Thus, thus is it that the mind of man is taken, which being created in the liberty of free will, whilst it craved to feed the desires of the flesh, was like a lioness seeking food for her cubs, and fell into the pit of self-deception, in that at the suggestion of the enemy it stretched forth the hand to take the forbidden food, but it quickly found a cage in the pit, in that coming by its own act to death, it exposed itself at once to the prison house of its own corruption, and is brought back to the free air by grace intervening. But whereas it tries to do many things, and has no power, it is bound by the hindrances of that same corruption, as though by the bars of a cage. It is now free of that pit of damnation into which it had fallen, in that receiving help from the hand of Kedemption, in being brought back to pardon, it has got above the punishment of the death to follow. But yet, being shut in close, it feels the cage, in that it is encircled by the bands of heavenly discipline, that it may not roam through the desires of the flesh. And she that of her own will went down into the pit, returns to the free air in confinement, in that she both fell into sin by the liberty of the will, and yet the grace of the Creator holds her in by constraint, and against her will, from following her own motions. And so after the pit she has the cage to bear, in that being rescued from eternal punishment, A fall may bring us under the bars of humility. 559 she is withheld from the motions of a froward liberty, under Book the controlling hand of the heavenly Artificer. Therefore he — ^-^ says alight. And by reason of pride^ Thou wilt take me like a lioness; in that both when free, man brought death upon himself through food, and on being brought back to pardon, he lives shut up under discipline for his greater good. Therefore like a lioness he was taken by reason of pride, in that the discipline, that belongs to his corrupt condition, now keeps him down from the very same cause, that not fearing the transgression of the commandment he boldly leapt into the pit.
87. But if for a short space we turn aside the eye of our mind from the sin of our first parent, we find that we ourselves are every day taken like the lioness, by the evil habit of pride. For it often happens that by the virtues that have been vouchsafed him, man is lifted up into the boldness of selfpresumption, but by a wonderful ordering of Providence, some object is set before his eyes for him to fall therein.
And whilst he seeks something in sin, what else is this but that he longs for the prey in the pit? With open mouth he falls by his own act, but has no power to rise by his own strength. And whereas he sees that of himself he is nothing, assuredly he learns Whose aid he must seek. Yet the heavenly Compassion draws him, thus taken out of the pit, as it were, in that as soon as his weakness is known. It restores hira to pardon. And so like a lioness, by reason of pride that man hastes back to the upper regions within the cage^, who when he is Hfted up in the score of virtuous attainments, after he has fallen into evil desires, is bound fast in humility. For whereas he had in the first case brought himself to destruction by his presuming on self, it is brought to pass by wonderful pitifulness, that he now lives walled in by the knowledge of his own weakness. And because the holy man sees that this often happens to his fellow creatures, he adopts in his own person the cry of peril that belongs to us, that when we read of his lamentations, we may be instructed what the things are in ourselves that we ought to lament. Now when pride uplifts the mind, the 660 God'^s returning to man gives a wholesome pain.
Job 10, piercing sense of love for the Highest departs from us, but ' — when s^race from above descends upon us, immediately it prompts us to longings tor itselt m tears. And hence it is fitly subjoined, Aiid retiirniiig, Thou dost torture me marvellously.
Iviii. gg. When we are forsaken by our Creator, we do not at all feel even the very ills of our abandonment. For in proportion as our Creator goes far off from us, our mind becomes more hardened in insensibility, loves nothing that is of God, entertains no longing for things above, and because it has no warmth of interior love, it lies frozen towards the earth, and in a pitiable way it becomes every day the more self-secure, in proportion as it becomes worse; and whereas it no longer remembers whence it has fallen, and no longer dreads the punishments to come, it knows nothing how deeply it is to be bewailed. But if it be touched by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, at once it wakes up to the thought of its ruin, rouses itself in the pursuit after heavenly things, glows with the hot emotions of love towards the Highest, takes thought of the ills which every way beset it round about, and she weeps while making progress, who before was going to ruin in high glee. Therefore it is well said to the Creator, And returning Thou dost torture me marvellously. For by the same act whereby Almighty God in visiting our soul lifts it to the love of Himself, He makes it the more to sorrow in tears. As if it were in plain words, ' In going from me Thou dost not influence me, because Thou renderest me insensible, but when Thou returnest. Thou dost torture me, because whilst Thou dost cause Thyself to enter into me. Thou shewest to me mine own self, and how deeply I am to be pitied.' And hence he never says tliat he is tortured judicially, but ' marvellously,' since while the mind is transported on high in weeping, with a feeling of joy it marvels at the pains of its piercing sorrow, and it is its joy to be so touched, because it sees that by its anguish it is lifted up on high. But often when heavenly Pity sees us slacken in the exercising ourselves in holy desires. It presents to our view the example of those that cleave to Itself, that the mind whicli is unbraced by indolence, in proportion as it Tlie Elect are God's icitnesses against all sin. 06 1 observes in the case of others the advancement of minds Book well awake, may take shame for the dulness of sloth in itself. '— Hence it is rightly added, Ver. 17. Thou renewest Tliy itHnesses against me, and miiltipUest Thy wrath: and pains war in me.
89. For ' God's witnesses' are they, who bear witness by ^ix. the practice of holy works, what are the rewards of Tnith that shall overtake the Elect. Hence too those, whom we see to have suffered for the sake of the Truth, we style in the Greek tongue, ' Martyrs/ i. e. witnesses. And the Lord says by John in the Angel's voice. Even in those days, Eev. 2, wherein Antipas was my faith/id witness, who icas slain ^^' among you. Now the Lord ' renews His witnesses against us' when He multiplies the lives of the Elect to confront our wickedness, for the purpose of convicting and of instructing lis. And so His * witnesses are renewed against us,' in that all things that they do are opposed to the ends and aims of our wickedness. Hence too the word of Truth is called ^ an adversary,' where it is said by the voice of the Mediator in the Gospel, Agree with thine adversary qidckly, whiles thou ^I^**- ^> art in the way with him. And the sons of perdition in their persecutions say concerning that same Redeemer, ^?2c/ i7(? is^'^^^-'^y clean contrary to our doings; and soon afterwards. For His ih.' 15.
life is not like other men's. Thus the Lord ' renews His witnesses against us,' in that the good things which we neglect to do ourselves, He shews us to be done by others to our upbmiding, that we who are not inflamed by precepts, may at least be stirred up by examples, and that in longing after righteousness, our mind may account nothing to be difficult to itself, that it sees to be done perfectly by others; and it is very commonly brought to pass, that while we behold the good actions of another man's life, we are more anxiously afraid of the deficiencies of our own, and it is made appear the plainer by what a weight of judgment we are afterwards assailed, in proportion as we are now widely at variance with the ways of the good.
90. Hence after the renewal of the witnesses has been mentioned it is thereupon fitly added, And muliipliest Thy wrath upon me. God's wrath is said to be ' multiplied upon 562 JVhat gladdens us in others makes us fear for ourselves.
Job 10, us/ in proportion as it is shewn to be manifold, since by the „ very lives and labours of the good we are instructed, if, whilst we have time, we will not amend our ways now, what a terrible visitation shall be dealt us hereafter. For w^e see the Elect of God at one and the same time leading godly lives and undergoing numberless sore hardships. And therefore we collect from hence with what rigour the strict Judge will There smite those whom He condemns, if he so torments 1 Peter here below^ those whom He loves; as Peter witnesses, who ' ' says. For the time is come tJtat judgment must begin at the house of God, and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God? Therefore Almighty God, when He ' renews His witnesses' against us, ' multiplies His wrath,' in that in proportion as He sets before our eyes the life of the good, He shews with what severity He will smite obduracy in the commission of sin at the Judgment. Now whereas He multiplies His gifts to those alone that follow Him, He shews that He has already forsaken those that go on in sloth. Thus when we see good things in others, it is very necessary to mix exultation with the dread that we feel, and dread with our exultation, that both charity may rejoice for the proficiencies of other men, and conscience tremble for its own frailties. But when we are gladdened with the proficiency of a brother, when we calculate the severity of the interior Judge against us for our mere slothfulness by itself, what is there left but that the mind turn back to search into itself, and that whatever it meets with in itself, that is blameworthy, whatever that is bad, it should chastise.^ Hence it is fitly subjoined, Pains fight in me.
For upon considering the w'itnesses of God, ' pains fight in us,' in that whilst w^e behold their deeds, that command our admiration, our own life, which by comparison with theirs is displeasing in our eyes, we visit with serious s"elf-chastening, that whatever pollution our deeds may have caused in us, our tears may wash clean, and if the guilt of taking pleasure therein still somewhat defiles us, the chastening of a sorrowful heart may cleanse away the stain. Therefore because blessed Job has his eye fixed on the life of the fathers of old time, he ascertains more exactly what he ought to bewail in JoU's ivis/i before cxjdained. It is well to look to the end. 5(>.3 himself. And by the preceptorship of extraordinary sorro-s^', Book whilst he bewails his own case, he instructs us to lamentation, — - — that in proportion as we perceive excellencies in other men, we may anxiously fear for our own offences in the sight of the strict Judge. It goes on, Ver. 18. Wherefore then hast Thou brought me forth out of Ix. the womb. Oh that I had been consumed, and no eye had seen me, 91. Which same sentiment he had already uttered in his first speech, saying, JVJiy died I not from the icomb? and^°^^' whilst he subjoins that which he adds here, I should have been as though I had not been, I should have been carried from the womb to the grave; he adds in other words, but no other sense, saying. Or as a hidden untimely birth J had not been, as infants which never saw light. But forasmuch ^ ^^^' as we have made out these particulars veiy much at length above, to avoid wearying the reader we forbear to unfold points already explained. It goes on, Ver. 20. Will not the small number of my days be jinished, in a short time'?
92. He shews himself to live with good heed and circum- Ixi. spection, who, in considering the shortness of the present life does not look to the furtherance but to the ending of it, so as to gather from the end, that all is nought that delights while it is passing. For hence it is said by Solomon, But ^yEccles. a man live many years and rejoice in them all, yet let him ' remember the time of darkness, and the days that shall be many; and when they come, the past shall be convinced of vanity. Hence again it is written, Whatsoever thou takest Ecclus. in hand, remember thine end, and thou shall never do amiss. ' Therefore when sin tempts the mind, it is requisite that the soul should regard the shortness of its gratification, lest iniquity hurry it on to a living death, when it is plain that a mortal life is quickly speeding to an end. But often the eye of our contemplation is bewildered, while our pain is heightened by thickening scourges. It is good to bewail the exile of the present life, yet for mere anguish alone the mind cannot take account of the ills of its blind state. Hence he directly adds.
And let me go, that I may bewail my sorrow a little.
93. For as moderate distress gives vent to tears, so excessive Ixii.
564 Man cannot ahcays duly bewail sin that he feels.
Job 10, sorrow checks them, since that erief itself is as it were made TT void of grief, which by swallowing up the mind of the person afflicted, takes away the sense of grief. Therefore the holy man shrinks from being stricken more than he is equal to bear, saying, A?7d let me (/o, that I may bewail my sorrow a little. As if it were in plain words, ' Qualify the strokes of Thy scourging, that, my pains being made moderate, in weeping I may have power to estimate the miseries I endure.' Which same nevertheless may likewise be understood in another sense. For oftentimes the sinner is so bound by the chains of his wickedness, that he bears indeed the burthen of his sins, and knows not that he is bearing it. Often if he does know with what an amount of guilt he is burthened, he strives to break loose and cannot, so as to hunt it down in himself with free spirit and full conversion. Thus he is unable to ' bewail his sorrow,' for at once he sees the guilt of his sinful state, and by reason of the weight of earthly business, is not at liberty to bewail it. He is unable to ' bewail his sorrow,' who strives indeed to resist evil habits, yet is weighed down by the still increasing desires of the flesh. The presence of this sorrow had inflicted anguish Ps.'38, upon the spirit of the Prophet, when he said, 3Iy sorrow is ^'^'^^' eontinually before me; for I will declare my iniquity, I will he sorry for my sin; but the bands of his sin being loosed, he knew that he was ' let go,' who gave vent to his exultation, Ps. 116, saying. Thou hast loosed my bonds, I will offer to Thee the ^^' ^^* sacrifice of thanksgiving.
94. Therefore God then ' lets us go' to bewail our sorrow, when He both shews us the evil things that we have done, and helps us to bewail the same, when we know them; He sets our transgressions before our eyes, and with the pitying hand of grace unlooses the bands of the heart, that our soul may lift itself up to liberty for the work of repentance, and loosed from the fetters of the flesh, may with free spirit stretch out towards its Maker the footsteps of love. For it very commonly happens that we the same persons blame our course of life, and yet readily do the very thing that we justly condemn in ourselves. The spirit lifts us up to righteousness, the flesli holds us back to habit; the soul struggles against self-love, but quickly overcome witli delight Hell, a * land^ for abiding, a ' lake for droicning. 565 is made captive. Thus it is well said, Let me go that I may Book bewail my sorrow a little. For except we be ' let go' in — ^-^ mercy from the guilt of sin, with which we are tied and bound, we cannot lament that which we grieve for in ourselves being set against ourselves.
But the woe of our guiltiness is then really bewailed, when that dark retribution of the place below is fore-reckoned with lively apprehension. Hence it is fitly added, Ver. 21. Before I go whence I shall not return, even to a land of darkness, and covered with the shadow of death.
95. For what is denoted by ' the land of darkness' saving Ixiii. the dreary caverns of Tartarus, which are covered by the shadow of eternal death, in that it keeps aU the damned for evermore severed from the light of life. Neither is the place below improperly called a land. For all they that have been made captive by it, are held fast and firm. As it is written; One generation passeth away, and another gene- Eccl. 1, ration conieth, but the earth abideth for ever. Thus the dungeons of hell are rightly designated ' a land of darkness,' for all, whom they receive doomed to punishment, they torment with no transient infliction or phantasm of the imagination, but keep in the substantial vengeance of everlasting damnation. Y^et they are sometimes denoted by the title of ' a lake,' as the Prophet bears witness, when he says. They Ezek. Iiave borne their shame with them that go down into the 25.
lake. Thus hell is both called ' a land,' because it holds stedfastly all that it takes in, and ' a lake,' because it swallows up those whom it has once received, ever tossing and quaking in weltering floods of torment; but the holy man, whether in his own voice or in the voice of mankind, beseeches that he may be ' let go' before he departs, not because he that bewails his sin is to ' go to the land of darkness,' but because every one that neglects to bewail it doth assuredly go thither, according as the creditor says to his debtor, ' Pay thy debt, before thou art put in bonds for the debt;' whereas he is not put in bonds, if he delays not to pay all that he owes. In which place too it is rightly added. Whence I shall not return, in that His pity in sparing never any more sets them free, whom His justice in judging once assigns their doom 566 Hell-Jire consumes, but enliyhtens not.
Job 10, ill the places of puiiishment, which same places are yet more "hI^t" i^'^'^^^^^^'^y <^lescribe(1, where it is said, Ver. 22. A land of misery and darkness. Ixiv. 96. *^ Misery' has relation to pain, ' darkness' relates to blindness. That land then which holds all those that are banished the presence of the strict Judge, is entitled ' aland of misery and darkness,' for pain without torments those, whom blindness darkens within, severed from the true Light. Not but that ' the land of misery and darkness' may be understood in another sense also. For this land too, in which we are born, is indeed ' a land of misery,' but not * of darkness,' in that we here suffer the many ills of our corrupt condition, yet whilst we are in it, we are still brought back to the light through the grace of conversion; as Truth coun-Johni2, sels us, Wlio saith. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you. But that land is ' a land of misery and darkness' together, for every one, that has gone down to suffer the woes thereof, never any further returns to the ligbt; for the describing of which same it is further added. Where is the shadow of death, without any order.
Ixv. 97. As external death divides the flesh from the soul, so internal death severs the soul from God. Thus the ' shadow of death' is the darkness of separation, in that every one of the damned, whilst he is consumed with everlasting fire, is in darkness to the internal light. Now it is the nature of fire to give out both light and a property of consuming from itself, but the fire that is the avenger of past sins has a consuming property but no light. It is hence that ' Truth' saith to the Mat. 25, lost. Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, pre-^^' pared for the devil and his angels. And representing in one Mat.22, individual the whole body of them all. He saith, Bind him ^' hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness. Accordingly, if the fire that torments the lost could have had light, he that is cast off would never be said to ' be cast into darkness.' Hence too the Psalmist hath it; Ps.58 8. -^^^^ hath fallen upon them, and they have not seen the sun. Vulg. Pgy (■ ^YQ fViiig' upon the ungodly, but ' the sun is not seen' on the fire falling; for as the flame of hell devours them, it blinds ihcm to the vision of the true Light, that at the same The body that sinned tormented. What ' order'' is in Hell. 567 time both the pain of consuming fire should torment them Book without, and the infliction of bhndness darken them within, — ^-^— so that they, who have done wrong against their Maker both in body and in heart, may at one and the same time be punished in body and in heart, and that they may be made to feel pangs in both ways, who, whilst taiey lived here, ministered to their depraved gratifications in both. Whence it is well said by the Prophet, Which are gone down to hcll^}^'^' with their weapons of war. For the arms of sinners are the members of the body, by means of which they execute the wrong desires they conceive. Hence it is said rightly by Paul, Neither yield ye your members as instruments o/'l^om. 6, unrighteousness unto sin. And so to ' go down into hell with the weapons of war' is together with those same members, with which they fulfilled the gratifications of self-indulgence, to undergo the torments of eternal condemnation, that at that time woe may every way swallow them up, who being now subjected to their gratifications, every way fight against His justice, Who judgeth justly.
98. But that is very wonderful that is said, without order^ since Almighty God, Who punishes evil things well, never permits even the torments to be ' without order;' because* the very i j-ead punishments that proceed from the scales of justice, cannot' l"^^-' in any way be inflicted * without order.' For how is it that there is no order in His punishment, since according to the measure of his guilt is likewise the recompense of vengeance which pursues every one of the damned. For hence it is written. But mighty men shall be mightily tormented^ a7id^\isd.6j stronger torment shall come upon the stronger ones. Hence ^' ^' it is uttered in the sentence of Babylon, How much she ^^y, is hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment '^• aiid sorrow give her. If then the infliction is marked out according to the measure of the sin, it is undeniably true that there is order preserved in the punishments^ and except the acts of desert did distribute His aggregate of torment, the Judge that shall come would never declare that He will say to the reapers. Gather ye together first the tares, «;2f/Mat.i3, bind them in bundles to burn them. For if there were no order observed in dealing punishment, why are the tares that are to be burnt bound in bundles? But doubtless to bind up 5()8 PunishmeiLt, well ordered for desert^ yet confounds.
Job 10, the bundles for the biirnino', is to unite like to like of those -^~ — that are destined to be given over to everlasting fire, that all whom a like sin pollutes, an equal punishment may bind in one, and that they who were defiled by iniquity in no degree dissimilar, may suffer by torments not dissimilar either, that condemnation may dash to the earth together those whom pride uplifted together, and that all, whom ambition made to swell in no unlike proportion, no unlike proportion of suffering may wring hard, and alike flame of punishment torment those whom a like flame of sin kindled in the fire of lust. For as in the John 14, house of our Father there are ' many mansions' according to the diversities in virtue, so a difference in guilt subjects the damned to a difference of punishment inlhefires of hell, which hell, though it be one and the same for all, by no means bums all men in one and the same sort. For as we are all reached by one sun, yet we do not all glow beneath it in one class, for it is according to the kind of the body that the burthen of the heat too is felt, in the same way there is to the damned but one hell that torments all, yet not one that consumes all men in one kind of manner, for what on the one side an unequal degree of healthiness in bodies occasions, that same on the other an unequal case of merit produces. How then is it said that there is ' no order' in the punishments, wherein without doubt every man is tormented after the measure of his sin?
99. But after the holy man brought in the shadow of death, he adds what great disorder there is in the souls of the damned, since the very punishments, which come well ordered by justice, are doubtless far from well ordered in the heart of those undergoing death. For as w^e have said above, whilst every one of the damned is consumed with flames without, he is devoured by the fire of blindness within, and being in the midst of woe, he is confounded both within and without; so that he is worse tormented by his own confusion. Thus to rejected souls there will be* no order' in their punishment, because their very confusion of mind torments most cruelly in their death; which same His equity in judging appoints by His wonderful power, tliat a ])unishment as it were ' without order' may confound the soul. Or, verily, order is said to be wanting to His ])unishments, in that when things Punishments of Hell are beyond this world\s order. 569 ^,..,,.,. Book anse for their punishment, their proper character is not ix.
preserved to them. Whence the words are forthwith introduced; And everlasting horror dwells.,.