5. But it is to be observed, that he is said to have come before the Lord, but not that he saw the Lord. For he came to be seen, and not to see. He was in the Lord's sight, but the Lord was not in his sight; as when a blind man stands in the sun, he is himself bathed indeed in the rays of light, yet he sees nothing of the hght, by which he is brightened. In like manner then Satan also appeared in the Lord's sight among the Angels. For the Power of God, which by a look penetrates all objects, beheld the impure spirit, who saw not Him. For because even those very things which flee from God's face cannot be hidden, in that all things are naked to the view of the Most High, Satan being absent came to Him, Wlio was present.
Ver. 7. And the Lord said, unto Satan, Whence comest thou?
6 How is it that it is never said to the elect Angels, when they come, ' Whence come ye?' while Satan is questioned whence he comes } For assuredly we never ask, but what we do not know; but God's not knowing is His condemning. Whence at the last He will say to some, / knoic you wo/Liikei3, whence ye are; depart from me, ye that work iniquity. In ' ' the same way that a man of truth, who disdains to sin by a falsehood, is said not to know how to lie, not in being ignorant if he had the will to lie, but in disdaining to tell a falsehood, from love of truth, ^^^lat then is it to say to Satan, Whence comest thou? but to condemn his ways, as though unknown. The light of truth then knows nought of the darkness, which it reproves; and the paths of Satan, which as a judge it condemns, it is meet that it should inquire after as though in ignorance of them. Hence it is that it is said to Adam in liis sin by his Creator's voice, Adam, where ar/ Gen. 3, thou? For Divine Power was not ignorant to what hiding place His senant had fled after his oflence, but for that He saw that he, having fallen in his sin, was now as it were hidden under sin from the eyes of Truth, in that He approves not the darkness of his error, He knows not, as it were, where the 72 Satan, as fallen from heaven, tcalks on earth.
Job 1,7. sinner is, and both calls him, and asks him, saying, Adam, where art thou? hereby, that He calls him, He gives a token that He recalls him to repentance; hereby, that He questions him, He plainly intimates that He knows not sinners, that justly deserve to be damned. Accordingly the Lord never calls Satan, but yet He questions him, saying, Whence comest thou f without doubt because God never recalls the rebel spirit to repentance, but in not knowing his paths of 1 discu- pride. He condemns him; therefore while Satan is examined* concerning his way, the elect Angels have not to be questioned whence they come, since their ways are known to God in so much as they are done of His own moving, and whilst they are subservient to His will alone, thev can never be unknown to Him, in so far as, by His approving eye, it is Himself from Whom and before Whom they are done. It follows, Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. vi. 7. The toilsomeness of labour is wont to be represented by the round of circuitous motion. Accordingly Satan went toiling round about the earth, for he scorned to abide at peace in the height of heaven; and whereas he intimates that he did not fly, but that he walked, he shews the weight of sin, by which he is kept down below. Walking then up and down, he went to and fro in the earth, for tumbling down from that his soaring in spiritual mightiness, and oppressed by the weight of his own wickedness, he came forth to his round of labour. For it is for no other reason Ps.12,3. that it is said of his members also by the Psalmist, The circuitu wicked walk on every side; for while they seek not things within, they weary themselves with toiling at things without. It follows; Ver. 8. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that fear eth God, and escheu-eth evil? vii. 8. This point, viz. that blessed Job is by the voice of God called a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth Qod, and escheweth evil, having explained above minutely and particularly, we forbear to rehearse what we have said, lest while we go over points that have been already examined, we How Spirit speaks with Spirit. 73 should be slow in coming to those which have not. This Book then requires our discreet consideration, how it is either that the Lord is said to speak to Satan, or that Satan is said to answer the Lord, for we must make out what this speaking means. For neither by the Lord Who is the supreme and unbounded Spirit, nor by Satan, who is invested with no fleshly nature, is the breath of air inhaled by the bellows of the lungs, after the manner of human beings, so that by the organ of the throat it should be given back in the articulation of the voice; but when the Incomprehensible Nature speaks to an invisible nature, it behoves that our imagination rising above the properties of our corporeal speech should be lifted to the sublime and unknown methods of interior sj^eech. For we, that we may express outwardly the things which we are inwardly sensible of, deliver these through the organ of the throat, by the sounds of the voice, since to the eyes of others we stand as it were behind the partition of the body, within the secret dwelling place of the mind; but when we desire to make ourselves manifest, we go forth as though through the door of the tongue, that we may shew what kind of persons we are within. But it is not so with a spiritual nature, which is not a twofold compound of mind and body. But again we must understand that even when incorporeal nature itself is said to speak, its speech is by no means characterized by one and the same form. For it is after one method that God speaks to the Angels, and after another that the Angels speak to God; in one manner that God speaks to the souls of Saints, in another that the souls of Saints speak to God; in one way God speaks to the devil, in another the devil speaks to God.
9. For because no corporeal obstacle is in the way of a spiritual being, God speaks to the holy Angels in the very act of His revealing to their hearts His inscrutable secrets, that whatsoever they ought to do they may read it in the simple contemplation of truth, and that the very dt'lights of contemplation should be like a kind of vocal precepts, for that is as it were spoken to them as hearers which is inspired into them as beholders. Whence when God was imparting to their hearts His visitation' of vengeance upon the pride of • or ' an observant senw,' aDimadversionem.
74 God speaks to Angels hy inward Revelation.
Job 1,8. man, He said, ^ Come, let us go down, and there confound ^^^'^^1 their language. He saith to those who are close about Him, Come, doubtless because this very circumstance of never decreasing from the contemplation of God, is to be always increasing in the contemplation of Him, and I never to depart from Him in heart, is as it were to be f always coming to Him by a kind of steady motion. To them He also says. Let us go down, and there confound their language. The Angels ascend in that they behold their Creator; the Angels descend in thai by a strict examination they put down that which exalts itself in unlawful measure. So then for God to say, Let us go down, and confound their speech, is to exhibit to them in Himself that which would be rightly done, and by the power of interior vision to inspire into their minds, by secret influences, the judgments which are fit to be set forth.
10. It is after another manner that the Angels speak to Kev. 5, God, as in the Revelation of John also they say, Worthy is the ^' Lamb that was slain to receive power, and inches'", and wisdom; for the voice of the Angels in the praises of God is the very admiration itself of inward contemplation. To be struck dumb at the marvels of Divine goodness is to utter a voice, for the emotion of the heart excited with a feeling of awe is a mighty utterance of voice to the ears of a Spirit that is not circumscribed. This voice unfolds itself as it were in distinct words, while it moulds itself in the innumerable modes of admiration. God then speaks to the Angels when His inner will is revealed to them as the object of their perception; but the Angels speak to the Lord when by means of this, which they contemplate above themselves, they rise to emotions of admiration.
11. In one way God speaks to the souls of Saints, in another the souls of Saints speak to God; whence too it is Rev. G, again said in the Apocalypse of John, I saw under the altar ^' ^^' the sonls of them that were slain for the word qf God, and for the testimony which they held: and they cried with a loud voice, saying. How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on '• Vulg. ' venite,' come. Engl. Vers. "^ Divi7iitatem,^ Godhead,* andsoyulg. Go to. for divitias.
God's will that we pray for mercies delayed. 75 the earth? Where in the same place it is added, And ivhile Book robes were given unto every one of them, and it was mid nnto Rev. 6 them that they should rest for a little season, until their n. ' fellowservants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled; for what else is it for souls to utter the prayer for vengeance, but to long for the day of final judgment, and the resurrection of their lifeless bodies?
For their great cry is their great longing; for every one cries the less, the less he desires; and he utters the louder voice in the ears of an uncircumscribed Spirit in proportion as he more entirely pours himself out in desire of Him, and so the words of souls are their very desires. For if the desire were not speech, the Prophet would not say. Thine ear hath heard Ps. lo, the desire of their heart; but as the mind which beseeches '* is usually affected one way and tlie mind which is besought another, and yet the souls of the Saints so cleave to God in the bosom of their inmost secresy, that in cleaving they find rest, how are those said to beseech, who it appears are in no degree at variance with His interior will? How are they said to beseech, who, we are assured, are not ignorant, either of God's will or of those things which shall be? Yet whilst fixed on Himself they are said to beseech any thing of Him, not in desiring aught that is at variance with the will of Him, Whom they behold, but in proportion as they cleave to Him with the greater ardour of mind, they also obtain \ from Him to beseech that of Him, which they know it is His will to do; so that they drink from Him that which they thirst after from Him. And in a manner to us incomprehensible as yet, what they hunger for in begging, they are filled wilhal in foreknowing; and so they would be at variance with their Creator's will, if they did not pray for that which they see to be His will, and they would cleave less closely to Him, if when He is willing to give, they knocked with less lively longing. These receive the answer spoken from God, Rest yet for a little season, till your fellowservants and your brethren be fulfilled. To say to those longing souls, rest yet for a little season, is to breathe uj)on them amid their burning desires, by the very foreknowledge, the soothings of consolation; so that both the voice of the souls is that desire which through love they entertain, and God's address in 76 How Satan cannot hut speak to God.
Job 1,8. answer is this, that He reassures them in their desires with the certainty of retribution. For Him then to answer that they should await the gathering of their brethren to tlieir number, is to infuse into their minds the delays of a glad awaiting, that while they long after the resurrection of the flesh, they may be further gladdened by the accession of their brethren who remain to be gathered to them.
12, It is in one way that God speaks to the devil, and in another that the devil speaks to God. For God's speaking to the devil is His rebuking his ways and dealings with the visitation of a secret scrutiny, as it is here said. Whence comest thou? But the devil's answering Him, is his being unable to conceal any thing from His Omnipotent Majesty; whence he says. From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. For it is as it were for him to say what he had been doing, that he knows that he cannot hide his doings from the eyes of That Being. But we must understand that, as we learn in this place, God has four ways of speaking to the devil, and the devil has three ways of speaking to God. God speaks to the devil in four modes, for He both reprehends his unjust ways, and urges against him the righteousness of His Saints, and lets him by permission try their innocence, and sometimes stops him that he dare not tempt them. Thus he rebukes his unjust ways, as has been just now said. Whence comest thou? He urges against hiui Job 1,8. the righteousness of His own elect, as He saith. Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in all the earth f He allows him by permission to put their Ter. 12. innocence to the test, as when He says. All thai lie hath is in thy power. And again He prevents him from tempting, when He says. But upon himself put not forth thy hand. But the devil speaks to God in tliree ways, either when he communicates to Him his dealing, or when he calumniates the innocence of the elect with false charges, or when he demands the same innocence to put it to trial. For ver. 7. he communicates his ways who says. From going to and fro in the earth, and front walking up and down hi it. He calumniates the innocence of the elect, when he says, ver.9 10. DotJi Job fear God for nought? Hast not Thou made an hedge about him, and about all his house, and He speaks against tlie Saints from envy. 77 about all that he hath on even/ side? He demands the Book II same innocence to be subjected to trial, when be says, 1— But put forth Thine hand noip and touch all that he hath, and he will curse Thee to Thy J ace. But God's saying, Whence comest thou? is His rebuking by virtue of His own goodness that one's paths of wickedness. His saying, Hast thou considered My sen-ant Job, that there is none like him in all the earth? is His making the elect, by justifying them, such as a rebel angel might envy. God's saying. All that he hath is in thy power, is, for the probation of the Saints, His letting loose upon them that assault of the wicked one, by the secret exercise of His power. God's saying. Only upon himself put not forth thine hand, is His restraining him from an excessive assault of temptation, even in giving him permission. But the devil's saying, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it, signifies His inability to conceal from His unseen eyes the cunning of his wickedness. The devil's saying, Doth Job fear God for nought Y is his complaining against the just within the hiding places of his own thoughts, his envying their gains, and from envy searching out flaws for their condemnation. The devil's saying. Put forth Thine hand now and touch all that he hath, is his panting with the fever of wickedness to afflict the just. For in that through envy he longs to tempt the just, he seeks as it were by entreaty to put them to the test. Now then, as we have briefly described the methods of inward speaking, let us return to the thread of interpretation, which has been slightly interrupted.
Ver. 8. Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright tnan, one that /caret h God, and eschewelh evil?
13. The point has been already discussed in the foregoing discourse, that the devil proposed a contest not with Job but with God, blessed Job being set between them as the subject of the contest; and if we say that Job amid the blows erred in his speech, we assert what it is impious to imagine, that God was the loser in His ])ledge. For, lo, here also it is to be remarked, that tlie devil did not first beg the blessed Job of the Lord, but the Lord commended him to the contempt of 78 Satan searches for matter of accusation.
JoBi,8.the devil; and unless He had known that he would continue in his uprightness, He would not assuredly have undertaken for him. Nor would He give him up to perish in the temptation, against whom, before the temptation was sent, those firebrands of envy were kindled in the tempter's mind from God's own commendations.
14. But the old adversary, when he fails to discover any evil of which he might accuse us, seeks to turn our very good points into evil, and being beaten upon works, looks through our words for a subject of accusation; and when he finds not in our words either ground of accusation, he strives to blacken the purpose of the heart, as though our good deeds did not come of a good mind, and ought not on that account to be reckoned good in the eyes of the Judge. For because he sees the fruit of the tree to be green even in the heat, he seeks as it were to set a worm at its root. For he says, Ver. 9, 10. Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast Thou not made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land, 15. As if he said in plain terms, * What wonder is it, if he who has received so many blessings upon earth should behave without offence in return for them? He would then be really innocent, if he continued good in adversity; but why is he to be called great, whose every work has its recompense attending upon him, in all this abundance of good things V For the crafty adversary, when he bethinks himself that the holy man had acted well in prosperity, hastens by means of adversity to prove him guilty before the Judge. Whence it is well said by the voice of the Angel in Rev. 12, the Apocalypse, The accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before God day and night. Now holy Scripture is often used to set the day for prosperity, and the night for adversity. Accordingly he ceases not to accuse us by day and by night; forasmuch as he strives to shew us to be chargeable one while in prosperity, another while in adversity. In the day he accuses us, when he slanders us that we abuse our good fortune; in the night he accuses us, when he shews that we do not exercise patience in adversity; Trial by day or night. Satan tempts by Ood's power. 79 and therefore because no strokes had as vet touched blessed Book II. Job, he was as it were still wholly without that whereof he might be able to accuse him by night, but because in prosperity he had thriven in a great holiness *^, he pretended that it was in return for his good fortune that he had done well, lying in the crafty assertion, that he did not keep his substance for the profit* of the Lord, but that he served the Lord for the^usum profit* of his substance. For there are some who, to enjoy «usum God, deal with this life like stewards, and there are some who to enjoy this life would make use of God by the bye. ^Vllen ^ S. Aug. then he describes the gifts of Divine bounty, he thinks to make chr.i.3. light of the acts of the resolute doer, that he might impeach^ 'addicat the heart of him as though on the score of secret thoughts, whose life he was unable to reprove on the score of works; falsely asserting that whatever outward innocence of life there might be, was in compliance not with the love of God, but with his longing after temporal prosperity. And so knowing nothing of the powers of blessed Job, and yet being well aware that every one is most truly tried by adversity, he demands him for trial, that he who throughout the day of prosperity had walked with unfailing foot, at least in the night of adversity might stumble, and by the offence of impatience might be laid low before the eyes of his commender. Whence he adds, Ver. 11. But put forth Tltine hand noic^ and touch all that he hath, and he will curse Tliee to TJnjface.
16. When Satan has a desire to tempt the holy man, and x. yet tells the Lord that He must put forth His hand against him, it is very deserving of notice that even he, who is so especially lifted up against the Maker of all things, never claims to himself the power to strike; for the devil knows well that he is unable to do any thing of himself, for neither in that he is a spirit does he subsist by himself Hence it is that in the Gos})cl, the legion, which was to be cast out of the man, exchiimcd, //' Thou cast us out, suffer us to go atcay yi^^^^g into the herd qf swine; for what wonder is it if he, who^^* could not by his own power enter into the swine, had no power without the Creator's hand to touch the holy man's house?
17. But we must know that the will of Satan is always «• Many Mss. re^id '.sanitate,' ' soundnew.'
80 Satan'' s evil will made to work out good.
joBi, evil, but his power is never unjust, for his will he derives ^^' from himself, but his power he derives from God. For what he himself unrighteously desires to do, God does not allow to be done except with justice. Whence it is well 1 Sam. said in the book of Kings, tlie evil spirit of God came upon ^^' ^^' Saul. You see that one and the same spirit is both called the Lord's spirit and an evil spirit; the Lord's, that is, by the concession of just power, but evil, by the desire of anygCiijust ' will, so that he is not to be dreaded, who has no power but by permission; and, therefore, that Power is the only worthy object of fear, w^hich when It has allowed the enemy to vent his rage, makes even his unjust will serve the purpose of a just judgment. But he requires that His hand should be put forth a little; they being external things, of which he seeks the hurt. For Satan even does not consider himself to accomplish much, unless he inflicts a wound in the soul, that by so smiting he may bring one back from that country, from which he lies far removed, laid prostrate by the weapon of his own pride.
SoVuiff 1^* ^^^ ^^y ^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^ says, if he have not blessed Thee to Thy face f We look, it means, toward that we love, but that we would be quit of, we turn away our face from it. What then is the face of God, unless the regard of His favour is set before us to be understood? Accordingly he says. But put forth 1 Vulg. Thine hand a little^, and touch all that he hath, and he will pauUu- f,n^.gg Thee to Thy face. As if he had said in plain words, E. V. Withdraw the things which Thou hast given him, for if he "'^ lose Thy gifts, he will no longer seek the regard of Thy favour, when his temporal good things are taken away. For if he no longer has the things in which he takes delight, he will despise Thy favour even to cursing Thee. By which crafty address The Truth Whom he challenges is in no wise overcome; but that is permitted the enemy to his own undoing, which may be reckoned to the faithful servant for the increase of his reward; for which cause it is immediately subjoined, Ver. 12. Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand.
-.: 19. We should mark in the Lord's words the dispensations of heavenly pity, how He lets go our enemy, and keeps him in; how He looses, and yet bridles him. He allows him some IVfti/ Job^s person was spared at first. 81 things for temptation, but withholds him from others. All Book that he hath is in thy hand, only upon hiinself put not forth — ^— thine hand. His substance He delivers over, but still He protects his person, which notwithstanding after a while He designs to give over to the tempter; yet He does not loose the enemy to every thing at once, lest he should crush His own subject^ by striking him on every side. For whenever' civem many evils betide the elect, by the wonderful graciousness of the Creator they are dealt out by seasons, that what by coming all together would destroy, may when divided be borne up against. Hence Paul says, God is faithful, Who i Cor. loill not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but ' will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. Hence David says, Examine me, P9.26,2.
O Lord, and prove me. As if he said in plain words, ^ first examine my powers, and then, as I am able to bear, let me undergo temptation.' But this that is said. Behold, all that he hath is in thy power, only upon himself put not forth thine hand, is also capable of another sense, viz. that the Lord knew well, indeed, that His soldier was brave, yet chose to divide for him his contests with the enemy, that, though victory should in every case be sure to that staunch wanior, yet that from one conflict first the enemy might return to the Lord defeated, and that then he might grant him another encounter to be again worsted, so that his faithful follower might come forth the more incomparable conqueror, in proportion as the vanquished foe had repaired his forces again for fresh wars with him. It follows, So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.
20. What is this, that Satan is said to go forth from the xii. presence of the Lord? For how is it possible to go forth from Him, Who is every where present? Whence it is that He says. Do not I fill heaven and earth? Hence it isJer. 23, written comceming His Spirit, For the Spirit of the Lord^.\,. filleth the world. Hence it is that His Wisdom saith, / alone 7. compassed the circuit of heaven. Hence it is that the Lord 2/*^5!' says again. The heaven is My throne, and the earth is J/y Ts.G6,i. footstool. And again it is written of Him, He meteth Is. -lO, out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the ' " ^* earth in a measure, for He abides both within and without 82 Hoir Satan could leave God's Presence.