Lights and shades ofli/'e. State of departed souls changed. 113 itself too changed into a mighty exultation of joy, on account Book of the repose of the heart that is obtained. Hence it is fitly - added; Ver. 12. They have cha7igcd the night into day> 47. For ' the thoughts being scattered change night into xlii. day/ in that it is sometimes more grateful to the righteous through adversity to undergo sufferings, rather than as the effect of prosperity to be harassed with the charge of earthly ministering. But because they have learnt by paying attention that both adversity passes away, and prosperity dawns again, it is fitly added; And again after darkness I look for light.
48. For ' the light is looked for after darkness,' in that xliii. after the night of the present life, the light eternal is discerned, or adversity and prospersity do so alternate here, that they do not cease to succeed one another by turns. Whence it comes to pass that even in the light night is suspected, and in the night light is presumed on; as when it is written. In the day of prosperity he not forgetful of Ecc]us. affliction, and in the day of affliction be not forgetful of ^^ prosperity. But mark, forasmuch as we have been redeemed by the grace of our Maker, we henceforth have this boon of heavenly bestowal, that when we are removed from dwelling in our flesh, we are at once carried of!' to receive heavenly rewards; in that since our Creator and Redeemer, penetrating the bars of hell, brought out from thence the souls of the Elect, He does not permit us to go there, from whence He has already by descending set others free. But they who were brought into this world before His Coming, whatsoever eminency of righteousness they may have had, could not on being divested of the body at once be admitted into the bosom of the heavenly country"; seeing that He had not as yet come. Who by His own descending should unloose the bars of hell, and place the souls of the righteous henceforth in their everlasting seat. Hence blessed Job, both feeling the stroke of affliction, and knowing that the recompensing of the righteous was as yet delayed, fitly subjoins; * He says elsewhere that the more are kept elsewhere, and that all have perfect souls are admitted now to heaven, to wait till the Judgment for their bjjdiett where the Body of Christ is, quoting tobebroughtinto the heavenly mansions.
Phil. i. 13. He adds that the less perfect Dial. iv. 25.
VOL. II. I 114 Saints of old not p7mishe(l though in hell. Man's corruption.
Job 17, Ver. 13. If I wait, hell is mine house; and J have made — '. — -my hed in the darkness, ^YiY 49. For the former Saints could undergo adversity, and yet could not, when brought out of the body, be at once freed from the regions of hell; in that He had not yet come, -Who should descend thereinto without sin, that He might set free those, who were there bound by right of sin. And man then ' made his bed in darkness,' when he forsook the light of righteousness by consenting to the crafty Prompter: and whereas in those very regions of hell the souls of the righteous were kept imprisoned without torment, so that both on behalf of original sin they should still go down thereunto, and yet by right of their own deeds not undergo punishment; to have * made their bed in the darkness,' in a manner, is to have I grave prepared themselves rest in hell. For it was sad weariness^ to the Elect, after the dissolution of the flesh, not yet to see the likeness of the Creator. Which wearisomeness blessed Job not improperly designates ' darkness.' But whereas this came in the punishment of infirmity, he rightly adds that same infirmity directly, saying, Ver. 14. / have said to corruption, TJiou art my father, and to the worm. Thou art my mother and my sister. xlv. 50. What does this mean, that he said to corruption. Thou art my father; saving that every man descends from an already corrupted origin } and hence it is added. And to the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister; in this way, viz. that we come into this world at once from corruption itself, and along with corruption itself. For as regards the matter of corruptible flesh, the worm is our ' mother and sister,' in that we both come forth out of corruption, and come with corruption which we carry about us. And if we may understand it in a spiritual sense, nature is not unappropriately called our ' mother,' and habit too a * sister,' in that we are from the one, and along with the other; which same ' mother and sister' are ' worms,' in that in virtue of a corrupt nature and evil habit we are necessitated, as by a kind of ' worms,' so by disquieting thoughts to be gnawed in the mind. For the corrupted nature of the flesh, and bad habit, in that they generate numberless cares in the heart of our frailty, are well called ' worms our mother and sister.' For Hopes of the Patriarchs painfully delayed. 115 cares gnaw the mind, while they disquiet it. For righteous men Book do not cease either heedfully to take thought and counsel what '- they are to do, or thoughtfully to look into it, whither they are destined to be led after the present life. And so because the Elect then, before the Coming of the Lord, both saw that they were in the toils of the present life, and still after the present life did not as yet receive the heavenly blessings, they were made to smart* with many thoughts of heart. 'ureban-For they waited for the grace of the Redeemer, and yet by living in the flesh could not attain thereto: whence it is fitly added, Ver. 15. Where then is nou' my eccpectation?
51. What could be the ^ expectation' of the righteous, xlvi. but God Who justifieth the righteous, Who should freely go down to (what was) the punishment of mankind, and by the efficacy of His righteousness set free the captives of death? For they never ceased to expect His appearing with intent expectation; they knew that it was to come, but they sought for it to come quickly. Wherefore he does not say, * Where, then, is my expectation?' but, where then is noiv my expectation? For in that he adds, now, he shewed that what was to come one day, he desired might come without delay. It goes on, A7id who considereth my patience?
52. He expressed the longing desire, wherewith whilst set xlvii. in the flesh he hastes to be redeemed, and brought back from hell to the regions above. And indeed it belonged to but few men to enter into the consideration of these things, that they should learn to think of the labours of the present life, or of the subsequent delay after death. Both of which the just gi'ieved to be subject to before the coming of our Redeemer. And hence it is rightly said, And who considereth my patience? Verily, there is not lacking One, to * consider patience.' But when God does not hear quickly, He is said, as it were, not ' to consider.' For the Redemption of mankind itself, which came at the end of the world, by those who came before from the beginning of the world was accounted slow, in that during a long period of time they were severed from the recompensing of the heavenly things, as Truth testifies, Which saith, Many prophets and kings have desired to.s-^e Lukeio, 116 Jolis Ion flings. How he could speak of the * lowest Ilell.^ Job 17, those things ivhich ye see^ and have not seen them. And so —:j^ — '- — as to that which is now said, Who corisidercth my patience? the breathings of fervent desire are laid open. For neither, as we said before, does God forbear to consider the patience of the righteous; but not ^ to have regard,' in a manner, means to appear less quickly answering to the aspirations of longing desire, and by lengthened periods of time to delay the grace of His Dispensation. Therefore let him say, Who considereth my patience? in that what is short to Him that ordereth, is long to him that loves. Hence, still reflecting on the privations of his delay, he repeats that which he had already said before; and being destined to descend below, he redoubles the voice of his grief, saying, Ver. 16. All of mine shall descend, into the lowest helL xlviii. 53. Whereas it appears that among those below the righteous are held bound not in places of punishment, but in the bosom of tranquillity above, an important question springs up before us, why it is that blessed Job declares, saying, All of mine shall descend into the lowest hell; who even if before the Advent of the Mediator between God and man he had to descend into hell, yet it is plain that into the * lowest heir he had not to descend. Does he call the very higher regions of hell, ' the lowest hell V Plainly because in relation to the loftiness of heaven, the region of this sky may not unappropiiately be called the lower region. Whence when the Apostate Angels were plunged from the seats of heaven into this darksome region of the air, the Apostle 2 Pet. 2, Peter says, For if God spared not the Angels that sinned, but delivered them, dragged down with infernal chains, into hell-i to he reserved for torments in the Judgment. If then relatively to the height of heaven this darksome air is infernal, relatively to the elevation of this air, the earth which lies below may be taken both as infernal, and as deep; and relatively to the height of that earth, even those parts of hell which are higher than the other mansions of the place below, may in this place not unsuitably be denoted by the designation of the lowest hell; in that what the sky is to heaven, and the earth to the sky, the same is that higher hollow of the regions below to the earth.
54. But that is very wonderful which he subjoins. All of I Job held his soul for all. His fears of Jud(j)iie)it.. 117 mine shall descend; for whereas the soul alone shall descend Book XIII into the regions of hell, how is it that the holy man tells that ^- ' all of his' shall descend there, but that he saw himself to be there entire where he perceives the great weight of his recompense? seeing that this which he leaves of himself without sense on the earth, until he returns to the incorruption of the resurrection, he does not feel to be himself. And so he declares that ' all of his will descend into the lowest hell,' whither he sees his soul only shall descend; in that the whole of him is there, where he is capable of having a sense of that which he has got. Or, surely, ' all of his did descend into hell,' in that the recompensing of all his toils was as yet expected to be received only in the rest of hell; and all that he has done as it were ' descends' there, in that there he finds rest in his recompensing for all things.
Whence also the expected rest is itself added, when the words are thereupon introduced.
Dost thou think at least there will be rest for me there?
55. By which same words he both makes known what he xlix. desires, and yet marks that he is still doubtful of receiving the rest, lest he whose holy works so many scourges followed, should by the hidden judgment of the heavenly Judge, after temporal scourges, have lasting torments likewise following him. Wherein it behoves ourselves to consider with exceeding fear which of us is now secure of the everlasting rest, if even he still trembles for it, proclaim of whose virtue the very Judge, Who smites, does Himself sound. For if theiT^et.i, righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the sinner and the inigodli/ appear? For blessed Job knew that he should attain to rest after the strokes of affliction, but that he might shake our hearts with fear, he himself seemed to doubt "about the recompensing of Eternal rest, when he says, Dost thou thitik? plainly that we might think well with what exceeding apprehension we ought ever to dread the Judgment to come, if even he, who was commended by the Judge, was not yet in his own words secure of the rewards of the Judgment.
BOOK XIV.
Wherein S. Gregory unfolds the historical, allegorical, and moral sense of the eighteenth and nineteenth chapters of the Book of Job.
i. 1. In a former part of this work we have handled the point, ^^®^' that Almighty God, in order to amend the hearts of those under the law, brought forward the life of blessed Job for a testimony, who knew not the law and yet kept it, who observed the precepts of life, which he had not received in writing. This man's conduct is first extolled by God's bearing witness to it, and is afterwards suffered to be put to the proof by the devil's plotting against it, that he might prove by the trials of tribulation, how much he had attained before in a state of peace. This man's life the adversary of the human race, evil disposed after his manner, both knew to be commended by the attestation of God, and yet asked for to prove it. And when he could not succeed in bringing him to the ground, smitten with so many losses in his substance, so many bereavements, he set on his wife against him in the goading of mispersuasion, that at all events by the words of his own household he might ruin him, whom he could never bring down by so many torments of tidings.
But whereas what by woman's aid he won against Adam first in paradise, he could not make good against this second man sitting on a dunghill, he betook himself to other appliances of tempting, that he should bring in his friends as if administering consolation, and yet stir up their feelings in bitterness of upbraiding, that him whose patience scourges had failed to subdue, at least bitter words in the midst of those scourges might succeed in overcoming. But the adversary, while laying his plots with craft, was a victim to the deceit, which he had contrived against the holy man, in Bildad thinks himself scorned^ as Heretic* do. 119 that for all the occasions of ruin that he brought upon the Book holy man, he supplied him with as many occasions of victory. 1 For against torments he maintained patience, against words, wisdom, in that he at once sustained the pains of stripes with resignation, and restrained the foolishness of ill advisers with wisdom. But whereas in those very sufferings and well-instructed speeches he bears a figure of Holy Church, by his friends^ as we have already often said, uttering some things right and some foolish, heretics are not unjustly represented, who in respect of this, that they are friends of the holy man, say many things right of the wicked, but in respect of this, that they bear a likeness of heretics, very often transgress in the excesses of the lips, and they smite the breast of the holy man with the darts of their words, but are tired out by their very own smiting against his indomitable spirit. So then it is our business to distinguish with exact discrimination, both what there is in their words that they think aright concerning the lost, and what that they sound that is foolish as directed against blessed Job.
Ver. 1, 2. Then ansivered Bildad the Shuhite, and said, Unto what end will ye cast abroad words f understand first, and so let us speak.
2. All heretics think that in some things that are known ii. to her Holy Church is full of pride, while some things they '^^^^^* fancy that she does not even understand. Whence Bildad the Shuhite, as it were, asserts that blessed Job had broken out into pride, when he declares ^ that he ' casts abroad words.' ' * f^*^^" . tur' is But he gives a token with what pride he was himself swoln, used who supposed that blessed Job spoke things that he did not*^^* understand; and whereas all heretics complain that they are despised by Holy Church in her estimate of them, it is fitly subjoined, Ver. 3. Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed as vile in your sight?
3. It is natural to the human mind to suppose that the ^^^' thing that it does is done to itself. Thus they believe themselves to be despised, who are used to despise the ways of the good; and whereas in such things as are capable of being understood by reason, the Church proves against heretics that what they make up is unreasonable, they imagine them- I 120 Heretics think tlie Church proud, violent, and exclusive.
Job 18, selves to be counted as Mjcasts' in her view. On which - — '— supposition of their being despised, they directly break out in disdain, and are urged to abuse of that Church. Whence it is added; Vcr. 4. Why dost thou ruifi thy soul in thy fury? \y. 4. Heretics esteem whether a strong feehng for the rule of right, or the spiritual grace of holy preaching, not as good weight of virtue, but as the madness of fury. By which same fury they believe that ' the souls of the faithful are ruined,' in that they imagine that the life of the Church is destroyed by the very same means whereby they see she is made to kindle against themselves. It goes on; Shall the earth he forsaken for thee 9 V. 5. For they think that they themselves worship God every where, that they themselves have occupied the whole world. What is it then to say, SJiall the earth he forsaken for thee'i but wdiat they often say to the faithful, viz. ' that if this thing which you say be true, all the earth is forsaken by God, which we ourselves already occupy from the multitude of us.' Now the holy Church universal proclaims that God cannot be truly worsiiipped saving within herself, asserting that all they that are without her shall never be saved. But conversely heretics, who are confident that it is possible for them to be saved even without her pale, maintain that the Divine aid is rendered to them in every place. Whence they say; Shall the earth he forsaken for thee? i. e. 'is it so, that whosoever is out of thee cannot be saved?' Whence it is added further; And shall the rocks be moved out of their place? vi. 6. Heretics call those persons ' rocks' who in their views by the sublimity of their thoughts stand out in the human race, which same they glory that they have for teachers. But when Holy Church addresses herself to the task of gathering together the different erring preachers within the bosom of the right faith, what else is this but that she ' removes the rocks from their places,' that having a right view of things, they may lie down in humility within her, w^ho aforetime were standing stiff in their own wrong notions } But heretics altogether make against the doing of this, and withstand the * rocks being moved out of their places' on account of her Afflictions of good men mistaken for Judgments. 121 voice, because thev are averse that the\', vvlio amoiit^ them- Book XIV.
selves, being Hfted up in their thoughts, were embued with false doctrine, by coming to her should think what is true in a humble spirit.
7. Now it very often happens that heretics, when they see any persons within the bosom of Holy Church travailing whether with want or calamities, lift themselves up directly in the presumption of righteousness, and whatsoever they see to have happened of an adverse kind to the faithful, they suppose it is done for their iniquities, not knowing doubtless that the complexion of the present life does not in the least degree prove the worth of men's conduct. For very often both good things befal the bad, and bad ones befal the good, on the very principle that real goods are reserved for the good, and real ills for the bad, in the season of the eternal recompensing. Thus Bildad bearing a figure of heretics, who lift themselves up on the grounds of this life's good fortune, swells against the strokes of blessed Job, as if with their voice in opposition to the reproach of the righteous, and expressly he is arguing against the ungodly indeed, but how wickedly he speaks in such terms against a good man, he is not aware. Thus he added, saying, Ver. 5. S/tall not the light of the wicked be put out, and the /lame of his fire cease to shine?
8. If he says this in describing the present life, he is mis- vii. taken; in that very often both the light of prosperity is seen in the ungodly, and the darkness of ignominy and poverty envelopes the godly. But if his discourse points to this, viz. to shew what the ungodly meet with in their end, it is said with truth, Shall not the light of the wicked be put out, and the flame of his fire cease to shine? Which if it might have been rightly spoken in regard to an ungodly man, ought never to have been delivered against a holy man set fast in the midst of scourges. But let us, considering well the powers of his arm in delivering sentences, reflect how strongly he hurls the darts, and let us cease to look at him w^liom, while so hurling them, he aims to hit, knowing surely that he strikes a stone with foiled blows. So let him say; Shall not the light of the wicked be put out? For even the ungodly have their ' light,' i. e. the good fortune of the present 122 Light of the wicked to be quenched at last.
Job 18, life. ]5ut * the light of the wicked shall be put out/ in that 1^ — '- — this present life's good fortune is speedily terminated along with life itself. Whence it is fitly added; and the flame of his fire shall tiot shine* 9. For every ungodly man has a ' flame of his own fire,' which he kindles in his heart from the heat of temporal desires, whilst he burns now with these now with those lusts, and fans his thoughts into a bigger flame by the diverse flatteries of the world. But if a fire has no flame, it does not shine by shedding any light. And so the flame of the fire is his outward beauty or power, which comes from his burning within. For what he anxiously desires to get, he very often wins, to the heaping up of his own ruin; and whether in the power of the loftiest pitch, or in the wealth of multiplied increase, he as it were shines in external glory. But ' the flame of his fire shall not shine,' in that, in the day of his departure hence, all the fair shew without is removed, and he is consumed by his own burning within alone. And ' so the flame' is removed from the ' fire,' when his exterior glory is separated from his interior burning. Even the righteous too have a flame of their fire, but one doubtless to shine bright, in this respect, that their desires give light in good works. But the light of the wicked does not shine in the least, in that hereby, viz. that they aim at what is evil, they are forced to darkness. And hence it follows; Ver. 6. The light shall he dark in his tabernacle.
viii. 10. If we very frequently take darkness for sorrow, we ought without unfairness to take light for joy. And so ^ the light is dark in his tabernacle,' in that in his conscience, which he inhabits in wickedness, the joy which he had from things temporal is brought to an end. Whence too it is fitly added; And the candle that is over him shall be put out. For to speak in language grounded on the usage of man 3^, Mucernaa ' candle ^' is a light in an earthen vessel, but a light in an earthen vessel, is delight in the flesh. And so ' the candle that is over him is put out,' in that when the recompensing of his wickednesses comes upon the ungodly man, carnal delight is brought to nought in his heart. Now it is well that it is not said of this candle, ' which is by him,' but The Wicked work their own confusion. 123 ' which is over him,' in that earthly enjoyments possess the Book mind of the bad, and so swallow it up in delight, that they -- are * over' it, and not ' by' it. But the righteous even when they have the good fortune of the present life, are taught to force it to bow beneath them, that this, viz. that they are made glad in themselves with good things, they may get above by the counsel of a steadied mind, and surmount by the control of virtue. And so ' the candle' of the wicked man, ' which is over him, is put out,' in that his joy is quickly brought to an end, which possessed him wholly in this life, and the man, who now wickedly lets himself out at large in pleasures, punishment hereafter closely encompasses round about in w^oe. Whence it is yet further added; Ver. 7. The steps of his strength shall be straitened.
11. For now as it were he puts forth * the steps of his ix. strength,' as often as he executes the violent acts of his power. But ' the steps of his strength shall be straitened,' in that the resources of his wickedness, which he now displays in his own gratification, punishment hereafter binds fast. It goes on; And his own counsel shall cast him down.
12. Every bad man makes it his counsel now to aim at x. present things, to abandon the things of eternity, to do what is unjust, to sneer at what is just; but when the Judge of the just and unjust shall come, every ungodly person is ' cast down by his counsel,' in that for this that he chose to go after here with bad intent, he is drowned in the darkness of eternal woe. For that man whom temporal glory uplifts here, punishment without end there sinks down. He who here revels in self-gratification, is there tortured with everlasting vengeance. And it often happens that the very prosperity of this life, which is so eagerly hankered after by the ungodly, so clogs their steps, that even when they have the mind to return to good works, they are scarcely able: in that they have not the power to do what is right, while they fear to displease the lovers of this world. Whence it is brought to pass, that through that glory which the ungodly man derives from sin, his sins are yet further doubled and redoubled. Which Bildad rightly sets forth, when he adds; 1*24 Sin entanr/les in sin. Satan'' s thirst J'or man's ruin.
Job 18, Ver. 8. Fo7 he hath put his own foot into the net, and he ' * walketh in the ^ meshes of it.
^maculis ^maculis xi. 13. lie, who ' puts his feet into a net,' cannot get them Moral. out, when he has a mind; so he that lets himself down into habits of sin, cannot rise up the moment he wishes it; and he ' that walketh in the meshes of a net,' entangles his steps in walking, and when he tries to extricate himself to walk, he is tied and bound that he cannot. ' For it very often happens that a man, beguiled by the delightfulness of this world, reaches after the gloriousness of the honour thereof, that he attains to the effecting of his desires, and rejoices to have attained the object which he sought after; but seeing that the good things of this world, when not possessed, are objects of love, and very often, when possessed, grow worthless, he learns by the act of obtaining how worthless that is which he sought after. Whence being brought back to himself, he looks out how without sin to get quit of that which he sees himself to have gotten with sin; but the very same dignity which entangled him, holds him fast, and he cannot without further sins flee from thence, whereunto he came not without sin. And so he has ' put his feet into the net, and walketh in the meshes thereof,' in that when he strives to get quit, he then sees in a true light with what hard knots he is held bound. For we do not even know of our binding in a true sense, save when in striving to get free, we as it were try to lift our feet. And hence he makes known this same binding, by adding, Ver. 9. The gin shall take him by the heel; in that the end shall be made fast in sin. And because the enemy of mankind, when he binds up in sin the life of each individual, eagerly pants after his death, it is rightly added; And thirst shall burn furiously against him. ^11' 14. For our old enemy, when he ensnares the life in sin, thirsts that he may drink the death of the sinner. Which however may also be understood in another sense. For the evil mind when it sees that it has been brought into sin, seeks with a certain superficialness of thought to escape out of the snares of sin; but fearing either the threats or refl Greediness like the dropsy. Hidden snares. 195 proaches of men, it chooses rather to die for ever, than Book to undergo a little of adversity for a season, whence it - abandons itself wholly to evil ways, in which it perceives itself to be already once bound. And so he whose life is bound fast in sin even to the end, has his * heel held by the gin.' But forasmuch as in the same degree that he minds that he is tied and bound with evil habits, he is in despair of his return, by that very despairing he henceforth kindles more fiercely to the lusts of this world, the heat of desire arises within him, and the mind having been ensnared by previous sins, is inflamed to even worse transgressions. And hence it is added; And thirst shall hum furiously against him. For in his mind there is a * thirst that burns out against him,' in that in proportion as he is used to do wicked things, he is the more vehemently on fire to drink down evil. Since for the ungodly man to ' thirst' is to lust after the good things of this world. And hence our Redeemer cures th(f man with the dropsy before the Pharisee's house, and when he was ai'guing against avarice, it is written, And the Pharisees also Lukeie, who were covetous heard all things; and they derided Him. '