32. Not but that this likewise accords with the voice of the righteous, whose mind is ever anxiously fixed on the coming Judgment. For they have fears for every thing that they do, whilst they hecdfully consider who are the persons, and before what a Judge they will have to stand. They V)ehold the power of His Mightiness, and they consider wliat The rufhteous could not stand but through Mercy. 439 an amount of eruilt they are tied and bound with from their Book...VIII. own imperfection. They reckon up the evil deeds of their '- own doing, and muhiply over against them the benefits of their Creator. They reflect how rigidly He judges wicked deeds, how minutely He examines good ones; and they foresee without a shadow of doubt that they w^ill be lost, if they be judged apart Irom pity: for even this very life that we seem to live righteously is sin, if, when He takes account of our lives, the mercy of God does not make allowance for it in His own eyes. For it is hence written in this very book, Yea^ the stars are not pure in His sight. For strictly Job25,5.
judged in His sight those very persons do also bear spots of defilement, that shine bright in the purity of holiness.
Therefore it is well said, T7iine eyes are upon me^ and I shall not stand. As if it were said in plain terms by the voice of the righteous man, * If I be sifted with an exact scrutiny, I cannot stand up in undergoing judgment, for life cannot bear up against punishment, if the mercilessness of just retribution bears hard upon it.' Now both the sin and the punishment of that same human race is well added in few words, where it is said immediately afterwards, Ver. 9. As the cloud is consumed and vanisJietJt away; so he that goeth doivn to hell shall come up no more.
33. For a cloud is suspended in the higher regions, but it xvii. is condensed and driven by the wind that it flies, and it is scattered by the heat of the sun that it vanishes. Thus, thus verily is it with the hearts of men, which by the faculty of reason bestowed upon them dart on high, but driven by the blasts of the evil spirit, they are forced hither and thither by the bad impulses of their desires, but by the searching eye of the Judge above they are melted as if by the heat of the sun, and being once consigned to the regions of woe, never return for the benefit of working. Let the holy man then, in setting forth the elevation, the career, and the eclipse of the human race, exclaim. As the cloud, is consumed and vanishetJi away^ so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. As if he spake in plain words, saying, ' In flying on high he is brought to nought, who by exalting himself is advancing to destruction, whom, if sin once force 440 T7ie damned relum not to their old home.
Job 7, to punishment, mercy never more restores to pardon.' Hence — -^* — it is yet fm'ther added, Moral. / ' He shall return no more to his own house. xviii. 34. As the house of the body is a bodily habitation, so that becomes to each separate mind ' its own house,' whatsoever thing it is used to inhabit in desire. And so ' there is no more returning to his own house,' because, when once a man is given over to eternal punishments, he is henceforth no more recalled thither, where he had attached himself in love. Moreover by the designation of hell the despair of the sinner may also be set forth, of which it is said by the Ps. 6, 5. Psalmist, In hell, who shall confess to TJiee? Whence again Piov. it is written, JVhen the luujodlij man cometh into the pit of ^^' ^' sinners, he contemneth. Now whosoever yields himself to ungodliness, doth assuredly quit the life of righteousness by a proper death. But when a man after sin is furthermore overwhelmed by a mountain of despair, what else is this but that after death he is buried in the torments of hell.'' Thereibre it is rightly said. As the cloud is consumed, and vanisheth away, so he that goeth down to hell shall come tip no more; in that it very often happens, that with the commission of wickedness despair also is united, and the way of returning is henceforth cut off. But the hearts of the despairing are rightly compared to clouds, in that they are at once darkened with the mists of error, and thick with the number of sins; but being consumed, they vanish away, in that being lighted up by the blaze of the final Judgment, they are scattered to the winds. ' The house' too is often understood for the dwelling-place of the heart. Hence it is said to one that Marks, was healed. Go to thine house; in that it is most meet that ^^* the sinner after pardon should turn back into his own mind, so as not to do aught a second time which may justly subject him to the scourge. But he that has ' gone down to hell,' shall no more ' ascend into his own house,' in that him, that despair overwhelms, it puts forth without from the habitation of the heart. And he cannot return back within, because when he has been ejected without, day by day he falls urged on into worse extremes. For man was made to contemplate his Creator, that he might ever be seeking after His likeness, God no longer the dwelling of those who forsake Him. 441 and dwell in ihe festival ^ of His love. But beinp: cast with- Book out himself by disobedience, he lost the seat of his mind, in - —; — 1 1 sol emthat being left all abroad in dark ways, he wandered far from nitate the habitation of the true light. Whence it is further added with propriety, Neither shall his place know him any more. 35. For ' the place' of man, but not a local place, the xix. Creator Himself became. Who created him to have his being in Himself, which same place man did then forsake, when on hearing the words of the deceiver, he forsook the love of the Creator. But when Almighty God in the work of redemption shewed Himself even by a bodily appearing. He Himself, so to say, following the footsteps of His runagate, came as a place where to keep man whom He had lost. For if the Creator could not in any sense be styled ' a place,' the Psalmist, in praising God, would never have said, TJte Ps. 102, children of thy servants shall dwell there^. For we i^CTera /^j^gj-g. say there, except when we mark out a place in a particular is not in manner. But there are very many, who even after they have lxx.
received the succour of the Redeemer, are precipitated into the darkness of despair, and they perish the more desperately, in proportion as they despise the very offered remedies of mercv. And so it is rio^htly said concerning; him that is damned. Neither shall his place know him any more. For he is not known by his Creator in His sorer severity at the Judgment, in the same degree that he is not recalled even by His gifts to the grace of restoration. And hence it is particularly to be observed, that he does not say, ' Nor shall he know his own place any more;' but. Neither shall his place knoiv him any more. For whereas that ' knowing' is ascribed not to the person, but to the place, the Creator Himself is manifestly set forth, by the name of ' a place,' Who, when He cometh in strictness for the final account, shall say to all tliat abide in iniquity, I know yon not ichence ye are. But Lukei3, the Elect severally, in proportion as they consider that lost^^* sinners are unsparingly cut off, day by day purify themselves with greater diligence from the stains of the iniquity they have done; and when they see others on the brink of ruin grow cold in the love of life, they earnestly inllame themselves to tears of penitence. Hence it is well added, 442 Men should not refrain from confessing sin.
Job 7, Ver. 11. There/ore also I will not refrain my rnoiith.
'- 36. For that man ' refrains his mouth,' that is ashamed to ^^ confess the evil he has done, ror to put the mouth to labour is to employ it in the confession of sin done, but the righteous man doth ' not refrain his mouth,' in that forestalliug the wrath of the searching Judge, he falls wroth upon himself Ps.95,2.in words of self-confession. Hence the Psalmist saith, Let us come before His Presence icith confession^. Hence it is Prov. delivered by Solomon, He that coveteth his sins shall not ' * prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have lb. 18, mercy. Hence it is written again, The Just man is first the accuser of himself. But the mouth is never opened in confession, unless at the thought of the searching Judgment the spirit is in straits from fear; and hence it is fitly said afterwards, I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. xxi. 37. For ' anguish of the spirit' sets the tongue in motion, so that the voice of confession is levelled against the guilt of evil practice. Moreover it is to be borne in mind, that oftentimes even the reprobate make confession of sins, but are too proud to weep for them. But the Elect prosecute ^-ith tears of severe self-condemnation those sins_.oi* theirs ] which they disclose in words of confession. Hence it was well that after blessed Job had pledged himself not to spare his lips, he added directly the anguish of the spirit. As if he avowed plainly, saying, ' The tongue doth in such sort tell of guilt, that the spirit is not ever let go loose amidst other things, ii'ee of the sting of soitow; but in telling my sins, I disclose my wound, and in thinking over my sins for their amendment, I seek the cure of the wound in the medicine of sorrow.' For he that tells indeed the evil deeds he has done, but holds back from lamenting what he has told, he as it were by taking off the covering discovers the wound, but in deadness of mind he applies no remedy to the wound. Therefore it is needful that sorrow alone should wring out the voice of confession, lest the wound, being exposed, but neglected, in proportion as it is henceforth more freely touched through the knowledge of our fellowcreatures, fester •^ V. ' in confessionc' Which however is often used for praise and thanksgiving.
I Bitter and icholesome self-converse of penitents. 443 so much the worse. Contrariwise the Psalmist had not onlv Book disclosed the sore of his heart, but was furtheiTQore applying ^ to it thus laid bare the remedy of sorrow, when he said, / achioicledge my sin unto Thee^ and my iniquity uill Ps.32,5. I think on. For by so ' acknowledging' he discovered the hidden sore, and by thus ' thinking on' it, what else did he, than apply a remedy to the wound? But to the mind that is distressed, and anxiously thinking on its own ills, there arises a strife in behalf of self against self. For when it urges itself to the sorrows of penitence, it rends itself with secret upbraiding. And hence it is justly added afterwards, I will converse with the bitterness of my spirit.
38. For when we are in trouble from dread of God's judgment, xxii.
whilst we bewail some things done wrong, seeing that by the mere force of our bitterness alone we are sluTed up to enter into ourselves more observantly, we find in ourselves other things also to bewail more largely. For it often happens that what escaped us in our insensibility, is made known to us more exactly in tears. And the troubled mind finds out more surely the ill that it has done and knew not of, and its conflict discovers to it in a true point of view how far it had deviated from the peacewhich is of truth, in that its guilt, which while secure it thought not of, it finds out in itself when disturbed. For the bitterness of penance gaining ground urgently brings home to the confounded heart the unlawful things it has committed, exhibits the Judge arrayed against them in severity, strikes deep the threats of punishment, smites the soul with consternation, overwhelms it with shame, chides the unlawful motions of the heart, and disturbs the repose of its mischievous self-security, all the good gifts that the Creator has vouchsafed to bestow upon him, all the evil that he himself has done in return for the good things of His hand, are reckoned up, how that he was created by Him in a wonderful way, that he was sustained freely and for nought, that he was endowed with the substance of reason at his creation, that he was called by the grace of his Creator, that he himself even when called refused to follow, that the pitifulness of Him that calleth did not disregard him, not even when deaf and resisting, that he was enlightened with gifts, that of his own free will, even after these gifts received, 444 Present injlnnity grievous to good men.
Job 7, he blinded himself by wicked deeds, that he was cleared *^J 11 from the wrong doings of his state of blindness by the strokes ' of fatherly solicitude, that by means of the pains of these strokes he was restored to the joys of saving health by the remedy that mercy applied, that being subject to certain bad practices, though not of the worst sort, he does not cease to sin even in the midst of these strokes; that the grace of God even when slighted did not abandon its sinner. And thus whereas it upbraids with so much keenness the agitated mind at one time by a display of the gifts of God, another time by the reproaches of its own behaviour, the bitterness of spirit has a tongue of its own in the heart of the righteous, which speaks to it the more searchingly, in proportion as it is heard within. And hence it is not at all said, • I will talk in the bitterness of my spirit,' but / trill converse u:iiJi the bitterness; in that the force of grief, which taking each sin separately, stimulates the deadened mind to lamentations, as it were shapes words of converse to it, wherein it being chidden might find itself out, and henceforth rise up with better heed to the safe keeping of itself. And so let the righteous man say in his own voice; as bearing a figure of Holy Church, let him say in ours too; 1 trill converse with the bitterness of my s^nrit. As if he spake it in plainer words, saying, ' Within I hold converse with the anguish of my heart against mine own self, and without I hide myself from the lash of the Judge.' Now the mind that is borne hard upon by the pangs of penitence is gathered up close into itself, and severed by strong resolution from all the gratifications of the flesh, it longs to advance to things above, yet it still feels opposition from the corruption of the flesh. And hence it is rightly added immediately, Ver. 12. Am I a sea or a whale, that thou hast compassed me about with a prison? xxiii. 39. Man is ' compassed about with a prison,' in that he very often both strives to mount on high by the strides of virtuous attainments, and yet is im]:)eded by the corruption of his fleshly part. Of which same the Psalmist rightly prays P8. 142 that he might be divested, saying, Bring my soul out of ^ ' yrison^ that I may praise Thy Name. But what have wc set forth by the designation of ' the sea,' saving the hearts of Satan a whale, the carnal mind a sea,whicfi God restrains.44.6 carnal men tossed with swelling thoughts? and what by Book the name of ' a whale,' except our old enemy? who when ^^^^ in taking possession of the hearts of the children of this world he makes his way into them, does in a certain sort swim about in their slippery thoughts. But the whale is made fast in prison, in that the evil spint, being cast down below, is kept mider by the weight of his own punishment, that he should have no power to fly up to the heavenly realms, as Peter testifies, who saith, God spared not Mc'^Fet. Angels that simied^ but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto Judgment, * The whale' is fast bound in prison, in that he is prevented from tempting the good as much as he desires. The sea too is ' compassed about with a prison,' in that the swelling and raging desires of carnal minds, for the doing of the evil that they loug for, are clogged by the straitness of their inability.
For they often long to have power over their betters, yet by the Divine ordering, that regulates all things marvellously, they ai*e made to bow beneath them. They desire, beingexalted high, to injure the good, yet being brought under their power, they look for consolation fi'om them. For the sake of fulfilling the gratification of the flesh, they covet length of years in the present life, yet they are carried off from it with haste. Concerning such it is well said by the Psalmist, ^ And He put the waters as it were in a skin. For Ps. 78, ' the waters are in a skin' when their loose desires, in that J y,, they find not the execution in deed, are kept down under a carnal heart. Therefore the whale and the sea are hemmed in by the close pressure of a prison, in that whether as regards the evil spirit or his followers, in whose minds he gathers himself and sets rolling therein the waves of tumultuous thoughts, the rigour of the Most High confines them, that they should have no power to accomplish the evil things that they ai'e set upon.
40. But holy men, in proportion as they contemplate the mysteries of heavenly truths with more perfect purity of heart, pant after them with daily increased ardour of affection. They long to be henceforth filled to the full at that fountain head, whence they as yet taste but a little drop with the mouth of contemplation. They long entirely to subdue 446 The Elect long for the liberty that hejits them.
Job 7, the promptings of the flesh, no longer to be subject to any -— — ^ thing unlawful in the imaginations of the heart springing Wisd.9, from the coiTuption thereof. But because it is written, For the corruptible body presseth doivn the soul, and the earthy tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things, therefore they henceforth rise above themselves in purpose of mind, but being still subject to the capricious motions of their imperfect nature, they lament that they are confined in the prison-house of corruption. Am I a sea or a whale, that Thou dost compass me about with a prison?
As if it were in plain words; * The sea or the whale, i. e. the wicked and their prime mover, the Evil Spirit, because they desire to have a loose given them for the mere liberty of committing iniquity alone, are justly held bound in the prison of the punishment inflicted on them. But I, that already long for the liberty of Thine eternal state, why am I still enclosed in the prison of mine own corruption?' Not that this is either demanded in pride by the righteous, in that being inflamed with the love of the Truth they desire completely to surmount the narrow compass of their imperfect condition; nor yet that it is unjustly ordered by the Author of the just, in that in delaying the wishes of His Elect, He puts them to pain, and in paining purifies, that they may one day be the better enabled by that delay, for the receiving that they desire. But the Elect, so long as they are kept away from the interior rest, turn back into their own hearts, and being there buried from the tumults of the flesh, as it were seek a retreat of infinite delight. But therein they often feel the stings of temptation, and are subject to the goadings of the flesh, and there they meet with the hardest toils, where they had looked for perfect rest from toil. Hence the holy man after the prison of his state of corruption that he told of, hastening to return to the tranquil regions of the heart, seeing that he experienced in the interior also all that same strife, to escape which he fled from things without, adds immediately, saying, Ver. 13, 14. When I say my bed shall comfort me, I shall be eased in speaking with myself on my couch, then Thou scarest me with dreams, and terrijiesi me through visions.
Tite ' heiT of the heart Irouhled with * visions' of Judgment. 447 41. For in Holy Writ a ' bed ' a ' couch ' or ^ litter ' is Book VIII. usually taken for the secret depth of the heart. For it is XXIV t hence that under the likeness of each separate soul, the Spouse, urged by the piercing darts of holy love, says in the Song of Songs, By night on my bed I sought him, whom my Cant. 3, soul love th. For ' by night and on the bed is the beloved^' sought,' in that the appearance of the Invisible Creator, apart from every image of a bodily appearing, is found in the chamber of the heart. And hence ' Truth' saith to those same lovers of Him, The kingdom of God is loithin you. And Luke again, If I go not away., the Comforter will not come. As if johnjg it were in plain words; * If I do not withdraw My Body 7. from the eyes of your fixed regard, I lead you not by the Comforter, the Spirit, to the perception of the unseen.' Hence it is said by the Psalmist of the just. The Saints Ps=. 149, shall he joyful in glory., they shall rejoice upon their beds; ' in that when they flee the mischiefs from things without, they exult in safety within the recesses of their hearts. But the joy of the heart will then be complete, when the fight of the flesh shall have ceased without. For so long as the flesh allures, because as it were the wall of our house is shaken, even the very bed is disturbed. And hence it is rightly said by that Psalmist, Thou hast made all his bed in his sickness. P9.4i,3. For when temptation of the flesh moves us, our infirmity being made to tremble disturbs even the bed of the soul.
But what do we imderstand in this place by ' dreams* and ' visions' saving the representations of the last searching Judgment? What we already have some slight glimpse of through fear, but do not see it as it really is. Thus holy men, as we have said, ever turn back to the secret recesses of the heart, when from the world without, they either meet with successes beyond their wishes, or with adversities beyond their strength, and, wearied with their toils without, they seek as a bed, or litter, the resting-places of the heart. But whilst by certain pictures of their imagination they see how searching the judgments of God are, they are as it were disturbed in their very repose on their beds by the vision of a dream. For they behold after what sort the strict Judge Cometh, Who while with the power of infinite Majesty He lights up the secret recesses of the heart, will bring back 448 Serious thought brings terror. Various ki?ids of dreams. Job 7, every sin before our eves. They bethink themselves what -,T-^ — '- the shame of ihat is, to be confounded in the siarht of the lUOUAL. ° whole human race, of all the Angels and the Archangels. They reflect what agony is in store after that confounding, wlien at one and the same time guilt shall prey upon the soul imperishably perishing, and hell fire upon the flesh unfailingly failing. When, then^ the mind is shaken by so terrific a conception, what else is this but that a sad dream is presented upon the bed } Therefore let him say, When I say. My bed shall comfort me, and I shall he eased talking ivith myself on my couch; then Thou scares t me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions. As if he confessed openly, saying, * If fleeing from external things, I turn back into the interior, and am anxious in some sort to rest upon the bed »A.B.D. of mv heart, there, whilst Thou dost set me to ^ the contemmeT plation of Thy severity, Thou makest me to fear horribly by the mere images my foresight raises up.' Now it is well said. And I shall be eased, talking with myself in my bed, in that when we retm*n wearied to the silence of our hearts, as it were holding converse on our beds, we handle the secret words of thought within ourselves. But this very converse of ours is turned into dread, in that thereby there is more forcibly presented to us in imagination the view, which holds out the terrors of the Judge. L^"^' 42. But lest any one should be at pains to make out these words after the literal sense, it is of great importance to find out in how many ways the mind is aff*ected by images from dreams. For sometimes dreams are engendered of fulness or emptiness of the belly, sometimes of illusion, sometimes of illusion and thought combined, sometimes of revelation, while sometimes they are engendered of imagination, thought, and revelation together. Now the two which we have named first, we all know by experience, while the four subjoined we find in the pages of Holy Writ. For except dreams were very frequently caused to come in illusion by our secret enemy, the Ecclus. Wise Man would never have pointed this out by saying, For ^^' dreams and vain illusions " have deceived many, or indeed. Lev. 19, ^or shall ye use enchantments, nor observe dreams. By or* Vulg. which words it is shewn us how great an abomination they ^ The words vain illusions, are not in the Lat. or Gr.
Dreamxfrom illusio,,, thought, or revelation. 449 are in that they are joined with 'auguries.' Again, excepting Book they sometimes came of thought and illusion together, Llof ^""•