Thus it is hence said in the Song of Songs, on the coming Cant. 4, of the Spouse; Thou shall be crowned from the top of ^' Amana^ from the top of 8henir and Hermon, from the lions'' dens. For what else is denoted by the title of the lions but the devils, W'hich rage against us with the fury of the deadliest cruelty } And because the sinners are called to faith, whose hearts were once ^ the dens of lions,' when by their confession the Lord is believed to have overcome death, it is as if He were ' crowned from the lions' dens.' For a crown is the recompense of victory. So often then do the faithful offer a crown to Him, as they confess that He has overcome death by virtue of the Resurrection. And so ' the lion is driven from his den,' because * by the midwifery of the Lord's hand,' ' the crooked serpent is hindered from dwelling in the dens,' which he had possession of For he went forth defeated from the hearts of believers, who had aforetime ruled over them with the sceptre of unbelief 53. Observe how in a few short sentences the holy man related the order of the Lord's Advent, set forth its weighty charges, and in admiring described what by His Incarnation was possible to be done. But Pie, Who wrought marvellous things when He came in humility, cannot be viewed with all the great terribleness He shall come with, when He appeareth in the mightiness of His Majesty. The order of His first Advent might be viewed and estimated, in so far as in coming to redeem carnal beings. He abated the greatness of His Divinity to carnal eyes. But who might bear the terrors of His Highness, when with the power of the Second Advent God aheu.s a little of His ways. We could not hear all. 315 in exercising jndiyment by fne, He shall glow in the Majesty Book of His power? Whence the holy man describes His first - Advent, but is exhausted for the second, saying, Ver. 14. Zo, these things have been spoken for part of His ways; and whilst v:e scarcely hear a little drop of His words, loho shall be able to look on the thunder of His Majesty?
54. What is meant in this place by the designation ofxxxiii. the ' ways,' but the Lord's modes of acting } Hence too the Lord saith by the Prophet; For My icays are not as yourls.55,8. ways. Accordingly in telHng of the Advent of the Lord, he had described the ways of God in part; because His method of acting by which He created us was one thing, and that by which He redeemed us another. Thus those things, which he told touching the Lord's way of acting, making light of by comparison with the final Judgment, he says, Lo, these things are spoken for part of His ways. Which he also calls ' a little drop of His words,' for whatsoever thing that is high, whatsoever thing that is terrible, we whilst set in this life are brought to know by the contemplation of Him, from the vast ocean of the secrets of Heaven wells out to us like a slight drop of the liquid element Above. And who shall be able to look on the thunder of His Majesty f As though he expressed himself in plain words; ' If we scarce endure the wonders of His humility, the loud and dreadful Advent of His Majesty with what nerve do we encounter?'
This thundering of His Advent the Psalmist also sounds out, saying, Our God shall come in state, our God, and shall^^-^o,^-not keep silence, a fire shall devour before Him, and a mighty tempest round about Him. Hence Zephaniah the Prophet tells it out, saying, The Great Day of the Lord is '^^^v^-^, near; it is near and hasteth greatly. The voice of the Day of ~~ the Lord is bitter: the mighty man shall be troubled there. That Day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress y a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of cloud and whirlwind, a day of the trumpjet, and of a dreadfid sound. The terror then of the Strict Inquest, which Zephaniah calls ^ the Trumpet,' blessed Job designates ' thundering.' Which Joel also viewing saith. Let all the inhabitants of the land be troubled: /f^r.Jqel 2.
•^ \ COLLEGE y V 316 First and second Advent contrasted.
Job 26, the Day of the Lord cometh; for it is nigh at hand^ a day 11: of darkness and of gloominess^ a day of cloud and whirl- Proph ' wind. For the Day of the Lord is great, and very terrible, and who shall sustain it? But how incomprehensible and unimaginable that Greatness wherewith He shall come in His Second Manifesting, in some degree we estimate aright, if we consider with heedful reflection the weighty particulars of His first Advent. Surely that He might redeem us from death, the Lord came to die, and the impoverishment and punishments of our flesh He underwent in His own Body; Who before He came to the stock of the Cross, suffered Himself to be bound, to be spit on, to be mocked and to be beaten with blows on His cheek. Observe to what disgraceful treatment He for our sakes consented to come, and yet, before He permitted Himself to be laid hold of, He questioned His persecutors, saying, Whom seek ye? To Whom they thereupon gave answer, Jesus of Nazareth. And when He said to them directly, / am He, He only uttered a voice of the mildest answer, and at once prostrated His armed persecutors to the earth. What then shall He do when He cometh to judge the world, who by one utterance of His voice smote His enemies, even when He came to be judged? What is that Judgment which He exercises as immortal, Who in a single utterance could not be endured when He was about to die } Who may sustain His wrath, Whose very mildness even could not be sustained? So then let the holy man consider it and say, And whilst we scarcely hear a little drop of His words, who shall be able to look an the thundering of His Majesty 7 i BOOK XVIII.
i BOOK XVIII.
Contaius the exposition of the twenty- seventh and twenty-eighth chapters of the Book of Job, to the twenty-first verse and half through it, after manifold senses.
It is the case for the most part in Holy Writ that there are things of a mystical nature so represented, that nevertheless they seem put forth in accordance with the historical relation. But oftentimes such sort of descriptions are mixed together in that same historical relation, whereby the whole outside of history is rendered null'; which same whilst they • cassesound of nothing belonging to the history, oblige the reader*"^ to look for something else in them. For things being spoken that we suppose plain, when we find any particulars interj spersed with a more obscure meaning, we are as it were pricked by a kind of spurs, that we should both be alive for the understanding some things in a deeper sense, and that we sliould take even those things as put forth in a more obscure sense, which we looked upon as spoken in their plain import. Whereas, then, blessed Job was speaking of the Word of the Lord, and the greatness of His thundering, next in order to these words it is directly introduced; Chap, xxvii. 1. Moreover Job added taking up his parable, and said.
2. By which same verse it is shewn in how great mystery i. the words of this most saintly man are delivered, when ' a parable,' i. e. a simile, is described as ' taken up' by him, who utters nothing below in the way of simile or comparison. For be it far 'from us in this place to interpret a * parable' that musical instrument ". Since neither is it allowable to suppose that under infliction of chastenings he used music, when Truth saith by His Scripture, Music in mourning is Ecc\ns.
a ' We know of no musical instru- but one may imagine some so named ment so called either now or formerly; from their parabolic figure.' Ben.
318 Job declares, like Holy Church, his faith in God.
Job 27, as a tale out of season. The word ' parable,' then, having ~ been named, see how we now learn, the text itself telling it, Alleg.,,,...1 A 1 not by the text only to estimate his words. And so every thing must be drawn to turn to that likeness, by which the Church is denoted in a figure. And indeed in the very beginning of his speaking, the things said are put forth in a plain sense, but they are entwined with more obscure ones subjoined For he begins as he is used, with a plain mode of speech, but he finishes his words with a description pregnant through mystical significations. And so he saith, Ver. 2. As God liveth, Who hath taken away my judgment, and the Almighty, Who hath brought my soul to bitterness. ii, 3. By which same words blessed Job at once tells his own circumstances, and represents the times of Holy Church under affliction, wherein she is borne down by the open frowardness of unbelievers, and vexed by the bitterness of persecution. For in two ways the Church is subject to be tried by her adversaries, viz. that she should suffer persecution either by words or swords. Now Holy Church aims with the greatest diligence to possess wisdom and patience. And her wisdom is exercised when she is tried with words, her patience is exercised when she is tried with swords. Now, however, he is speaking of that persecution, wherein she is provoked not by swords, but by false statements. Now we know numbers, who when they encounter some things adverse in this life, do not believe that God is, but there are some that hold that God is, but does not concern Himself in the least with the affairs of men. For of the one Ps 14,1. it is said by David, The fool hath said in his heart. There is no God. But the latter say in him, Hotv doth God. know? And is there knowledge in the Most High? And again; Ps.94,7. Yet they say again; The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it. Thus this person who bore a type of Holy Church, whilst set fast in the veiy bitterness of his affliction, made answer against them both. For as life has ' being,' but death has not, to avow that God is, he saith. As God liveth, but that he might tell that God concerns Himself with the affairs of mortals, he added. Who hath taken atvay my judgment, and hath brought my soul to God permits Satan's ivrong for right ends. 319 bitterness. For these ills which he suffers he bears record riooK that he suffers not by accident, but by God Who ordereth '- all things, nor does he attribute the power for his bitterness to his tempter, but to his Creator.
4. For he knows that the devil, though he is ever aiming at the afflicting of the just, yet if he do not receive the power from our Maker is not empowered in the least degree for any tittle of temptation. And hence all the devil's will is unjust, and yet whilst God permits it, all his power is just. For of himself he does unjustly seek to try men indifferently, but those that require to be tempted, in so far as they require to be tried, God does not permit to be tried otherwise than justly. Whence also in the Books of the Kings it is written of the devil, That the evil spirit of the Lord came upon^^^^-Saul. Where the question justly occurs, ' If it was the Spirit of the Lord, why should it be called an evil spirit? and if an evil spirit, why the Lord's?' But in two words there is comprehended at once the just power and the unjust will in the devil. For both he himself is called an evil spirit in respect of a most evil will, and the same spirit is called the Lord's spirit in respect of the most just power bestowed on him. And so it is well said; God liveth, Who hath taken atvay iny judgment; and the Almighty, Who hath brought my soul to bitterness. For though the enemy rage furiously, who longs to deal the blow, yet it is the Creator, Who permits him to have power for any thing. But forasmuch as the holy man by invoking the life of God bound himself to somewhat, let us hear what in so obliging himself he subjoins It follows; Ver. 8, 4. All the while my breath is in me, and the Spirit of God is in my nostrils, my lips shall not speak iniquity, nor my tongue meditate falsehood.
5. What he first calls 'iniquity,' this repeating afterwards iii. he calls ' falsehood.' For both all ' falsehood' is ' iniquity,' and all ' iniquity' ' falsehood,' because, whatever thing is at variance with truth is surely at odds with equity. But between this which he expresses, ' to speak' and that which he adds afterwards, to ' meditate,' there is a wide difference. For sometimes it is a worse thing to ' meditate"* falsehood than to speak it. For to speak is very frequently a matter of pre- 320 All lying is wrong, and mars even a good purpose.
Job 27, cipitation, but to * meditate' of purposed wickedness. And who could be ignorant by what great difference the sin is Lit distinguished, whether a man tell a lie by precipitation or of set purpose? But the holy man, to be entirely, attached to the truth, tells that he would neither lie of set purpose, nor by precipitation. For all lying is very seriously to be guarded against, though sometimes there is a certain sort of lying which is of lighter complexion, if a man lie in rendering Wisd. good **• But seeing that it is written, The mouth thai belietJt ^'^^' slayeth the soul. And, Thou shall destroy all thetn that speak leasing. This kind of lying also those that are perfect eschew with the greatest care, so that not even the life of any man should by deceit of theirs be defended, lest they hurt their own souls, whilst they busy themselves to give life to another's flesh; though the same particular kind of sin we believe to be very easily remitted. For if any sin is by godly practice ensuing after to be done away, how much more is this easily wiped off, which pitifulness, the mother of good works, herself accompanies?
6. But there are some that from the deceit of the midwives endeavour to establish that this species of lying is not sin, chiefly because, upon those midwives lying, it is written, Exod. That the Lord made them houses. By which mode of ' * recompensing it is rather learnt what the offence of lying earns; for the profits of their kindness which might have been repaid them in everlasting life, on account of the sin of lying mixing in are diverted into an earthly recompense, that in their own life, which they were ready to defend by lying, they should receive back the good which they did, and not have any reward of their recompensing, that they might look forward to beyond. For if the thing be weighed with exactness, it was from the love of the present life they lied, not from the being bent on the recompense; for by the act of sparing, they endeavoured to protect the life of the infants; but by the act of lying, their own life.
7. And though in the Old Testament a few such cases may possibly be discovered, yet almost on no occasion will ^ Edd. ' Vitam prsestando,' but most passage is quoted in Grat. Deer. Caus.
Mss. only ' praestando.' Ben. quotes 22. q. 2. c. 16. see also St. Isidore Sent.
St. Isidore, Synon. ii. 53. de Mend, as ii. c. 30. §. 10. St. Aug. on Ps. v. 7.
using the word thus, and notes that this takes the same view.
The Gospel stricter than the Law. Job's honest Jirmness. 321 the attentive reader there find this or a like kind of lying Book practised by those that were perfect, although the lie might 5ZZH.* seem to bear some sort of semblance of truth; and perchance it might be an. offence of a lighter complexion under the Old Testament, wherein by victims of bulls and goats, the sacrifice was not the very Truth itself, but a shadow of the truth. For in the New Testament, after Truth has been manifested by flesh, we are advanced by a higher scale of precepts, and it is meet and right that certain actions which in that People were instrumental to a shadow of the Truth, we should give over. But if there be any man, who would defend his lying by the Old Testament, because there perhaps it was less detrimental to particular persons, he must needs be compelled to say that the robbing of another's property, and the retaliation of an injury, which were there allowed to those in a weak state, cannot be injurious to himself. All of which it is plain to all men with what severe strictures Truth doth visit. Which ' Truth' now henceforth, the shadow of the betokenment of Him set aside, is brought to light in very flesh. But as the holy man gives his word neither to ' speak' nor ' meditate falsehood,' these actual particulars, wherein he agrees with the truth, he subjoins, carrying it on; Ver. 5. God forbid that I should Justify you; till I die, I will not depart from mine innocency.
8. For he would * depart from his innocency,' if he reckoned iv. good things of bad persons; as Solomon bears witness, who saith, He that Justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth'Proy.n, the Just, even they both are abomination to the Lord. For there are persons, who, whilst they extol with commendation deeds of men ill done, heighten that which they ought to have rebuked. For hence it is said by the Prophet, Woe to Ez. is, those that sew pillows under every elbow of the hand, and make cushions under the head of every age. For a ' pillow' is put for this, that we may rest the easier. Therefore whoever flatters persons doing wrongly is putting a pillow under the head or the elbow of one lying, so that the man that should have been chidden on account of sin, being stayed up therein by commendations, should rest at his ease. Hence again it is written, And one built up a wall, and, lo,\h. lo.
VOL. II. Y 322 Job feared to speak wrongly ^ having a clear conscience.
Job 27, others daubed it. For by the term of * a wall,' the hardness ^FT-' — of sin is denoted. And so ' to build up a wall' is for a man Hist. ^ to rear against himself barriers of sin; but they ' daub the wall,' who flatter those that commit sins, that what the first by doing wickedly build, those same persons by spreading their flatteries should as it were make of bright colour. But the holy man, as he does not think what is bad of the good, so he refuses to judge what is good of the bad; saying, God forbid that I should Judge you Just: till I die, I will not depart from mine innocency. Where he subjoins in plain words; Ver. 6. My righteousness, which I began to hold fast, I will not abandon.
For ' his righteousness' that he had ' begun with,' he would ' abandon,' if he went out of the way into the praising of persons committing sin. But because we then more tiTily keep away from the sins of others when we first keep ourselves safe from our own, why he is so afraid to be guilty touching those, he gives the grounds of the principle, when he adds; For neither doth mine heart reproach me in all my life. V. 9. As if he expressed himself in plain words; ' On your account I ought not to be drawn into guilt, in that I have dreaded to commit sin in my own affairs.' But it is a thing to be known, that every one that is at variance with the precepts of the Lord in practice, as often as he hears them, is reproached and confounded by his own heart, because that which he has never done is brought to recollection. For whereinsoever it sees itself to have done amiss, the conscience by itself secretly accuses self Whence the Ps. 119, prophet David beseeches, saying, Then may I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all Thy commandments. For greatly ' ashamed' is every man, when either by reading or hearing them he turns his eye to the precepts of God, which by his way of living he has disregarded. Thus it is 1 John hence declared by the voice of John, // our heart condem,n ^ ' ' us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask we receive of Him. As if he said in plain speech, ' If that He bids, we do, that we ask, we shall obtain.'
10. For with God both these two do of necessity match with one another exactly, that practice should be sustained Bad thoughts resisted are sin, but?iot wllfiil shi. 323 by prayer, and prayer by practice. Thus it is hence that Boorc Jeremiah saitli; Let us search and try our ways, and turn ^ -* again to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands ah. 41. unto Qod in the heavens. For to * search our ways' is to sift what is inmost in the thoughts. But he * lifts up his heart with his hands,' who strengthens his prayer by good works. For he that prays, but shuts his eyes to practice, ' lifts up the heart,' but does not ' lift up the hands.' But whosoever practises, but does not pray, * lifts up the hands,' but does not ' lift up the heart.' And so according to the voice of John, the heart then acquires confidence in prayer, when no wickedness of life withstands it. Of which same confidence it is rightly said now by the holy man; For neither doth mine heart reproach me in all my life. As though he said in plain speech, ' It never remembers to have been guilty of that, whereby it might be made ashamed in its prayers.' But it may be asked, on what principle he declares that he is not reproached by his heart, seeing that he accuses himself above of having sinned, saying, / have sinned: Job 7, what shall I do unto Thee, O Thou Preserver of men? Or ^ * surely, If I would justify myself, mine own mouth shall 9, 20. condemn me.
11. But it is requisite to be known that there are sins that by righteous men are possible to be avoided, and there are some sins which even by righteous men are not possible to be avoided. For what man's heart, whilst bound up with this corruptible flesh, does not slip in ill bent thought, even if he be not plunged into the very pit of consenting? And yet to think these same wrong thoughts is to commit sin. But while there is a resisting of the thought, the soul is freed from being confounded. And so the mind of the righteous, though it be free from bad practice, yet sometimes it falls to the ground in bad thinking. Thus then into sin too it slips, because in the thought of the heart at all events it is made to swerve, and yet it hath not that whereon to upbraid itself afterwards in weeping, because it recovers itself before that it falls by consenting. And so with just propriety he who confessed himself a sinner, declares that he is never upbraided by his heart, because though perhaps by thinking unlawful thoughts he ever fell short of righteousness, yet by the 324 Enemies of Holy Church within and without her pate.
Job 27, resolute struggle of the soul, he resisted the thought. It ^1^ follows; Ver. 7. Let mine enemy be like the imyodly, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous. vi. 12. In Holy Writ, the words * like as' and * as if are sometimes put not for a likeness, but for the reality. Whence John 1, we have that; And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father. And thus here also ' like,' and *as' seem to be said rather for the sake of affirmation than similitude. Now between the ungodly and the wicked man there is wont to be this difference sometimes, that every ungodly man is unrighteous, but not every unrighteous man ungodly. For the ^ ungodly' is put instead of unbeliever, i. e.
a stranger to the godliness of religion. But a man is called unrighteous, who by wrongness of practice is at variance with righteousness, even if he does perhaps bear the name of the Christian Faith. Therefore by the typical voice of blessed Job, Holy Church, which is subject to some gainsaying the right Faith, avouches that she has an * ungodly man her enemy.* But because she has to bear others under the cloke of the faith within her pale living in bad practices, she abhors the ' unrighteous' man as being her adversary. But if * like' and * as' it is right we should understand as put on account of ' likeness,' Holy Church brands by a likeness to the ungodly those whom she is subject to living in a carnal manner within her pale. For within her bounds he is an enemy to i her, who whilst he maintains himself a believer by pro-■ fessions, denies it by practices. And because he accounts him as an unbeliever, who, whilst set within her pale in semblance, only assails her with mischief of evil doing, he rightly says, Mine enemy is like the ungodly, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous. As though he said in plain speech; * He is at variance with me in faith as well, who does not agree with me in practice.' It follows; Ver. 8. For what is the hope of the hypocrite, if lie seize with covetousness, and God free not his soul? vii. 13. The hypocrite, who in the Latin language is termed 1 simu- pretender^, aims not to be but to appear just, and therefore he is a covetous robber, because whereas while doing wickedly he desires to be revered for sanctity, he seizes on the Hypocrites court praise, Saints dislike it. 325 praise of a life not his own. But it is said to be the aim of Book hypocrites, that both what they are they may keep back, and ■* what they are not they may make themselves known to men as being; so that they should surpass their own measure in esteem, and by credit for conduct shew themselves to excel the rest of the world. They eschew the seeming to be that which they are, and before the eyes of men they clothe themselves with a kind of overlaid respectability of innocency. Hence in the Gospel they are rightly upbraided by the voice of our Redeemer, when the words are spoken to them, fFo^Mat.23, luito you, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear to men beautiful outward, hut are within full of dead men's bones, and of all un cleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of covetousness and iniquity. Contrariwise all that are Saints really not only do not ever at all covet glory that is beyond their measure, but do also eschew appearing that very thing, which they have obtained to be. And hence that great Preacher of truth, in speaking against the false apostles; while he was relating the extraordinary excellences of his practice for the instruction of his disciples; whilst he was describing that he had undergone such countless perils in accumulated persecution, and after this made, mention of his having been carried up to the third heaven, and into Paradise again, where he had power to learn things so great, as he had not power in any degree to tell; was on the point perhaps of telling things still more marvellous of himself, yet holding himself in from human applause by deep reflecting he adds, But now 1 spare, lest any?nan 2 Cor. should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or ' ' that he heareth of me. He then had somewhat yet further to be declared concerning himself, who ^ forbears' to speak.
But the great Preacher did both, that both by telling the things which he had done he might instruct his disciples, and by being silent keep himself safe within the bounds of humility. For he would have been over ungracious, if he had withheld all relating to himself from the disciples; and perhaps incautious over much, if even to the disciples he had uttered all about himself. But in a wonderful way, as has been said, he did both the one and the other, so that by 326 Sainls tell good of Ihemaelvea^ as God, for other h^ good.
Job 27, speaking he might instruct the life of those that heard him, ' and by holding his peace preserve his own.
14. Now it deserves to be known, that holy men as often as they communicate any thing concerning themselves to their followers, are imitating the custom of their Creator. For God, Who forbids us that we never be commended by our own lips, in Holy Writ does utter His own praises; not that He Himself needs them. Who cannot be a gainer by praises; but whilst He relates to us His greatness. He lifts up our ignorance to Himself, and by telling His own good He teaches us; whereas man would never know Him, if He had been minded to be silent about Himself. And so He for this reason shews His own praises, that we may be able by hearing to know, by knowing to love, by loving to follow, by following to obtain, and by obtaining to enjoy the vision Ps. Ill, of Him. Whence the Psalmist saith. He will tell the people the power of His works, and that He may give them the heritage of the heathen. As if he expressed himself in plain terms; ' For this reason He tells the mightiness of His doing, that he that heareth thereof may be enriched with His gifts.' Therefore holy men, imitating the way of their Creator, sometimes reveal things that concern themselves, that those who hear them they may instruct, not that they may themselves be gainers, and yet in these things they keep guard over themselves by bethinking themselves deeply, lest whilst they lift up others from an earthward bent, they should themselves be sunk in the coveting of earthly applause. Whose statements hypocrites for the most part follow, but the meaning of their statements they are wholly blind to, because what the righteous do with a view to the advantaging of their neighbour, this these same do with a view to the extending of their own name. But the holy man beholding that hypocrites seek not at all after future glory, but desire to possess themselves of present glory, says. What is the hope of the hypocrite? in that while he loves the present things, Rom. 8, he hopes not for the future. For it is written. For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? And so for this reason there is on the part of the hypocrite no advancing in any degree to the eternal rewards by hope, because that which required to be sought elsewhere, he makes it his pride to God will not hear at last those who hear not Him now. 327 have in possession here. And because his offence was set Book forth, the punishment too is subjoined, when it is forthwith * brought in next; Will God hear his cry^ 7vhen trouble comet h upon him?
15. ' His ciy in the time of his straits God heareth not,* viii. because in the time of tranquilhty he did not himself hear the Lord crying in His precepts. For it is written; He Prov. that turneth away his ear frotn hearing tJie law, even his ' prayer shall be abomination. And so the holy man seeing that all they that are indifferent to practise what is right now, in the time at the end betake themselves to words of beseeching, saith; Will God hear his cry? By which words assuredly he follows close upon the words of our Redeemer, Who saith. Last of all come the foolish virgins also, Matt. saying. Lord, Lord, open to us. And it is answered ' them. Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Because great severity is exercised then, in proportion as now greater mercy is prolonged ^ and He does then with strictness put^al. forth judgment upon persons not corrected. Who nowbeforepatiently bestows pity upon them going on transgressing. ^^°^ For hence it is the Prophet saith. Seek ye the Lord, while^^'^^i^-He may be found; call ye upon Him, while He is near.
Now He is not seen, and ' is near,' then He shall be seen, and shall not ' be near.' He hath not yet appeared in judgment, and if He be sought, He is found. For in a wonderful way, when He appeareth in judgment He is at once able to be seen, and unable to be found. Hence Solomon describes Wisdom at once caressing sweetly, and judging dreadfully, saying, Wisdom crieth without; she utiereth Prov.i, her voice in the streets. Whose language he also tells, ~ adding. How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity, and fools delight in their own harm, and silly ones hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof Behold, 1 will pour out my Spirit unto you: 1 will make known my words unto you. Mark with what kind of words her sweetness in calling is expressed. Let us see now in what ways her severity in upbraiding is told, that in the end sooner or later her strictness in punishing may have free scope. Because I have calledy and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand; and