the searching 1 Cor. scnitiny, he saith. But iciih me it is a verij small thing ' * that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment; yea, I judge not mine own self; for I know nothing against myself.
Yet because, when the ' veins' of the divine ' whispering' were heard, these same bones quaked, he thereupon added, For I am not hereby justified; hut he that judgeth me is the Lord. As though he were to say, ^ I remember that I have done right things, yet I presume not on my merits; for our life is brought to the scrutiny of Him, under Whom even the bones of our strength are dismayed.
57. But when the mind is suspended in contemplation, when, exceeding the narrow limits of the flesh, with all the power of her ken, she strains to find something of the freedom of interior security, she cannot for long rest standing above herself, because though the spirit carries her on high, yet the flesh sinks her down below by the yet remaining weight of her corruption. And hence it is added, Ver. 15. And as a spirit passed before my face, the hair of my flesh stood up. xxxiii 58. ■* A spirit passes before our face,' when we are brought to the knowledge of invisible things, and yet see these same not stedfastly, but with a hasty glance. For not even in the sweetness of inward contemplation does the mind remain fixed for long, in that being made to recoil by the very immensity of the light it is called back to itself. And when it tastes that inward sweetness, it is on fire with love, it longs to mount above itself, yet it falls back in broken state to the darkness of its frailty. And advancing in high perfection, it sees that it cannot yet see that which it ardently loves, wliich yet it would not love ardently did it not in some sort see the same. Thus the spirit is not stationary, but * passes by;' because our contemplation both discloses to Hairs of the fleshy superfluous thoughts. 287 us, that pant thereafter, the heavenly light, and forthwith Book conceals the same from us failing from weakness. And because in this life, whatever degree of virtue a man may have advanced to, he still feels the sting of corruption, i^or Wisd. the corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the earthy ' tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things; therefore it is rightly added. The hair of my flesh stood up.
59. For * the hairs of the flesh' are all the superfluities of human corruption. * The hairs of the flesh' are the imaginations of the former life, which we so cut away from the mind, that we let no grief for the loss of them disturb our peace. And it is well said by Moses, Let the Levites shave f^nmh. ^all the hairs of their flesh. For a * Levite' is rendered,y' J j^^^ ^ taken.' And thus it behoves the ' Levites' to shave all * the hairs of the flesh,' in that he who is * taken' into the divine ministrations, ought to shew himself clear of all imaginations of the flesh before the eyes of God, that the mind never put forth unlawful thoughts, and so defonn the fair appearance of the soul as it were by sprouting hairs. But whatever perfection of holy living may have raised the condition of any man, yet there still springs up to him from his old state of life somewhat to bear. And hence the same hairs of the Levites are commanded to be shaven, not to be plucked out, for the roots still remain in the flesh to the shaven hairs, and grow again to be again cut off*, in that while we are to use great diligence in cutting off' all rank thoughts, yet they never can be wholly and entirely cut off". For the flesh is ever engendering a rank produce, which the spirit should ever be cutting away with the knife of heedfulness. Yet it is then that we see these things with more exactness, when we j)enetrate into the heights of contemplation; and hence it is rightly said. Whilst a spirit passed before my facey the hair of my Jlesh stood up.
60. For when the human mind is lifted up on the tower of contemplation, it the more cruelly torments itself for its superfluities, in proj)ortion as it ])erceivcs that which it loves to be infinitely refined; and when it beholds that beautiful Being, which it longs for, above its own height, it?ieverely judges every thing infirm in itself, which it bore 288 Carnal nature sees only the visible.
Job 4, with tranquillity before. Therefore when ' the Spirit passeth '— by,' ' the hairs quake,' in that before the power of compunction, all rank thoughts flee away, that nought that is loose, nought that is dissipated, any longer gives pleasure, for severity of inward visitings kindles the inspired soul even against its own self; and when that which riseth up in the heart of an unlawful kind, is cut away with unintermitted strictness, it very often happens that the invigorated soul enters into its ray of contemplation with a somewhat larger range, and almost arrests the spirit which was ' passing by.' Yet does not this same lingering of contemplation fully discover the force of the Divine nature, for its vastness transcends all human powers thus enlarged and elevated. And hence it is well added; iv.thus Yer. 16. ^ There stood a certain one, hut I could not discern the form tJiereof. xxxiv. 61. For we do not speak oi a certain one, saving surely in the case of him, whom we are either unwilling or unable to express. Now with what feeling it is here said a certain one, is clearly set forth, in that it immediately comes in, but I could not discern the form thereof. For the human soul, being by the vsin of the first of mankind banished from the joys of paradise, lost the light of the invisible, and poured itself out entire in the love of the visible, and was darkened in the interior sight, in proportion as it was dissipated without, to the deformment of itself. Whence it comes to pass that it knows nothing, saving the things that it acquaints itself with by the palpable touch, so to say, of the bodily eyes. For man, who, had he been willing to have kept the commandment, would even in his flesh have been a spiritual being, by sinning was rendered even in soul carnal, so as to imagine such things only as he derives to the soul through the images of bodily substances. For body is the property of heaven, earth, water, animals, and all the visible things, which he unceasingly beholds; and while the delighted mind wholly precipitates itself into these, it waxes gross, loses the fineness of the inward sense; and whereas it is now no longer able to erect itself to things on high, it willingly lies prostrate in its weakness in things below. But when with marvellous efforts it strives to rise up from the same, it Man learns soinetchat of God from his oum soul. '289 is great indeed, il' the soul, thrusting aside the bodily fonn, Book be brought to the knowledge of itself, so as to think of itself — '- — without a bodily figure, and by thus thinking of itself to prepare itself a pathway to contemplate the substance of Eternity \ 62. Now in this way it shews itself to its own eyes as a kind of ladder, whereby in ascending from outward things to pass into itself, and from itself to tend unto its Maker. For when the mind quits bodily images, entering into itself, it mounts up to no mean height; for though the soul be incorporeal, yet because she is incorporate with the body, she is known by that property of hers, which is confined within the local bounds of the flesh. And whereas she forgets things known, acquaints herself with such as are unknown, remembers what has been consigned to oblivion, entertains mirth after sadness, is adjudged to j)unishir.ent ^ after joy; she herself > addicishews by her own diversity in herself, how widely she is*"^ removed from the Substance of eteraal Unchangeableness, Which is always the same, even as It Is; Which every where present, every where invisible, ever}' where whole and entire, every where incomprehensible, is by the longing mind discerned without seeing, heard without uncertainty, taken in without motion, touched without bodily substance, held without locality. Now when the mind that is used to cor])oreal objects represents to itself this same Substance, it is loaded with the phantasms of divers images. And whilst it banishes these from the eyes of its attention with the hand of discernment, making every thing give place thereto, it at last beholds It in some degree. And if it does not as yet apprehend what It is, it has surely learnt what It is not. And so because the mind is carried away into unaccustomed ground, when it pries into the Es.sence of the Deity, it is rightly said here, A certnin one stood, hut I could not discerii the form thereof.
63. And it is well said, // stood still; for every created thing, in that it is made out of nothing, and of itself tends to nothing, has not the property to stand, but to run to an end. But a creature endowed with reason, by this very circumstance, that it is created after the image of its Maker, is fixed * It will hare been observed, that he uses this expression for ' The Eternal One.'
U •290 God stands ever still, hut is seen as in passing.
Job 4, that it should not pass into nothing. Now no irrational '- — creature is ever fixed, but only, so long as, by the service of its appearing, it is completing the form and fashion of the universe, it is delayed in passing away. For though heaven and earth abide henceforth and for ever, still they are at this present time of themselves hastening on to nought; yet for the use of those, whom they serve, they remain to be changed for the better. To ' stand' then is the attribute of the Creator alone, through Whom all things pass away. Himself never passing away, and in Whom some things are held fast, that they should not pass away. Hence our Redeemer, because the fixed state of His Divine Nature could not be comprehended by the human mind, shewed this to us as it were in passing, by coming to us, by being created, born, dead, buried, by rising again, and returning to the heavenly Matt, realms. Which He well shadowed out in the Gospel by the Luke enlightening the blind man, to vvhom when passing on He 18, 40. vouchsafed a hearing, but it was standing still that He healed his eyes. For by the economy of His Human Nature He had His passing on, but the standing by the power of His Divine Nature, in that He is every where present. Thus the Lord is said to hear the complaints of our blind condition in passing, in that being made Man He has compassion on human misery; but He restores light to the eyes standing still, in that He enlightens the darkness of our frail state by the efficacv of His Divine Nature. It is well then that, after it has been said. Then a spirit passed before my face ^ it should be added, hut I could not discern the form thereof. As if it were in plain words, ' Him, Whom 1 perceived in passing, I discovered never to pass.' He then that * passes' is the same as He that ' stands still.' He 'passes,' in that when known He cannot be detained. He ' stands still,' in that, so far as He is known, He is seen to be unchangeable. Therefore, because He, That is ever the Same, is seen by a hasty glance, God at the same time appears both passing and standing still. Or surely His * standing' is His never varying with Ex..3, any change; as it is said to Moses, / AM THAT I AM. \^' And as James represents Him, saying. With Whom is no 17. vnriahleness, neitJier sliadotv of turning. Now whereas every innn, that apprehends something of the Eternal Being by Tlte Image of The Father. The Spirit Mir/hty and yet gentle. 291 contemplation, beliolds tlie Same tluou'^li His coctcrnal Book Image, it is rightly subjoined; An image was he/ore mine eye$.
64. For the Image of the Father is the Son, as Moses xxxv. teaches in the case of man at his creation; So God created Gen. i, man in His own image; in the Image of God created He '' him. And as the Wise Man, in the setting forth of Wisdom, saith concerning the same Son, For She is the bright nessViisd. of the everlasting light. And as Paul hath it, f^lio being '^^^' the brightness of His glorg, and the express Image ofUeh. i, His Person. When then His Eternity is perceived as far ' as the caj)ability of our frail nature admits. His Image is set before the eyes of the mind, in that when we really strain towards the Father, as far as we receive Him we see Him by His Image, i.e. by His Son. And by That Image, Which was born of Himself without beginning, we strive in some sort to obtain a glimpse of Him, Who hath neither beginning nor ending. And hence this same Tnith saith in the Gospel, No man cometk to the Father but by Me. And J^^"!**> it is well added, And I heard the voice as it were of a light breath.
65. For what is signified by ' the voice of a light breath,' xxxvi. but the knowledge of the Holy Spirit, Which proceeding firom the Father, and receiving of that which belongeth to the Son, is gently imparted to the knowledge of our John 16, frail nature? Yet when It came upon the Apostles, It^'*' is demonstrated by an outward sound, like a vehement blast, where it is said. And suddenly there came a sotind ^^^^'2, from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. For when the Holy Spirit imparts Itself to the knowledge of frail humanity. It is both re|)resented by ' the sound of a rushing mighty wind,' and also by the * voice of a gentle breath,' clearly, in that when It comes. It is both * vehement' and * gentle;' ' gentle,' in that It tempers the knowledge of Itself to our perceptions, so as to be in some sort brought under our cognizance; * vehement,' in that however It may temper that same, yet by Its coming, It confounds while It illumines the darkness of our frail condition. For It touches us but lightly by Its enlightening inlluence, yet It shakes our emptiness with fearful might.
IT 2 '290. God chiefly knoicn by sliyht intimations.
Job 4, 6(3 gQ God's voice is heard as if of ' a light breath,' in that the Divine Being never imparts Himself as He is to those that contemplate Him while still in this life, but to the purblind eyes of our mind He discovers His brightness but scantily. Which is well represented by the very receiving of the Law itself, when it is said that Moses ascended, and God descended upon the Mount. For ' the Mount' is our very contemplation itself, whereinto we ascend, that we may be elevated to see those things which are beyond our frail nature; but the Lord descends thereupon, in that, when we advance much. He discloses some little concerning Himself to our perceptions, if either ' little' or ' somewhat' can be said to be in Him, Who, being always One and abiding the Same, cannot be understood by parts, and yet is said to be participated by His faithful servants, whereas ^ part' is nowise admissible in His Substance.
But because we are unable to express Him with perfect speech, being hindered by the scanty measure of our human nature, as by the impotency of the infant state, we give back an echo of Him in some sort with stammering utterj ance. But that when we are lifted up in high contemplation, it is somewhat refined that w^e attain unto in the knowledge I of the Eternal One, is shewn by the words of Sacred Stor}', when the illustrious Prophet Elijah is instructed in the knowledge of God. For when the Lord promised him that 1 Kmgs He would pass by before him, saying, And, behold, the Lord 12.' passeth by, a great and strong wind rending the mountains, and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord; He thereupon added, But the Lord is not in the tvind: and after the wind a quaking, but the Lord is not in the quaking: and after the quaking a fire, but the Lord is not in the *he fiY^; and after the fire, a still small voice. For the wind of a before the Lord overturns the mountains, and shatters the gentle ^ocV^, in that the affright, which rushes in upon us from His coming, both casts down the exaltation of our hearts, and melts their hardness. But the Lord is said not to be in the ' wind of quaking''' and in the fire, but it is not denied that He is ' in the still small voice,' in tliat verily when the '' Commotionis^ (Vulg.) without men- Oxf. Mss. however read commotioniy tiouofearf.h, need not mean earthquake, tlie •wind^ the quaking^ and x\\^ fire.
Elijah on the Mount a tyjje of content phition. '21)3 mind is Imng alolt in the height of eoiitemplatiun, whatever Book it has power to see perleclly and completely is not God, but when it sees something of great fineness, this is the same as that he hears belonging to the incomprehensible substance of the Deity- For we as it were perceive a still small voice^ when by a moment's contemplation we taste with finest sense the savour of incomprehensible trutli. Accordingly then onlv is there truth in what we know concernin": God, when we are made sensible that we cannot know any thing fully concerning Him. Hence it is well added in that place, And it was so v:hen Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face ill his mantle, and xcent out and stood at the entering in of the cave. After the still small voice, the Prophet covers his face with his mantle, because in that very refined contemplation he learns in what a cloak of ignorance man is shrouded; for to draw the mantle over the face is to veil the mind by the consideration of its own infirmity, that it may never presume to seek things above it, that it never rashly open the eyes of the understanding beyond itself, but close them with a feeling of awe to that which it cannot apprehend.
And he, in doing such things, is described to have stood at the entering in of the cave. For what is our cave but this dwelling-j)lace of our corrupt nature, wherein we are still held fast from remaining oldness.? But when we begin to take in something of the knowledge of the Divine Being, we as it were already stand * in the entering in of our cave;' for whereas we cannot make perfect progress, yet panting after the knowledge of the truth, we already catch something of the breath of liberty. So to ' stand at the entering in of the cave,' is, forcing aside the obstruction of our corrupt nature, to begin to issue forth to the knowledge of the truth. And hence upon the cloud descending on the Tabernacle, the Israelites seeing it afar off Ex. 33, are related to liave stood at the entering in of their tents, ^* in that they, who in some sort behold the coining of the Deity, as it were already issue forth from the habitation of the flesh. Therefore because with whatt'ver amplitude of virtue the human mind may have enlarged its compass, yet it scarcely knows the very outermost extremes that belong to the interior things, it is rightly said here, And I heard a voice an of a light breath; but as at the time tliat 294 Marias righteousness unriyhteous before God.
Job 4, the knowledge of the Deity shews us after all but little con- '■ — earning Itself, It is perfectly instructing the ignorance of our infirmness; let him that ' heard the voice of a light breath/ declare all that he learnt by that same hearing. It goes on; Ver. 17. Shall mortal man be 7nore Just than Qod? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker '^ xxxvii 67. Human righteousness compared with the righteousness of God is unrighteousness, for even a candle is seen to shine bright in the dark, but being set in the ray of the sun its light is darkened. What then did Eliphaz learn when he was transported in contemplation, saving that man cannot be justified in comparison with God } For we believe that what we do outwardly is righteous, but when we never at all acquaint ourselves with the things of the interior, we are as it were blind whilst set in the ray of the sun. But when we, * "°" little as we can, discern the one, it is not a little^ that we que judge the others, m that a man judges the darkness more 2 A.B. exactly, in proportion as the brightness^ of light is more p'^*. truly manifested to him. For he, that seeth light, knoweth ty,' what to account of the darkness, as he, that is ignorant of the whiteness of light, lets pass even dark objects for light ones.
And it is rightly added. Shall a man be more pure than his Maker? For whoso murmurs at the stroke, what does he, but charge the justice of the striker.? Thus a man accounts himself more pure than his Maker, if he stirs complaint against the scourge, and without doubt he makes Him give place to himself. Whose judgment he blames in the case of his own affliction. Thus, that man may never dare charge his Judge with offence, let him humbly bethink himself that He is the Author of Nature; for He, That with marvellous skill made man out of nothing, does not pitilessly afflict him that He has made; which Eliphaz then learnt when he ' heard the voice as it were of a light breath.' For by the contemplation of the greatness of God we learn, how humbly we should abase ourselves with fear under His visitation. And he, that hath a taste of things above, bears with resignation all events below, in that he perfectly sees within, whereat he should reckon that which he does without. For he miscounts himself righteous, who knows not the rule of the Supreme Righteousness. And it Aiigelic nature in itself liable to change, 295 often happens that a piece of wood is counted straight, if it ^00^ be not applied to the rule; but so soon as it is put thereto, '— we discover the degree of distortion wherewith it swells out, in that, truly, the straight line cuts oft' and condemns that, which the cheated eye approved as good. Thus l-^lipliaz, in that he beheld things above, delivered a strict judgment on all below, and though it was not rightly he reproved blessed Job, yet by comparison with the Creator of all things he rightly describes the measure of the creature, saying, Xer. 18, 19. Behold, His servants are not sted/ast, and in His Angels He found folly: Hoic much more i?i them that dwell in houses of clay^ whose foundation is in the dust, which shall be consu?ned as by the inoth /