Ver. 5. And it was so, when the days of their /easting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them. xxxiv. 47, Por^ when the round of the days of feasting is gone about, to send to his sons and to sanctify them, is after the ^sensum perception^ of the virtues to direct the inward intention, and to purify all that we do with the exact sifting of a reexamination, lest things be counted good which are evil, or at least such as are truly good be thought enough when they are imperfect. For thus it very often happens that the mind is taken in, so that it is deceived either in the quality of what is evil or the quantity of what is good. But these senses of the virtues are much better ascertained by prayers than by examinings. For the things which we endeavour to search out more completely in ourselves, we oftener obtain a true insight into by praying than by investigating. For when the mind is lifted up on high by the kind of machine of compunction, all that may have been presented to it concerning itself, it surveys the more surely by passing j udgment upon it beneath its feet. Hence it is well subjoined, And rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings, according to the number of them all, XXXV. 48. For we rise up early in the morning, when being penetrated with the light of compunction we leave the night of our human state, and open the eyes of the mind to the beams of the true light, and we oflfer a burnt offering for each son, when we offer up the sacrifice of prayer for each virtue, lest wisdom may uplift; or understanding, while it runs nimbly, deviate from the right path; or counsel, while it multiplies itself, grow into confusion; that fortitude, while it gives confidence, may not lead to precipitation, lest knowledge, while it knows and yet has no love, may swell the mind; lest piety", while it bends itself out of the right line, may become distorted; and lest fear, while it is unduly alarmed, may plunge one into the pit of despair. When then " i. e. mercy, for he speats of the LORD.' If mistakes creep in thus, there ' pietaH' of God towards man. Yet in is often truth hidden in them. Compare Is. xi. 3. it stands for the Greek James 1, 27. tuft(iti», and that for Heb. ^/ear of the Thoughts unuatched lead to IshboshetKs fate. 59 we pour out our prayers to the Lord in behalf of each several Book virtue, that it be free from alloy, what else do we but according — ^- to the number of our sons offer a burnt offering^ for each? ' hoio- ^ caustum for an holocaust is rendered ' the whole burnt.' Therefore to pay a ' holocaust' is to light up the whole soul with the fire of compunction, that the heart may bum on the altar of love, and consume the defilements of our thoughts, like the sins of our own offspring.
49. But none know how to do this saving those, who, before their thoughts proceed to deeds, restrain with anxious circumspection the inward motions of their hearts. None know how to do this saving they who have learnt to fortify their soul with a manly guard. Hence Ishbosheth is rightly said to have perished by a sudden death, * whom holy Scripture at the same time testifies to have had not a man for his doorkeeper but a woman, in these words; And the 2 Sa.m. sopis of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechah and Baanah, ^'^'^^ y^i^ and came about the heat of the day to the house of Ishbosheth, ii'ho lay on a bed at noon; and they came thither into the midst of the house, and the portress of the house was fallen asleep, winnouing wheat. And they came privily into the house fetching ears of wheat, and they smote him in the groin. The portress winnows the wheat, when the wardkeeping of the mind distinguishes and separates the virtues from the vices; but if she falls asleep, she lets in conspirators to her master's destruction, in that when the cautiousness of discernment is at an end, a way is set open for evil spirits to slay the soul. They enter in and carry off the ears, in that they at once bear off the germs of good thoughts; and they smite in the groin, in that they cut off the virtue of the soul by the delights of the flesh. For to smite in the groin is to pierce the life of the mind with the delights of the flesh.
But this Ishbosheth would never have perished by such a death, if he had not set a woman at the entrance to his house, i. c. set an easy guard at the way of access to the mind. For a strong and manly activity should be set over the doors of the heart, such as is never surprised by sleep of neglect, and never deceived by the errors of ignorance; and hence he is rightly named Ishbosheth, who is exposed by a female guard to the swords of his enemies, for Ishbosheth is rendered * a 60 Satan entices our good to turn against God.
JoBi,4.man of confusion.' And he is * a man of confusion,' who is not provided with a strong guard over his mind, in that while he reckons himself to be practising virtues, vices stealing in 1 ai. kill him^ unawares. The entrance to the mind then must be kill his £Qj.^-^g(j with the whole sum of virtue, lest at any time enemies with insidious intent penetrate into it by the opening Prov. 4, of heedless thought. Hence Solomon says, Keep thy heart ^^' with all diligence^ for out of it are the issues of life. It is meet then that we form a most careful estimate of the virtues that we practise, beginning with the original intent, lest the acts which they put forth, even though they be right, may proceed from a bad origin: and hence it is rightly subjoined in this place; For Job said, It may he that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.
xxxvi. 50. Our sons curse God in their hearts, when our righteous deeds proceed from unrighteous thoughts; when they put forth good things in public, but in secret devise mischief. Thus they curse God, when our minds reckon that they get from themselves that which they are. They curse God when they can miderstand that it is fi*om Him that they have received their powers, and yet seek their own praise for His gifts. But be it known that our old enemy proceeds against our good actions in three ways, with this view, namely, that the thing which is done aright before the eyes of men, may be spoiled in the sight of the Judge within. For sometimes in a good work he pollutes the intention, that all that follows in the doing may come forth impure and unclean, because it is hereby made to rise troubled from its source. But sometimes he has no power to spoil the intention of a good deed, but he presents himself in the action itself as it were in the pathway; that whereas the person goes forth the more secure in the purpose of his heart, evil being secretly there laid, he may as it were be slain from ambush. And sometimes he neither corrupts the intention, nor overthrows it in the way, but he ensnares the good deed at the end of the action; and in proportion as he feigns himself to have gone further off, whether from the house of the heart or from the path of the deed, witli the greater craftiness he watches to catch the end of the good action; and the more he has put a man Snares of mal-intenlion^ and subsequent pride. 61 off his guard by seeming to retire, so much the more Book incurably does he at times pierce him with an unexpected wound.
51. For he defiles the intention in a good work, in that when he sees men's hearts ready to be deceived, he presents to their ambition the breath of passing applause, that wherein they do aright, they may swerve by crookedness in the intention to make the lowest things their aim; and hence under the image of Judaea, it is well said by the Prophet of every soul that is caught in the snare of mal-intention, //e-r Lament. adversaries are the chief. As though it were said in plain ' ^* words, * when a good work is taken in hand with no good intent, the spirits that ai"e against us have dominion over her from the commencement of the conception, and the more completely possess themselves of her, even that they hold her under their power by the very beginning.'
52. But when they are unable to corrupt the intention, they conceal snares which they set in the way, that the heart, lifting itself up in that which is done well, may be impelled from one side to do evil; so that what at the outset it had set before itself in one way, it may go through in act far other^-ise than it had begun. For often whilst human praise falls to the lot of a good deed, it alters the mind of the doer, and though not sought after, yet when offered it pleases; and whereas the mind of the well-doer is melted by the delight thereof, it is set loose from all vigorousness of the inward intention. Often when our sense of justice has begun to act aright, anger joins it from the side; and whereas it troubles the mind out of measure, by the quickness of our sense of uprightness, it wounds all the healthiness of our inward tranquillity. It often happens that sadness, attaching itself from the side, as it were, becomes the attendant of seriousness of mind, and that every deed which the mind commences with a good intention, this quality overcasts with a veil of sadness, and we are sometimes the slower in driving it away even in that it waits as it were in solemn attendance' on the depressed mind. Often immoderate joy attaches itself to a ' Ms8. A.B.C.D.E.M. ' quasi serio * quasi superior famulatur/'ioaa it vrere famnlatur.' Ben. and K. 'senior,' which a superior waiting.' hardly gives a tolerable sense, L. htxs 62 Satan entraps like Ishmael the son of Nethaniah.
Job 1,4. good deed, and while it calls upon the mind for more mirth than is meet, it discards all the weight of gravity from our good action. For because the Psalmist had seen that ev^en those that set out well are met by snares on the way, being Ps. 142, filled with the prophetic spirit, he rightly delivered it; In ^' this way that I walked they hid a snare for me. Which Jeremiah well and subtilly insinuates, who, while busied with telling of outward events, points out what things were done Jer. 41, inwardly in ourselves, Tliere came certain from Shechon, from Shiloh, and from- Samaria^ even fourscore men., having their beards shaven, and their clothes rent, and having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to the house of the Lord. And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah toent forth from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went; and it came to pass, as he met them, he said unto them. Come unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. And it was so, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah slew them. For those shave their beard, who remove from them confidence in their own powers. They rend their clothes, that spare not themselves in tearing in pieces outward appearance. They come to offer up in the house of the Lord frankincense and gifts, who engage to set forth prayer in union with works in sacrifice to God. But if in the very path of holy devotion they skill not to keep a wary eye on every side, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah goes forth to meet them; in that assuredly every evil spirit, after the example of its chief, even Satan, begotten in the erring principle of pride, presents itself as a snare to deceive. And it is likewise well said concerning him; weeping all along as he went; forasmuch as in order that he may cut off devout souls by smiting them, he hides himself as it were under the guise of virtue, and whereas he feigns to agree with those that really mourn, being thus with greater security admitted to the interior of the heart, he destroys whatsoever of virtue is there hidden within. And most often he engages to guide to higher things; and hence he is related to have said, Come unto Gedaliah the son qf Ahikam; and while he promises greater things he robs us even of the very little that we have; and hence it is rightly said, And it was so, when they came into the midst qf the city, that Ishmael Satan bruises the good in the heely or end, 63 the son qf Nethaniah slew thein. So then he slays in the Book midst of the city the men that are come to oflfer gifts to God, '- — iir that those souls which are devoted to works of God, unless they watch over themselves with great circumspection, lose their life on the very way, through the enemy intercepting them unawares, as they go bearing the sacrifice of devotion; and from the hands of this enemy there is no escape, unless they speedily hasten back to repentance. Hence it is fitly added there. But ten men were found among //^e/w, Jer.4i, that said unto Ishmael, Slay us not, for we have treasures in the field, of wheat, of barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he slew them not. For the treasure in the field is hope in repentance, which, in that it is not discernible, is kept buried closely in the earth of the heart. They then that had treasures in the field were saved, in that they who after the fault of their unwariness return to the lamentation of repentance, do not likewise perish when taken captive.
53. But when our old adversary neither deals a blow at the outset of the intention, nor intercept us in the path of the execution, he sets the more mischievous snares at the end, which he so much the more wickedly besets, as he sees that it is all that is left to him to make a prey of Now the Prophet had seen these snares set at the end of his course, when he said. They will mark my heel. For because the end of the P3.56,6. body is in the heel, what is signified thereby but the end of an action } Whether then it be evil spirits, or all wicked men that follow in the steps of their pride, they ' mark the heel" when they aim at spoiling the end of a good action; and hence it is said to that serpent, it shall mark thy head. Gen. s, and thou shall mark his heel. For to mark the serpent's YnW. head is to keep an eye upon the beginnings of his suggestions, *h"« and with the hand of needful consideration wholly to eradicate them from the avenues of the heart; yet when he is caught at the commencement, he busies himself to smite the heel, in that though he does nol strike the intention with his suggestion at the first, he strives to ensnare at the end. Now if the heart be once corrupted in the intention, the middle and the end of the action that follows is held in secure possession by the cunning adversary, since he sees that that whole tree bears fruit to himself, which he has 64 Each virtue, and whole character, to he ivatched.
Job 1,4. poisoned at the root with his baleful tooth. Therefore because we have to watch with the gi'eatest cai'e, that the mind even in the service of good works be not polluted by a wicked intention, it is rightly said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. As if it were said in plain words, that is no good work which is performed outwardly, unless the sacrifice of innocency be inwardly offered for it upon the altar of the heart in the presence of God. The stream of our work then is to be looked through, all we can, if it flows out pure from the well-spring of thought. With all care must the eye of the heart be guarded from the dust of wickedness, lest that which in action it shews upright to man, be within set awry by the fault of a crooked intention.
54. We must take heed, then, that our good works be not too few, take heed too that they be not unexamined, lest by doing too few works we be found barren, or by leaving them unexamined we be found foolish; for each several virtue is not really such, if it be not blended with other virtues; and Exod. hence it is well said to Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, 35.' ' stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, of good scent, ivith pure frankincense; of each shall there be a like iceight: And thou shall make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, icell tempered together, and pure. For we make a perfume compounded of spices, when we yield a smell upon the altar of good works with the multitude of our virtues; and this is * tempered together and pure,' in that the more we join virtue to virtue, the purer is the incense of ver. 36. good works we set forth. Hence it is well added. And thou shall beat them all very small, and put of it before the Tabernacle of the Testimony. We * beat all the spices very small,' when we pound our good deeds as it were in the mortar of the heart, by an inward sifting, and go over them minutely, to see if they be really and truly good: and thus to reduce the spices to a powder, is to rub fine our virtues by consideration, and to call them back to the utmost exactitude of a secret reviewal; and observe that it is said of that powder, and thou shall put of it before the Tabernacle of the Testimony: for this reason, in that our good works are then truly pleasing in the sight of our Judge, when the Strict self-examination an offerimj ofjine incense. 65 mind bruises them small by a more particular reexamination, Book and as it were makes a powder of the spices, that the good '■ — that is done be not coarse' and hard, lest if the close hand' S^^-of reexammation do not bruise it fine, it scatter not from itself the more refined odour. For it is hence that the virtue of the Spouse is commended by the voice of the Bridegroom, where it is said, Who is this, that cometh out of the CQ.\ii,3^ ivilderness like a rod of smoke of the perfume of myrrh and frankincense, icith all powders of the merchant? For holy Church rises up like a rod of smoke from spices, in that by the virtues of her life she duly advances to the uprightness of inward incense, nor lets herself run out into dissipated thought, but restrains herself in the recesses of the heart in the rod of severity: and while she never ceases to reconsider and go over anew the things that she does, she has in the deed myn'h and frankincense, but in the thought she has powder. Hence it is that it is said again to Moses of those who offer a victim. And he shall flay the burnt offering^^Q'^'^y and cut it into his pieces. For we strip the skin of the victim, when we remove from the eyes of the mind the overcast of virtue; and we * cut it in his pieces,' when we minutely dissect its interior, and contemplate it piecemeal. We must therefore be careful, that when we overcome our evil habits, we are not overthrown by our good ones running riot, lest they chance to run out loosely, lest being unheeded they be taken captive, lest firom error they forsake the path, lest broken down by weariness they lose the meed of past labours. For the mind ought in all things to keep a wary eye about it, aye and in this very forethought of circumspection to be persevering; and hence it is rightly added, Thus did Job all the days.
55. For vain is the good that we do, if it be given overxxxvii. before the end of life, in that it is vain too for him to run fast, who fails before he reaches the goal. For it is hence that it is said of the reprobate. Woe unto you that have lost Ecc\ua. patience. Hence IVuth says to His elect. Ye are they Ma/^'ukeaa have contifiued with Me in My tetnptations. Hence Joseph, 28. who is described to have remained righteous among his brethren until the very end, is the only one related to have p 66 Historical sense not to be slighted for the other.
JOB 1,4. had ' a coat reaching to the ancles ^' For what is a coat that G^^^ reaches to the ancles but action finished? For it is as if the Y^lg extended coat covered the ancle of the body, when well doing covers us in God's sight even to the end of life.
Hence it is that it is enjoined by Moses to offer upon the Lev. 3, altar the tail of the sacrifice, namely, that every good action ^^'' that we begin we may also complete with perseverance to the "" ^* end. Therefore what is begun well is to be done every day, that whereas evil is driven away by our opposition, the very victory that goodness gains may be held fast in the hand of constancy.
66. These things then we have delivered under a threefold sense, that by setting a variety of viands before the ifastidi- delicate 1 sense of the soul, we may offer it something to ^""^^ choose by preference. But this we most earnestly entreat, that he that lifts up his mind to the spiritual significaUon, do not desist from his reverence for the history.
h Vulg. tunica talari, where talari stands for the words tMt was on (or over) him.
/ From the sixth verse of the first chapter to the end, he follows out the exposition according to the threefold interpretation.
1. Holy Writ is set before the eyes of the mind like a kind of mirror, that we may see our inward face in it; for therein we learn the defonnitics, therein we learn the beauties that we possess; there we are made sensible what progress we are making, there too how far we are from proficiency. It relates the deeds of the Saints », and stirs the hearts of theui. weak to follow their example, and while it commemorates ' ""^'^^^ their victorious deeds, it strengthens our feebleness against '^'°°^'' the assaults of our vices; and its words have this effect, that the mind is so much the less dismayed amidst conflicts as It sees the triumphs of so many brave men set before it.
Sometimes however it not only informs us of their excellencies, but also makes known their mischances, that both in the victory of brave men we may see what we ought to seize on by imitation, and again in their falls what we ought to stand in fear of. For, observe how Job is described as rendered greater by temptation, but David by temptation brought to the gi'ound, that both the virtue of our predecessors may cherish our hopes, and the downfall of our predecessors may brace us to the cautiousness of humility, so that whilst we are uplifted by the former to joy, by the latter we may be kept down through fears, and that the hearer's mind, being from the one source imbued with the confidence of hope, and from the other with the luunility arising from fear, may neither swell with rash pride, in that it is kept down by alarm, nor be so kept down by fear as to despair, in that it finds support for confident 'hope in a precedent of virtue.
68 Little circumstances significative in Holy Writ.
Job 1,6. Ver. 6. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. ii. 2. It is interesting to observe the method followed by Holy Writ in delineating, at the commencement of its relations, the qualities and the issues of the particular cases. For one while by the position of the place, now by the posture of the body, now by the temperature of the air, and now by the character of the time, it marks out what it has coming after concerning the action which is to follow; as by the position of the place Divine Scripture sets forth the merits of the circumstances that follow, and the results of the case, as where it relates of Ex. 19, Israel that they could not hear the words of God in the '' mount, but received the commandments on the plain; doubtless betokening the subsequent weakness of the people who could not mount up to the top, but enfeebled themselves by living carelessly in the lowest things. By the posture of the body it tells of future events, as where in the Acts of the Apostles, Stephen discloses that he saw Jesus, Who Acts 7, sitteth at the right hand of the Power of God, in a standing ^' • posture; for standing is the posture of one in the act of rendering aid, and rightly is He discerned standing, Who gives succour in tlie press of the conflict. By the temperature of the air, the subsequent event is shewn, as when the Evangelist was telling that none out of Judaea were at that time to prove believers in our Lord's preaching, he prefaced Johnio, it by saying, and it was winter, for it is written, Because M 24 ^'^^H'^^^iy shM abound, the love of many shall wax cold. There-12. fore he took care to particularize the winter season, to indicate that the frost of wickedness was in the hearers' hearts. Hence it is that it is beforehand remarked of Peter, when on the John 18, point of denying our Lord, that it was cold, and Peter stood ^^' with them, and warmed himself. For he was now inwardly unenlivened by the warmth of Divine love, but to the love of this present life he was warming up, as though his weakness were set boiling by the persecutors' coals. By the character of the time moreover the issue of the transaction is set forth, as it is related of Judas, who was never to be restored to pardon, that he went out at night to the treachery of his betrayal, where upon his going out, the Evangelist says, How Angels come to God, Whotn they leave not. 69 And it was night. Hence too it is declared to the wicked Book rich man, This night shall thy soul be required of thee; for Johnl3, that soul which is conveyed to darkness, is not recorded as so. required in the day time, but in the night. Hence it is that 20^ ^ '' Solomon who received the gift of wisdom, but was not to persevere, is said to have received her in dreams and in the night. Hence it is that the Angels visit Abraham at midday. Gen. 18, but when proposing to punish Sodom, they are recorded to ^* ^' have come thitlier at eventide. Therefore, because the trial Gen. 19, of blessed Job is carried on to victory, it is related to have ^* begun by day, it being said.
Now there was a day, when the sons of Qod came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.
3. Now who are called the sons of God, saving the elect iii. Angels } and as we know of them that they wait on the eyes of His Majesty, it is a worthy subject of inquiry*, whence they come to present themselves belbre God. For it is of these that it is said by the voice of Truth, Tlieir angels do always behold Mat. 18, the face of My Father, IVJiich is in heaven? Of these the ^^* Prophet saith, llioiisand thousands ministered unto Hiniy'Da.ii.Tt and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. If * then they ever behold and ever stand nigh, we must carefully and attentively consider whence they are come, who never go from Him; but since Paul says of them. Are they not all Heh. i, ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them that shall he heirs of salvation? in this, that we learn that they are sent, we discover whence they are come. Rut see, we add question to question, and as it were while we strive to unloose the loop, we are only fastening a knot. For how can they either always be in presence, or always behold the face of the Father, if ihey are sent upon external ministration for our salvation?
Which will however be the sooner believed, if we think of how great subtlety is the angelical nature. For they never so gb forth apart from tlie vision of God, as to be deprived of tlic joys of interior contemplation; for if when they went forth they lost the vision of the Creator, ihcy could neither have raised up the fallen, nor announced the truth to those in ignorance; and that fount of light, which by departing they were themselves de])rived of, they could in no wise proffer to 70 How Satan could come before God.
JoBi,6. the blind. Herein then is the nature of Angels distinguished from the present condition of our own nature, that we are ,' both circumscribed by space, and straitened by the blindness of ignorance; but the spirits of Angels are indeed bounded by , space, yet their knowledge extends far above us beyond com- ; parison; for they expand by external and internal knowing, since they contemplate the very source of knowledge itself.
For of those things which are capable of being known, what is there that they know not, who know Him, to Whom all things are known? So that their knowledge when compared with ours is vastly extended, yet in comparison with the ;; Divine knowledge it is little. In like manner as their very 1 spirits in comparison indeed with our bodies are spirits, but ^- being compared with the Supreme and Incomprehensible Spirit, they are Body. Therefore they are both sent from Him, and stand by Him too, since both in that they are circumscribed, they go forth, and in this, that they are also entirely present, they never go away. Thus they at the same time always behold the Father's face, and yet come to us; because they both go forth to us in a spiritual presence, and yet keep themselves there, whence they had gone out, by virtue of interior contemplation; it may then be said, The sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord; inasmuch as they come back thither by a return of the spirit, whence they never depart by any withdrawal of the mind.
And Satan came also among them.
iv. 4. It is a very necessary enquiry, how Satan could be present among the elect Angels, he who had a long time before been damned and banished from their number, as his pride required. Yet he is well described as having been present among them; for though he lost his blessed estate, yet he did not part with a nature like to theirs, and though his deserts sink him, he is lifted up by the properties of his subtle nature. And so he is said to have come before God among the sons of God, for Almighty God, with that eye with which He regards all spiritual things, beholds Satan also in the rank of a more subtle nature, as Prov. Scripture testifies, when it says. The eyes of the Lord are in ' ' every place, beholding the evil and the good; but this, viz.
that Satan is said to have come before the presence of God, Satan comes before God uithout seeing Him. 71 comes under a grave question with us; for it is written, Book Blessed are the pure in hearty for they shall see God. But ^^^^^. Satan, who can never be of a pure heart, how could he haves, presented himself to see the Lord?