55. Well therefore is it said, Thou hast set me opposite to Thee^ so that I am a burthen to myself, in that whilst man being banished is both subject to annoyances in the flesh, and to perplexities in the mind, surely he carries about his own self as a grievous burthen. On every side he is •* ' Arnica caligo.' The meaning The homely nurse does all she can seems to be what is thus beautifully To make her foster-child, her inmate expressed by a living Poet. Man, * Earth fills her lap with pleasures of I^'orget the glories he has known her own ^^^ *^^^ imperial Palace whence he Yearnings she hath in her own natural came.
And evenwithsomew/mt of a mothers jections of Early Childhood, Poems, And no unworthy aim, Job longs io have his sin clean take?i away. 461 beset with sicknesses, on every side he is hard bestead with Book infiimities, that he who, having abandoned God, thought to '- suffice to himself for his repose, might find nought in himself but a turmoil of disquietude, and might tr}^ to fly from himself so found, but having set his Creator at nought, might not have where to fly. The burthens of which state of infirmity that wise man rightly regarding, exclaims. An heavy yoke is upon the sons of Adam,Jrom the day Ecdns. that they go out of their mother''s womb, till the day'^^^^' that they return to the mother of all things. But blessed Job regarding these things, and seeking with groans wherefore they were so ordered, does not reproach justice, but interrogates mercy; that in asking he may himself in self-abasement deal a blow to that, which the Divine pity might in sparing alter. As if he said in plain words; * Wherefore dost Thou despise man set as in opposition to Thee, Who, I am assured, wouldest not that even he should perish whom Thou art thought to despise?' Whence he proceeds in a right way both to express humility in confession, and to subjoin the voice of free inquiry in the words, Ver. 21. And why dost Thou not take away my transgression, and remove mine iniquity?
56. By which same words, what else is intimated but the xxxiii. desire of the expected Mediator, concerning Whom John saith. Behold the Lamb of God, Which taketh away the sin John i, of the world. Or rather sin is then completely taken away ^^* from mankind, when our corruption is changed in the glory of incorruption. For we can never be free fiom sin so long as we are held fast in a body of mortality, and therefore he longs for the grace of the Redeemer, i. e. for the ^ wholeness^ solidiof the Resurrection, who is looking to have his iniquity *^^®°^ entirely ' taken away.' Hence immediately after adding both the punishment which was his due by birth, and the Judgment which he dreads in consequence of his own doings, he proceeds.
For now shall I sleep in the dust, and if TIiou shalt seek me in the morning, I shall not abide.
57. It was said to the first man on his sinning, Dust thou xxxiv. art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Now by the ' mornings?Jf °" ^' 462 The Righteous fear the ^ Morning'' of Judgment.
Job 8, is meant that manifestation of sonls, which, when the thoughts are laid bare at the coming of the Judge, is as it were brought Lit.
to light after the darkness of night. Of which same morning Ps. 5, 3.it is said by the Psalmist, In the morning I shall stand '^ ^' before Thee and shall see '\ Now God's ' seeking' is His searching man with a minute inquest, and, in searching, judging him with rigorous strictness. Therefore let blessed Job, surveying the miseries of man's fallen condition, see how that he is both already closely pressed by a present punishment, and in yet worse plight as concerns the future, and let him say. For now shall I sleep in the dust, and if Thou shalt seek me in the morning, I shall not abide. As if he openly lamented, saying, ' In the present life indeed I already undergo the death of the flesh, and yet still further from the Judgment to come I dread a worse death, even the doom of Thy severity. I suffer destruction for sin, yet further on coming to Judgment I dread my sins being brought up again even after my dissolution. Therefore looking at the external death, let him say, For now shall I sleep in the dust, and dreading the interior let him add, And if Thou shalt seek me in the morning, I shall not abide. For however strong in righteousness, even the very Elect by no means suffice to themselves for innocency, if they be strictly examined in Judgment. But they find it now for an alleviation of their withdrawal hence, that they know in their humility that they never can suffice. Therefore they shelter themselves under the covering of humility from the sword of such a grievous visitation, and in proportion as awaiting the terribleness of the Judge to come, they tremble with continual alarm, so there is an unceasing progress in their becomingbetter prepared. It goes on, C. viii. 1, *2. Then answered Bildad, the Shuhite, and said, How long wilt thou speak these things? and how long shall * V. so. the breath^ of the words of thy mouth be multiplied?
XXXV. 58. To the unrighteous the words of the righteous are ever gi'ievous, and such as they hear spoken for edification, they bear as a burthen put upon them. As Bildad, the Shuhite, plainly indicates in his own case, when he says. How long wilt thou speak these things? For he that says how long, * E. V. Jn the morning nnll I direct {my prayer) unto Ttiee, and will look vp.
Job charged wiili much talking. Four kinds of speakers. 463 shews that he cannot any lonoer bear words of edification. Book . VIII But whereas unfair men are too proud to be set right, they '- find fault with the things that are spoken well; and hence he immediately adds, And how long shall the breath of the words of thy mouth be multiplied? When multiplicity is blamed in the speech, surely it is thereby denied that there is weight of meaning in the sense. For the power of speakers on the highest matters is distinguished by a fourfold quality. For there be some whom fulness in speaking and thinking combined give width and compass, and there be some whom meagreness both of thought and utterance reduces to small dimensions; and there are some who are furnished with ability in speaking, but not with penetration in thinking; and there are some, who have penetration of thought to support them, but from barrenness of expression are made silent. For we discover the same in man that we often see in things without sense. Thus it very often happens that both an abundant supply of water is obtained from the deep of the earth, and that it is conveyed by ample channels upon the surface; and very often a scanty quantity lies concealed in the heart of the earth, and hardly finding a crevice to issue by, strains itself out in scanty dimensions without.
Very often too the smallest quantity springs up out of reach of the eye, and when it finds an outlet gaping wide whereby it may issue forth from an ample opening, it swells out in a thin stream, and the big channels open themselves wide, but there is not aught for them to pour forth; and very often an ample store springs up out of sight, but being confined by narrow channels, it dribbles out in the smallest quantities. Just so in one sort the ample mouth delivers what the copious fountain of the wit supplies; in another, neither does thought furnish sense, nor the tongue pour it forth. In others, the mouth indeed is wide to speak, but for the giving out that which thought has provided for it, the tongue gets nothing at all; whilst in others, a fvdl fountain of thought abounds in the heart, but a disproportionate tongue, like a scanty channel, confines it. In which same four sorts of speaking, the third only is obnoxious to blame, which appropriates to itself by words that, to the level whereof it doth not rise in wit. For the first is worthy of 464 Bad men can praise God's justice while they prosper.
Job 8, praise, in that it is powerful and strong in both particulars. The second deserv^es commiseration, which in its httleness lacks both. The fourth calls for aid, in that it has not power to embody what it thinks. But the third is worthy to be despised and ought to be restrained, in that while it lifts itself high in speech it is grovelling in sense; and like limbs swoln with inflation, it goes forth to the ears of the hearers big but void. And it is this which Bildad hurls as an accusation against blessed Job, saying. And how long shall the words of the breath of thy mouth he multiplied? For he that attributes multiplicity of words to the mouth, doubtless finds fault with the barrenness of the heart. As if he said in plain words, ' Thou art raised by abundance of breath in word of mouth, but thou art stinted by scantiness of sense.' But when bad men blame right things, lest they should themselves appear not to know what is righteous, the good things that are known of all men, and which they have learnt by hearsay, they deliver as unknown. And hence Bildad adds directly, Ver. 3. Doth God pervert judgment? Or doth the A Im igh ty pervert justice? xxxvi. 59. These things blessed Job had neither in speaking denied, nor yet was ignorant of them in holding his tongue. But all bold persons, as we have said, speak with big words even well known truths, that in telling of them they may appear to be learned. They scorn to hold their peace in a spirit of modesty, lest they should be thought to be silent from ignorance. But it is to be known that they then extol the rectitude of God's justice, when security from ill uplifts themselves in joy, while blows are dealt to other men; when they see themselves enjoying prosperity in their affairs, and others harassed with adversity. For whilst they do wickedly, and yet believe themselves righteous, the benefit of prosperity attending them, they imagine to be due to their own merits; and they infer that God does not visit unjustly, in proportion as upon themselves, as being righteous, no cloud of misfortune falls. But if the power of correction from above touch their life but in the least degree, being struck they directly break loose against the policy of the Divine inquest, which a little while before, unharmed, they made much of in express- Heretics think the Church condemned by calamities. 465 ing admiration of it, and they deny that judgment to be just, Book which is at odds with their own ways; they canvass the equity of God's deahngs, they fly out in words of contradiction, and being chastened because they have done wrong, they do worse. Hence it is well spoken by the Psalmist against the confession of the sinner. He will confess /oPs. 49, Thee, when Thou doest well to him. For the voice of confession is disregarded, when it is shaped by the joyfulness of prosperity. But that confession alone possesses merit of much weight, which the force of pain has no power to part from the truth of the rule of right, and which adversity, the test of the heart, sharpens out even to the sentence of the lips. Therefore it is no wonder that Bildad commends the justice of God, in that he experiences no hurt therefrom.
60. Now whereas we have said that the friends of blessed Alleg. Job bear the likeness of heretics, it is well for us to point out briefly, how the words of Bildad accord with the wheedling ways of heretics. For whilst in their own idea they see Holy Church corrected with temporal visitations, they swell the bolder in the bigness of their perverted preaching, and putting forward the righteousness of the Divine probation, they maintain that they prosper by virtue of their merits; but they avouch that she is rewarded with deserved chastisements, and thereupon without delay they seek by beguiling words a way to steal upon her, in the midst of her sorrows, and they strike a blow at the lives of some, by making the deaths of others a reproach, as if those M^ere now visited with deserved death, who refused to hold worthy opinions concerning God. Hence Bildad the Shuhite, after he pleaded the justice of God, thereupon adds, Ver. 4 — 6. Even if thy children have sinned against Him, and He have left them in the hand of their transgression; yet if thou ivilt seek to God at dawn, and make thy supplication to the Almighty; if thou wilt walk pure and upright; surely now He will awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness at peace.
61. As if the preachers of falsities were to say to aflBictedxxxvii. Catholics, * Provide for your lives, and learn what wrong things ye maintain from the condemnation of those that are dead from among you. For except your misbelief were dis- 466 Heretics promise rewards of earihly iirosperiUj.
Job 8, pleasing to the Creator of all things, He would never take from — — ^ — you such numbers ^ by destruction let loose to rage against them.' For he says, If thy children have sinned against Him, and He have left them in the hand of their transgression. As though he said in plain speech, ' They are left in the hand of their own wickedness, that refused to follow the. life of our right rule.' Yet if thou icilt arise to God at dawn, and make thy supplication to the Almighty. For inasmuch as heretics think that the light of truth rests with themselves, they bid and summon Holy Church, as being in the night of error, to come to the dawning of the truth, that in the knowledge of God it may be led to rise, as in the dawning light, and by the prayer of penitence wash off past misdeeds. If thou wilt walk pure and upright; that is to say, pure in thought, upright in practice. Surely now He will awake for thee. As if it were in plain words, ' that He, Who now forbears to put forth the power of His protecting hand to thy tribulations, is as if asleep to the succouring of one going wrong.' And make the habitation of thy rigliteousness at peace, i. e. ' does away with the crosses of the present life, and vouchsafes without delay security in repose.'
For because men that are bad reckon temporal enjoyment as a special blessing of Divine recompensing, what they themselves go after with solicitous concern, they promise to others as something great. Hence it very often happens that they either pledge themselves to regain them when lost, or draw on the minds of their hearers after still greater rewards of this world. Which Bildad openly expresses, when he adds upon that, Ver. 7. Insomuch that though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end shall greatly increase. xxxviii. 62. But if it is counsel within the soul that he calls ^ the habitation of righteousness,' the leaders of false opinions promise afflicted Catholics ' the habitation of their righteousness at peace,' in that if they draw them to their own views, then indeed they hold their peace from opposition. For those who have let themselves be drawn into that which is wrong, arc the more lulled to rest in temporal peace, in ■* ' Tarn nuiaerosos populos,' clearly alluding to some of the calamities of his own and late times.
They talk of Fathers, and give out old Truths as unknotvu. 467 proportion as they are parted the wider from eternal peace. Book Moreover they promise that the riches of understanding shall ^"^-be increased to all that follow them. And hence it is added, Insomuch that though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end shall greatly increase. Then because they do not easily obtain credit to their words, in that their life is often shewn to be worthy of contempt, they put forward the opinions of the Fathers of old, and turn the right line they take into a proof of their own erring way. Hence it is added, Ver. 8. For inquire, T jrray thee, of the former age, and diligently search into the memory of the fathers.
63. They give us notice that ' the former generation' and xxxix. ' the memory of the fathers' are not seen but ' searched,' because they will not have that to be seen therein, which lies open before the eyes of all men. But sometimes, like good men, they give some instruction of a moral kind, and shew how the present may be gathered from the past; and from the things which are even now withdrawn from our eyes by passing away, they shew how little there is in the things that are seen before our eyes. Whence it is yet further added, Ver. 9. For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are but a shadow.
64. And so the generation of old is set before us to be xl. inquired of, that the period of the present life may be shewn to pass away like a shadow; in this way, that if we recall to mind the things that have been and are now over, we clearly see how swiftly that also will be gone which we have in our hands. But it often happens that heretics go along with us in extolling the same fathers whom we venerate; but their sense being perverted, they strike at us by those very commendations of them. Hence it is yet fiirther added, Ver. 10. Shall tiot they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?
Q^. We must mark what he had said before, And the xli. inspiration^ of the words of thy mouth is multiplied. Buti.,.i^. now when the fathers are brought to mind, he says, They^^' ^^ shall utter words out of their heart. As though heretics ^^^°'^' abhorring the life of Holy Church said, ' Thou hast abundance 468 Bildad, who censures hj/pocrlteS) a pretender.
Job 8, of inspiration in thy mouth, in lliy heart thou hast none of —I —.' it. But they are to be heard in opposition, who, in uttering 'words from the heart, have taught the right thing by living like it.' But oftentimes the wicked, whereas the evil of their own crookedness is unknown to them, boldly pull in pieces the uprightness of others, and while they usurp to themselves authority of pronouncing rebukes against good men, they either deliver those good senthnents, which they have imbibed not by seeing but by hearing them, or else with lyinglips lay that evil to the charge of others, which they are themselves guilty of committing. But when they give utterance to good thoughts, which they scorn to observe, it is to be remarked that very frequently Truth so speaks by the lips of her adversaries, that in putting their tongue in motion it smites their life. So that in telling of the highest perfection of righteousness while they know nothing of it, they themselves are rendered at once both judges by their words Hist, and accusers by their deeds. Hence Bildad subjoins words of wondrous truth against hypocrites, but he is running himself through with the point of his discourse. For unless he were himself in some slight degree aj^retender of righteousness, he would never venture to teach a good man with so much temerity. And indeed they are words of singular force that he speaks, but they ought to have been addressed to fools, not to a wise man; to the wicked, not to a good person; in that he proclaims himself no less than insane, who, when the gardens are parched, pours water into the river. But in the mean lime, laying aside the question to whom the thing is said, let us weigh well and minutely what it is that is said, that the sentiments delivered may edify ourselves, even though they assail the character of their Author. It goes on, Ver. 11. Can the rush grow up without moisture? can the flag grow without water? Moral. To whom Bildad compares * the rush' and ' the flag,' he himself immediately discloses, when he adds; Ver. 12, 13. Whilst it is yet in his greenness.^ and not cut down, it withereth before any other herb. So are the paths of all that forget God, and the hypocrite's hope shall perish.
Hypocrites work by grace, but for ilieir own yiory. 469 QQ. So that by the name of ' a rush' or ' a flag,' he denotes B. ok the life of the hypocrite, which has an appearance of greenxhi.
ness, but has no fruit of usefulness for the services of man, which continuing dry in barrenness of practice, is green with only the colour of sanctity alone. But neither does a rush grow without moisture, nor a flag without water, in that the life of hypocrites receiv^es indeed the infused grace of the heavenly gift for the doing of good works, but in whatsoever it does seeking praises without, it proves void of fruit of the infused grace vouchsafed it. For they often perform wonderful deeds of miraculous power, they expel demons from bodies possessed, and by the gift of prophecy, by knowing anticipate things to come, yet they are separated from the Giver of so many blessings in the bent of the thought of their heart. For through His gifts they seek not His glory, but their own applause. And whereas by the benefits vouchsafed them they raise themselves in their own praise, they are assailing their Benefactor with the very gifts of His bounty. For they behave themselves proudly against Him that gave them, from the very circumstance whereby they should have been rendered the more thoroughly humble towards Him. But a judgment the more unsparing smites them hereafter, in proportion as heavenly Goodness now pours upon them even in their ingratitude the dew of His blessing in larger measure. And the fulness of the gift turns to the increase of condemnation to them, because when they are watered they bear no fruit, but under a hue of green rear themselves on high in barrenness.
These ' Truth' well describes in the Gospel, saying. Many shall say to 3Ie in Matt. 7, that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy Name? and in Thy Name have cast out devils? and in Thy Name done many wonderful works? Aiid then will I prof ess unto them, I never knew you; Depart from 3Ie, ye that work iniquity. Thus neither the rush nor the flag lives without w^ater, because hypocrites do not take the greenness of good works, save by gift from above; but because they appropriate it to the use of their own applause, they grow green indeed in the water, but barren.
67. Now it is well added, Whilst it is yet in his flower, nor plucked with the hand, it withereth before any other 470 Hypocrites hate and slander those who rebuke them. Job 8, herb. ' The rush in his flower' is the hypocrite in esteem.
MoHAL ^^ ^^ springing up with sharp edges is not plucked with the hand, in that the hypocrite, having his feelings sharpened by presumption, disdains to be rebuked for his wickedness. In his flower he gashes the hand that plucketh him, in that the hypocrite in the midst of applause, that no one may dare to rebuke him, by his cutting tongue wounds the life of the rebuker without delay. For he desires not to be holy, but to be called holy; and when he may chance to be rebuked, it is as if he were lopped off" in the full bloom of his reputation. He is enraged to be found out in his wickedness, he forbids the man that brings his guilt home to him to address him, in that he is as it were pained by being touched in a secret wound. Such as he was known to the ignorant, he would wish to be accounted of all men, and readier to lay down his life than to be reprimanded, he is made worse by censure, because he accounts the word of disinterested goodness as the dart of deadly smiting. Hence in exasperated passion he directly rises in abuse, and looks about for all the evil he can rake together against the life of his rebuker. He longs to prove him beyond all comparison guilty, that he may make himself out innocent, not by his own doings, but by the guilt of others; so that often the person repents that he has uttered a word of censure, and that just as from the hand of one plucking any thing, so from the mind of the person chiding, there runs out as it were the blood of sorrow, if I may say so. Hence it is well Prov. 9, said by Solomon, Reprove not a scorner^ lest he hate thee, ^' For it is not proper for the good man to fear, lest the scorner should utter abuse at him when he is chidden; but lest being drawn into hatred, he should be made worse.
68. And here it is necessary to be known, that the excellencies of good men, as they begin from the heart, go on increasing to the very end of the present life; but the practices of hypocrites, seeing that they are not rooted in secret, often come to nought before the present life is ended. For very frequently they devote themselves to the study of sacred scholarship, and because they prosecute it not for providing a store of merits, but for procuring commendations, the moment that they get hold of the sentence of human applause, aud thereby secure the boon of transitory success, Book they give themselves witli all their heart to worldly concerns, '- ^nd are completely emptied of sacred scholarship, and by their way of acting afterwards, they shew how much they love the things of time, who before only had those of eternity alone on their lips. But it is very often the case that they exhibit an appearance of maturity put on, they shew fair by the composure of silence, by the forbearance of long suffering, by the virtue of continence; but when by means of these they have reached the height of the honour that they aimed at, and when respect is henceforth bestowed on them by all men, they immediately begin to let themselves out in wantonness of self-gratification, and they are their own witnesses against themselves that they held none of their good derived from the heart, in that they parted with it so soon.
But sometimes there are persons found who give all they possess, and lavish all their goods upon the needy, yet before the end of their life, inflamed with the itch of avarice, they covet the goods of others, who seemed to be giving their own with a lavish hand; and afterwards with determined cruelty they go after that, which they had given up before with pretended piety. And hence it is rightly said in this place, Whilst it is yet in his Jloicer, and not yet plucked uiih the hand, it icithereth before any other herh. For as to their fleshly part even the righteous are herbs, as the Prophet bears witness, who saith, Alljiesh is grass. But ' the rush' is Is.40, 6. said to ' wither before all other herbs;' in that while the righteous continue in their goodness, the life of hypocrites is dried up from the greenness of assumed uprightness. Even the rest of the herbs wither, because the deeds of the righteous come to an end together with the life of the flesh. But the ' rush' precedes the withering of the herbs, for before the hypocrite passes out of the flesh, he giv^es over the deeds of" virtuous habits which he had manifested in himself.
Concerning which same it is also well said by the Psalm.ist, Let iJiem be as the grass upon the housetop, which withereth Ps. 12D afore it be iilucked itp. For ' the grass upon the housetop' ^* springeth up aloft, but it is never set firm with a rich soil, forasmuch as the hypocrite is seen practising the highest acts, but he is not slablished therein in purity of intention.